Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6: The Good, The Bad, but Mostly The Good
I have been a faithful Galaxy Fold owner, hell, I’ve been a faithful Galaxy owner ever since 2017 when I stepped foot back to America. Before then, I’ve used an iPhone 4S (my first phone), an iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, and a Xiaomi Mix (the first generation). When I was finally tired of iPhone’s lazy design changes at its 7th generation, I switched course and literally switched to my first android phone, the Xiaomi Mix. Back then, it was cross-generationally impressive: the all border design was breathtaking.
Of course, I was still in China at that time, so having a Chinese phone in China has similar, if not a little bit more refined, experience compared to an iPhone. I had fun messing around with the phone settings, going into developer mode to speed up the animation (I still do that with every new android phone I get). The Mi Mix was a cool enough phone that made me turn my head completely from the iPhone camp.
Then, I moved back to America for college. That’s when the Mi Mix failed to cut it. Granted, it had a sim card tray that accepts cell signals from T-Mobile, and may provide sub 4G speeds; but it was lacking in software features. In the end, the Xiaomi ecosystem, all of its hardware and software were built for Chinese customers. For example, while it is convenient to swipe for a bus pass in China, it would be useless in a all-car environment that is California. Also, since the software was fine-tuned to fit the Chinese market, certain google services were obnoxiously omitted, namely, the Play Store, which is the home to a lot of software that I need to be able to properly use the phone in the U.S.
I can’t remember the exact reason why I wanted to switch to an American tailored phone, but I do remember setting my eyes on the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, the Note 8 that hasn’t been in the market at the time, and the Note 8 that is the descendant of the infamous Note 7 that exploded in planes. My friend in China had a Samsung Galaxy S8, and it was a beautiful piece of technology that although isn’t as dashing as my Mi Mix at the time; was extremely beautiful in an aesthetic way. The Note 8 became a natural choice.
When the Note 8 finally made its debut, I was over the moon. I quickly bought one, and became a loyal Samsung customer ever since. I skipped the Note 9, because it looked exactly like the Note 8 I had, and bought the Note 10, well, because of its all screen no bezel design and a shiny rear mirror.
The software didn’t change that much; everything is same old, same old. I have read complaints about the Samsung One UI software, but I have never had too much problem with it. It did, however, suffer from the common Android problem that the software becomes laggy and slow over time; but it didn’t bother me that much.
When the first Galaxy Fold debuted, I was very interested; but the sub $2,000 price point was a bit much for me to take in. It was cool, of course, but is it cool enough to be worth about $2,000? With all the problems people have been having, It didn’t look like a good deal, so I passed on it. It was the Galaxy Z Fold2 that lured me into the Fold family. Compared to the first Fold, the Z Fold2 was much more refined both hardware wise and software wise. For example, it had a much bigger outer display — almost bezel-less. The ugly haircut of the double camera in the inner display was switched to a cutout, a much better looking cutout. After seeing it in a local best buy, I finally pulled the trigger and traded in my 2 years old Note 10 in favor of a Fold. It was the best decision I have made at the time.
I was extremely happy with my Z Fold2, and when the Fold3 came out, it didn’t interest me that much because it was a rather similar phone compared to the Fold2. It still didn’t fold completely shut, the camera cutout was switched to a in-display camera that had a much lower camera quality but was pretty cool. It was generally the same. Since the Fold2’s battery and wifi signal were degrading, I’ve decided to get a new one using my Samsung Care. Low and behold, they don’t have one in stock; so they refunded me the entire price for a Fold2, and I used that money to buy a new Fold3. So yes, I got the Fold3 for free.
The Fold3 has been a good phone experience. I mean, it does not have much upgrades or differences to warrant the upgrade from Fold2 to Fold3, but it was a beautiful hardware nonetheless. When I went back to China in 2022, I had a chance to compare it with Chinese phone brands that also offer a foldable phone. The Fold3 was chunky, it was much heavier, and had a much smaller outer screen. The fold crease was also more visible on the Fold3. I wasn’t happy with the fact that my Samsung phone, which costs more, is comparing worse to its Chinese rivals, which is why I opted out of upgrading to the Fold4, which was essentially the same exact fucking phone as the Fold3.
When the Fold5 came out, I finally had to switch. The OS on the Fold3 was becoming laggy, and the Fold5 looked to have its folding parts completely shut, which looked like an upgrade for me. When the Fold doesn’t completely shut, pocket lint gets inside and it was a very annoying thing to look at when you open your phone. The Fold5, in some degree, elevated that problem. It had a shinier, stainless steel frame. I wanted the gold stainless steel frame from the Fold4, but it wasn’t available on the Fold5, so I opted for the white one.
