So today we're comparing the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 to the Z Flip 5, but I do want to start this video off by saying I'm so disappointed they increased the price by $100. Foldable phones need to come down in price, not get more expensive. And I understand Apple increased their phones, other companies are following suit, inflation, blah, blah, blah. But still, like, if you want to be competitive, that $100 more makes a big difference, especially now that you're really comparing this phone to other phones like the iPhone 15 Pro. the Pixel 8 Pro, even to the S24 Plus, like those are now in the realm with this phone.
And I get it, those are not flip phones, but you have to really love the flip idea to want this over those, because you're missing out on more features, you're missing out on better cameras. And the whole flip idea of getting smaller needs to be a bigger priority than the bigger picture. Now, look, it's still a fantastic phone. And quite frankly, it's really hard to tell the difference between these two devices but there are a couple of little things that do improve this year's version compared to last right off the bat i prefer the frosted design i know the phone looks a bit more muted but it just looks clean right and you don't have those nasty fingerprints that you will get on the previous version like you just don't see them at all yes you're still going to see it on the cover screen there's nothing you can really do there but on the bottom part it's completely gone even the dimensions of the device are pretty much identical to the previous version. Like the only difference, like literally the only difference is that the thickness is about 0.2 millimeters more on the Z Flip 5. And you really can't tell if you have both in your hand.
The other thing they changed is the way the phone feels. The previous version has rounded off edges. Quite frankly, I think this feels nicer in the hand. The squared off look is obviously.
creating a similar design to the S24 Ultra for example. And yeah, you know, it's still comfortable, but those rounded off edges do feel slightly better. Again, these are minor things. The other big update is the IP certification. So on the previous one, it was IPX8, so water resistant.
It's still water resistant on the new version, but the new version is IP48. All that means is basically it can withstand screws and wires bigger. than one millimeter. It's still not dust resistant, but at least it's something.
The other good news is you can kind of use your old Z Flip 5 case with the new Z Flip 6, at least the Samsung official ones. The dimensions are the same, so it fits everywhere. The only thing that doesn't line up perfectly is the bottom speaker grill. It's a tiny bit off on the Z Flip 6, but it's so minor that I probably just wouldn't buy a new case anyways.
But the main way you can tell the difference between both of these devices is obviously the rear cameras. They have a different look on the back. There's a border on the Z Flip 6. It has this blue circle around it. I think it looks nice. You know, I think it goes with the theme.
It goes with the blue color. It just makes it stand out. It's very similar to what you'd get with the Galaxy Ultra or even the new Z Fold 6. It just gives it its own personality. The cover screen on the front is identical.
They're both 3.4 inches. It's the same resolution. It's the same panel. Nothing has really changed there. Of course, you do have a slightly brighter cover display on the new Z Flip 6, but you have all the same features.
Like you can download GoodLock. You can add more apps to the phone. So like if you really want to run Netflix on your device, you totally can.
It does look very small. It's not something I'd want to do every single time, but it's kind of handy. You know, like, especially if you're listening to music, I love this cover screen for that. It just gives you a big display of what you're listening to. The other little change is the bezels.
The bezels on the new Z Flip 6 are not glossy. So I don't know if you can tell this, but on the previous version, the bezels are like a glossy finish. On the new one, it's more of a matte finish. It kind of stands out. out more whereas the bezels on the previous version kind of blends into the phone not a big deal but again I just want to point it out the other thing you'll notice is that the crease on the display is not as noticeable it's still there and depending on the angle you will see it but the crease on the previous Z Flip 5 is just there you know like it's there I think Samsung is kind of starting to fall behind compared to the competition in terms of their designs like some of these other Chinese flip phones and foldables, the designs of these things are just on another level.
And because Samsung doesn't have a lot of competition in North America, they're kind of coasting right they're just making tiny changes. They're not making big ones. Now the main display is still the same size at 6.7 inches, it's still 1080p it looks absolutely beautiful. The big difference this year is the peak brightness has been bumped up to 2600 nits.
What does that mean? It doesn't mean the screen is always going to be 2600 nits. This is a misconception with a lot of reviewers out there.
They'll say yeah the screen can get 2600 nits of brightness. It's only in certain windows. Maybe one percent of the display when HDR content is playing will go up to 2600 nits while the rest of the display is significantly lower.
But overall, even SDR brightness is higher on the new Z Flip 6. And if you have both of these phones beside each other playing the exact same videos, you can tell that the Z Flip 6 is generally brighter overall. Now there are some differences in the colors, I did find that the Z Flip 5 is a bit more contrasty. And both of these phones are on the vivid profile.
But I found that greens, reds and blues were more vibrant on the Z Flip 5 compared to the Z Flip 6. You will also notice that on the new Z Flip 6, you have the option to use an adaptive color tone. This is something you didn't have on the Z Flip 5. Now adaptive color tone is basically the same sort of idea to Apple's True Tone, where it basically adjusts the color and the white balance based in the room you're in so that white always looks like a proper white. Some people love this, other people don't because if you're doing any sort of of color correction it could throw things off. Also the sound on the phone is pretty much identical. I do find the Z Flip 6 to be a little bit tinny like I don't find it to be as vibrant as the Fold or even the Ultra.
