Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6 is a peculiar device in that it’s the most refined, polished version of a book fold style device that the company has ever made, whilst also being the most underwhelming and uninspired device that Samsung’s ever made.
When the first Fold was announced, the guests at the launch event I attended were stunned into silence and then applauded so loudly for the device that it was nearly deafening. Finally, it seemed like the stagnation of the smartphone industry was over and that Samsung was delivering us into an exciting new world that defied expectation. Six generations later and that sadly is not the case, like the rest of the industry, the foldable segment has stagnated under Samsung’s watch. This hasn’t happened because the company doesn’t have any innovative ideas, it’s happened because Samsung has become complacent. For a company so hell bent on vilifying and criticising Apple for a lack of innovation it’s funny to see that Samsung has become exactly that.
Recently, while waiting to do biometrics for a visa application, the person sitting next to me asked me about the Fold6. She’d been a lifelong Samsung user and was currently using an S22+. After playing around with the Fold for a few minutes she decided that she’d much rather stick with her current device because the only major feature of the Fold – the fact that it folds – wasn’t enough of a feature to warrant the R46 000 price tag. While I do agree with her, I also found that the Fold6 had changed my opinion on foldables.
With the launch of the first foldable I had hope that that would be the future of smartphones but after a few generations of devices that looked almost exactly like their predecessors and the most incremental of updates, that hope faded quickly. Price points for these folding phones are too high and take away the fact that they can fold, you’re left with a device that arguably isn’t as good as its candy bar counterpart.
Having said all of that, I found myself in a number of unique circumstances where I was without my tablet or laptop and I needed to either look through a flat lay or I wanted to carry on watching my new favourite series. It’s in these very specific instances that the Fold6 became incredibly useful. This is what makes book fold style foldables like the Fold6 such a peculiar device. Like tablets it has a lot of potential to become the defacto mobile computing device for many people but much like tablets it hasn’t lived up to the hype. Like tablets, book style foldables are good in very specific scenarios and for very specific people and use cases but, like tablets, they aren’t yet capable of fully replacing a larger, purpose-built device like a laptop or tablet.
I was incredibly grateful to have the Fold6 review unit with me when I did as it came in incredibly handy in a pinch, but it’s not a device I’d spend R46 000 on, nor is it a device that I could comfortably recommend others spend that much money on. I recently got my hands on a Pixel 9 Pro Fold, the HONOR Magic V3 and the HUAWEI’s trifold Mate XT. All 3 of those devices make for arguably better book fold style devices than the Fold6. The fact that the Pixel series isn’t available in South Africa is a shame but Google has never really cared about South Africa so that doesn’t surprise me. HONOR’s Magic V3, which is slated to come to the country in Q1 2025 is a major step forward and, dependant on price, a device that I’d be happy to recommend to anyone looking for a foldable. Not only is the device thinner and lighter than Samsung’s best offering, but it also has better cameras, a better battery (5150mAh vs the Fold6’s 4400mAh) and faster charging (it also comes with a SuperCharge charging brick and a case in the box). Combine that with the fact that it’s expected to undercut the Fold6 in price and that it has the same Google Gemini powered AI features that Samsung first debuted, including Circle to Search, and it’s almost a no-brainer that this is the foldable device you should be getting instead of anything that Samsung has to offer.
While Samsung created and dominated the foldable phone segment, it’s one that the company is now fiercely competing with upstarts like HONOR to retain control over. It’s also the most glaring display that the brand once most admired for its groundbreaking innovation has become complacent and lazy in the face of Chinese innovation and quality. Samsung has also become a victim of its own success and its own hubris. When you become admired and renowned for your innovation, you don’t get to slack in that – or any – area, not even when your biggest competitor gets sidelined by the US government, and especially not when you’re a world leader and every other tech brand on the planet is looking to dethrone you.
If you’re a Samsung fan and you want something that has a large screen and an S-Pen for on-the-go productivity, get an S24 Ultra. This leads me to my biggest issue with the Fold6, the way it’s marketed. Currently, there’s a huge online conversation about how people feel that Apple has mislead them by punting Apple Intelligence as the main feature of the iPhone 16 series, with some people even going so far as to say that the iPhone 16 series is the most incomplete iPhone that Apple has ever shipped. While I understand the frustration at having to wait for those features, we need to look at Samsung’s Fold6 in the same light. After all, while the iPhone 16 series functions as perfectly good devices across the board without Apple Intelligence, the Fold6 is marketed and sold as a top-tier productivity device, but it doesn’t come with the key item you require to actually get that level of productivity. In order to achieve the level of productivity showcased in the Fold6’s marketing campaign you need an S-Pen, which costs extra, but because the S-Pen has no internal housing (like the S24 Ultra), you’re forced to either buy a case or risk losing it. And then of course you still need to purchase a Samsung branded or approved charging brick, all of which is an extra cost on top of the R46 000 you’re already paying! Surely that is worthy of the same outrage as the lack of Apple Intelligence on the iPhone 16 series. After all, in both cases you’re being shown and promised a vision of something you’re not actually getting with a device that you’re spending a small fortune on. Tech companies need to do better and not hid behind the lie of sustainability practices as their excuse for not including needed components and accessories in the box, and consumers need to stop falling for the marketing hype.
If you’re looking for a book style foldable phone, then I cannot in good conscience recommend the Z Fold6 because you are not getting your money’s worth for that handset. The outer display is an awkward aspect ratio, and it doesn’t support the S-Pen meaning that you are forced to open the device to take notes, it only charges at 25W and doesn’t include a charging brick in the box and you no longer get free screen replacements on a device that is more susceptible to display damage than its candy bar counterpart.
Is the Z Fold6 a bad phone? Absolutely not. It’s slightly thinner and lighter than the Fold5 but it somehow still feels just as heavy and arguably more uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time due to the flat edge design, thankfully it now has a dust resistance rating, but unfortunately it doesn’t do much to prevent smaller pieces of dust and debris getting in. The under-display camera inside the device is just as bad as it’s always been, and I have no idea why Samsung insists on using something that makes you look more pixelated than a Minecraft character. As for the rest of the cameras, they’ll do an adequate job under the right conditions but fall far short of the photography and video prowess of the S24 Ultra. As for battery life, well, with moderate use I was able to make it through a full day on a single charge but that meant not utilising the full potential of the larger display.
The Z Fold6 is the most well-polished book-style folding phone that Samsung has on the market right now, and that’s what concerns me. Stick with the Fold6 if you are a Samsung loyalist or just have the money to burn but there are far better options out there, including ones from Samsung itself, that give you a lot more bang for your buck.