The Fold5, to its credit, doesn’t leave much for me to complain. Sure, it was chunky when folded, and is quite heavy to hold in my hand, but I don’t have much complaints. The camera, though, was bad. It had three cameras, sure, but the three cameras are all the same cameras from the Fold3, which means that I have been using the same sucky cameras for all three years. It was bad.
So why did I switch to the Fold6. Maybe you’re thinking, why is this guy spending so much time and energy talking about his tech history when the most important stuff of this blog is about the Fold6? I don’t know, I just feel like my tech history can better explain why I liked the Fold6, despite it being beaten by every other fold in the Chinese market.
First of all, the software. I am not going to sugar coat it, I just can’t use a Chinese phone in the U.S. They don’t have the Play Store, and trying to skip over the Chinese manufacturer’s limitations to get Play Store and Play Services on the phone is too much of a hassle that it isn’t worth it to do so. It might’ve been a good idea to try to do that on slab phones; but for Foldable phones with specially designated software, it doesn’t seem like a good idea. One miss, and the phone is just a slab phone on the outside and the inner display becomes completely unusable. If you are even fathoming about the fact of buying a Chinese foldable phone, let me just stop you right here. You are not going to have a good experience with the software. If you can make do without the Play Store, then have at it, you are going to have a great time; but if the Play Store and American services being banned in China are too much for you to lose, you’d better to stick with an American foldable phone. (I’m saying Samsung is American, yes, it’s not really a Korean company anymore.)
Now, let’s talk about the supposed upgrades. Samsung AI? I’m not sure about you, but I never bought into the AI hype. The year, the Fold6 had the addition of the AI upgrades that I don’t think should be the reason why you upgrade. What the phone can do with AI is very limited, like drawing a few pictures or summarizing a few texts; what’s the point? But that’s a different blog thing I want to elaborate more about. If you’ve never used AI before (and I think that’s the majority of the people out there), I doubt you would start using the Samsung AI now.
But other than Samsung AI, there just isn’t any significant software upgrades compared to last year’s Fold5, the Fold3 from two years ago, or even the Note 10 from all those years ago. It was the same Samsung formula; if you liked the Samsung experience, then you will find no faults with this generation. It is the exact same software you will find on previous Foldable phones.
But is generational-leap kinda software upgrade necessary? I don’t really think so. The software experience is currently at its top. I don’t think there is anything I would want more out of a phone that I wouldn’t just grab my laptop and do. A phone is a phone, and the current software fulfills that need. It can be a good web surfing tool, a good e-book, and a good video player; but it is just not a productivity tool. Drawing on the dented surface of the Fold with an S Pen that doesn’t even stick inside the phone? Hard pass. I was given a free S Pen and S Pen case when I bought the Fold5, I don’t think I’ve ever used it. Now that the Fold6 changed its form factor, the Fold5 S Pen case is just going to the trash.
So enough about me bitching about the software. Same old, same old. If you’re expecting a huge software upgrade, then let me put your mind at ease — you aren’t going to find one with the Fold6. If your current phone is just too slow for you to handle, then sure, Fold6 works fine; but so would the Fold5, or even the Fold4 and Fold3. You can find a generally competent and good software experience with all the past-generation foldable from Samsung.
So, let’s talk about the hardware. Hardware is where the Fold6 shines. Obviously, it is going to have the year-end processor update. I have lost count to what Snapdragon they have to offer this year. I used to be crazy about the processor number — my Mi Mix had the Snapdragon 821, and my Note 8 had the Snapdragon 835. I have no idea what the processor is in the Fold6, it could be Snapdragon 1000 for all I know. The processing power of current smart phones are way overpowered for what they are set out to be — for smartphones.
You are not going to play any 3A titles on your phone. You are not going to create videos or songs on your phone. You are not going to stream 8k videos that need the processing power. But it’s still nice to have a new CPU, though, can’t really complain about that. But for me, the CPU upgrade is just that, a simple upgrade, nothing more, nothing less.
The real area where the Fold6 shines, is its new form factor. The new form factor offers a more squared off design. Samsung, in recent years, is shying away from its original circular design where you see smooth curves on everywhere where an angle would suffice. They have moved away from the bent displays (infinity display), and the note series, or the S series, is becoming more and more squarish. The curves on the iPhone, or for that matter, any slab phone, looks fine, because of the fact that it is thinner. When the Fold folds, it is a thicker device; and thicker devices, aesthetically, looks kinda dumb when it is curved. I’m not sure if this is just my opinion, but I feel like the curves on the edges of the Fold series before make the phone look just a little bit more dumb and thick. It doesn’t play nice into the “productivity” angle that they are trying to be.