There's just more space in the body for sound to resonate but they did change up the sound the way like you can equalize it for example. So if I go into the equalization settings under both phones I think they're doing the same job. It's just that they are labeled differently.
So on the previous version, you have normal, pop, classic, jazz, rock, custom. On the new version, they got rid of the genres and they're just giving you more of a specific description. So right now you're looking at the front facing cameras of the Z Flip 5 and the Z Flip 6. Of course, there's a lot of sun right now. It's a sunny day. You guys let me know which one looks better.
And of course, which microphone. Sounds better. Now just like the previous model the Z Flip 6 is always warm like this phone is always warm even just doing the two things I did on the display the top cover over here is already feeling warm.
Like yes the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 inside of here is obviously a performance upgrade compared to last year's 8 Gen 2 and it's also an efficiency upgrade but these phones still get warm. The battery life is probably one of the biggest updates to the Z Flip 6. They went from 3,700 milliamp hours to 4,000 plus you have the more efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and it's just a lot easier to get through the entire day. Now I know this screenshot only shows two hours of screen on time at 50% battery but look at that idle time over 13 hours like I was able to wake up in the morning at 6 30 a.m make it all the way to 11 30 at night with 50 percent battery life left.
I used it at the gym, I listened to Spotify, I watched content on it, I scrolled through TikTok mindlessly, read a bunch of articles, and I was still able to end the day with 50 percent. On the Z Flip 5 if I did that I'd probably be ending the day with maybe 15 to 20 percent. But the biggest change with the Z Flip 6 is the main camera.
It's now 50 megapixels up from 12. In fact it's using the same sensor as the Galaxy S24. And when I look through all my footage, there's a few things that stood out. For one, I find that the photos are more pleasing on the Z Flip 6. The Z Flip 5 tends to overexpose.
Yes, you do get a bit more detail in the shadows, but the overall image tends to look a tiny bit more flat. I also found that the Z Flip 6 with the main camera had the photos look sharper. And this was really apparent during the day and even at night.
The other difference is the ultra wide camera, they're both technically 12 megapixels with the same focal length but the one in the Z Flip 6 might be different because it's shooting at 0.6 times versus 0.5. 0.6 means it's not as wide as 0.5 and yes the photos do look better on the Z Flip 6 but you're obviously not taking in as much of the scene as you could with the previous Z Flip 5. But nighttime is where I saw the biggest difference. Again they both take great shots but I do find the Z Flip 6 looked more natural. The Z Flip 5 tended to introduce a lot of magenta and purple hues into the photo, which just wasn't very appealing, whereas the Z Flip 6 just looked more realistic.
Like, it actually looked like a proper nighttime photo. It looked... Great!
And as for 4k video it was hard to tell the difference between both but I think it came down to the same sort of idea. Slightly brighter video on the Z Flip 5 where you get a more contrasty, sharper image on the Z Flip 6. I also found the stabilization to be a tiny bit better but who knows like maybe I was a little bit less shaky with one hand over the other. Now I should probably talk about Aeon. These devices a lot of them are kind of gimmicky some of them are useful like the interpreter feature if you ever travel and want to translate on the fly you can totally do that with these devices but I've been playing around with sketch to image because it's a lot of fun right and this is not going to last forever I'll probably get bored of it after a week but you know I drew a picture the first picture that most dudes do when they get something they can draw with and you know it came up with some creative ideas just being able to insert something that you can imagine into the photo and then have galaxy AI kind of I don't know, create something that you don't expect is fun to play with. I think my kids will love it, but I don't foresee myself using it all the time.
But yeah, you know, we're just getting a lot more AI features in this phone. Most of them are still being done in the cloud. Like it does take, you know, a little long for these features to work because it's not processing it directly on the device. But yeah, some of them are party tricks. Some of them I could see expanding into useful features down the road.
And finally, the other little feature update is you now get 12 gigabytes of RAM instead of 8 gigabytes of RAM on the Z Flip 5. But in terms of actual performance and using these devices day to day, I really didn't see a speed difference. Most of the speed differences really come down to like, let's say, if you're gaming or doing something super intensive. But if you're buying this phone to send out emails and browse, you're really not going to see a difference between both of these devices.
Look, the Z Flip 6 is just a more polished version of the Z Flip 5, really. it is but at a drastic $100 more price tag. Now if you live in North America and Canada in the USA, they usually have fantastic Samsung trade ins and deals that you can take advantage of.
But if you don't live in a country where those deals exist, it's a tough pill to swallow. You know, and I my suggestion to use if trying to find a deal on the Z Flip five, like it's almost as good as the Z Flip six with a few minor differences. But yeah, you know, with these flip phones getting more expensive, you have to really care about making your phone smaller to put it in your pocket over all the other features that you get with regular phones that are considered pro devices. Either way, that wraps up my review.
Links to both of these phones will be in the description down below. Like the video if you liked it, subscribe if you haven't already, and I'll see you guys in the next one.