With the new squared-off design, the Fold6, looks, surprisingly modern. It is comparably more stylish than the Fold5, which had the same form factor as the Fold, Fold2, Fold3, and Fold4. Yes, Samsung has not changed the form factor of the Fold series until this generation. Other than the squarish design making the phone look a little bit more aesthetically pleasing, it is also just a long and much warranted design refresh that should’ve be done when the Fold4 came out.
I am not going to hide the fact that I bought the Fold6 for the design refresh. I've owned the Fold2 since 2020, and 4 years later, four freaking years later, they finally had a real redesign and the redesign is one of the major reasons why I bought the Fold6. I am just that shallow of a person, and you can’t fault me for that. It just made the phone look that much more modern, and not that chunky.
Speaking of chunkiness, the other real redesign, or upgrade, with the Fold6, is with its new weight and thickness. The phone is, to Samsung’s credit, a lot more lighter and a lot more thinner compared to the Fold5. I was actually shocked by how thin and how light the phone is compared to its predecessor. The Fold5 is already thinner and lighter than the Fold4, but the Fold6 doesn’t feel thick anymore.
I have taken the Fold3 with me to China and Korea, the Fold5 to China, Korea, and Japan, and I have always thought that the trips would be much easier if the phone is simply thinner and lighter, like its Chinese rivals. Before I continue any further; yes, the Fold6 is still considerably thicker than Xiaomi, Huawei, or OPPO’s foldable phones. It is still considerably heavier, as well. Again, if software and Chinese region lock is no matter to you, then go for the Chinese ones, 100%, they are superior in every way. But for those of you who need to use the phone outside the Great Firewall, Samsung’s foldable is the only one worth buying as for now, and the Fold6 is a great step forward.
Unlike the predecessor where the frame was made out of stainless steel, the Fold6 now utilizes titanium (yes I know apple clone haha not funny). This premium and much lighter material has made the Fold6 considerably lighter than the previous generation, and I kid you not, feels the same weight as my iPhone 15 Pro Max. The iPhone 15 Pro Max weighs 221g, while the Fold6 weighs 239g. The Fold6 has finally stepped into the territory of a weight-bearable arena, and that is a good step forward for Samsung. I’m not saying that Samsung is not lazy by not making the phone even thinner and even lighter — no. I actually blame Samsung for not making a phone that is significantly better than its Chinese rivals; but for what we have right now, the Fold6 is a significant improvement over the old one. I’m also not saying that Samsung deserves credit for making the Fold6 the way it is right now, because it clearly has the capability to make it so much thinner. The only reason they chose to only make it this much thin is so that they can make the next generation thinner as a selling point.
It is like, the only difference between the iPhone 13 and the iPhone 14 is that Apple moved the power button just so slightly down south so the cases made for iPhone 13 won’t fit the iPhone 14. Corporate greed at best, nothing technologically significant.
But yeah, the phone feels so much lighter now, and it is less jammed in my pants. For testing, I wore the same pants (for work), so I know first hand how the phone feels when it sits in my pocket. The Fold5 is just slightly more uncomfortable than having the Fold6 in my pocket, and I would consider that a big plus. Whenever I drive, even if I know the way, I take my Foldable phone out of my pocket because it is just not very comfortable for it to be stuck in my pocket in a tight position for a long period of time. The Fold6, although still not as comfortable as a slab phone, makes my life just slightly easier.
With the biggest selling point out of the way, the other thing I really like about the Fold6 is with its titanium frame. Yes, I know, Apple used titanium first and now everyone is trying to copy Apple, but I actually thank Apple for this. Not only did the titanium make the phone considerably lighter; it made the phone look much more premium. The problem with stainless steel, is that you have to make it shiny, as in mirror finish. I believe the trend was to make phones shiny; and iPhone came out with stainless steel, and so did the rest of the industry. I really liked the yellow stainless steel, because it resembled gold, and I am a sucker for gold. However, the white stainless steel, or just mirror finish stainless steel, feels cheap.
That’s why I have never taken a liking of iPhone’s white back and stainless steel frame iPhones. I’ve always preferred the cream Yakult like color back and gold stainless steel frame. When Samsung removed the gold option on the Fold5, I was truly, royally, disappointed. I was tired of having a black phone, since both my Fold2 and Fold3 were black phones, so I had no other choice but to pick the white one, which looked extra cheap. Sure, it did refresh my eyes when I first got the phone, but over time, it looked cheaper and cheaper each day. That’s not a thing you want for your shiny new $2,000 phone that is more or less a status symbol.
The way that Samsung chooses to process its titanium is different from Apple’s. Apple’s titanium finish is with a hairline effect, which adds a zing to the titanium material itself; Samsung’s one is just matte, and it does not feel any cheaper because of that. I believe Apple’s reason for choosing the hairline effect for its Titanium frame is just so people won’t think they are using aluminum, same matte finish material used on its cheaper iPhone lines. Samsung, though, doesn’t have this problem, and I can say with the limited knowledge I have on metals, that the titanium on the Fold6 does not look nor feel like aluminum. It feels premium, it feels new, it feels well balanced. I really dig the new matte finished look of the Fold6, much much better than the Fold5 with its mirror finish.
I am also glad that I bought the grey colored one. There are a couple of other colors, like black, pink, dark blue, and white; but all of those are boring, well, except the pink, but I am not about to brandish a pink phone. The new, grey color looked very similar to the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s default color, which in my mind, looked premium as hell. Yes, Samsung is once again, copying the looks of Apple products; but it made the phone look better, so I’ll give it a pass this time.
The last thing that I believe, a massive plus, is with its Always On Display (AOD). For years, Samsung’s AOD has been a completely black background with a white numeric clock. You can modify the AOD to include pictures; but those pictures has always been limited to a small area of the screen. You can also modify the colors of the numeric clock, or even change that to the looks of an analog clock; but in the end, it has always been like that for over 8 years now, when Samsung first introduced OLED and AOD. The reason why the AOD has been like that for ages is due to considerations for screen burn-in; and unfortunately, I knew screen burn-ins too well.
Screen burn-ins are those tiny annoying afterimages that got burnt into the individual pixels of an OLED display when a bright image was at the same location of the screen for a long period. When I say bright, I mean any color that resembles the color white. Even though I have never had problems with screen burn-ins that were caused by the AOD; I have experienced screen burn-ins from Google Maps. You know, when you set up a navigation, there are a few unremovable white circles on the top right corner where it stays there for the entirety of your trip. I have only experienced it on my Note8, and have never experienced it since; but the consideration for the old AOD has always been so that the screen never experiences the ghost image that were caused by prolonged brightness.
The state of the AOD landscape has been stale over the last 7 years until Apple came up with its own version of AOD on the iPhone 14 Pro series. Apple’s take on AOD, after never debuting one even though it has used OLED displays since the iPhone X, was interesting. Unlike the android version of AOD where the background is completely black, Apple’s version sees a completely colorful background of your choosing. It can be a picture of any color; and apple only dims the picture and display down. In other words, you can still see your background picture on AOD, just a bit dimmer.
That sounded a bit convoluted, because the reason why AOD came out in the first place is because it only used those individual pixels on the clock of the AOD, therefore it doesn’t use much battery to complete the task. For Apple to have a AOD that utilizes all pixels available just sounds counter-intuitive. Apple’s explanation for its version of AOD is that the screen lowers to 1 hertz per second, so either way it saves a lot of energy. Android phones do not yet have the same technology, which saw the Fold5 coming with the regular old boring AOD. When Fold6 came out, though, low and behold, there’s the full screen AOD now.
I wondered about screen burn-ins caused by full-display AODs as well, but I haven’t encountered any screen burn-ins since I switched from the Note 8. I am guessing that this is no longer a technological difficulty and has been sufficiently addressed. I have used the iPhone 15 Pro Max for a long while now, and I have still not experienced screen burn-ins of any kind (knock on wood). With the Fold6 now adopting the same AOD as Apple, I am happy. I like that my phone is not having just a boring looking AOD and in fact is a bit fun to look at just sitting there on the desk.
But yeah, that’s everything I have to say about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6. I am not a traditional tech blogger where they just cut to the chase so they can secure maximum reader retention; I don’t care about shit like that, cuz, for one, I am not a tech blogger! I write stuff down to read for myself, to document my penmanship, although not particularly strong at this moment, will be fun for me to read in the future. I am also using this opportunity to document my history, so for people who really want to know me, now you know just a bit more.
I like the Fold6, it made me feel refreshed as a tech nerd. I am going to hope that Samsung dazzles me with the new phone, cuz this one is only a good refresh, not the bang in the head goodness that I am hoping from Samsung. Still good, though, don’t get me wrong.