Galaxy Fold 6 Review Summary

This, it's a great technology, it's a great idea, it's just, man, it's going to take three, four, five years of iterations before this doesn't kind of suck. It just has that big run-up time before it'll ever be good. Looking back after five years, it turns out my old friends at Android Police were being a little pessimistic. It only took two generations for Samsung's Galaxy Fold to demonstrate its value, and three generations to solidify itself as the Galaxy Note for a new era. An expensive but extremely powerful pocket PC for a new generation of mobile accomplishers. But here's the problem. Samsung saw that success and milked it. And then milked it some more. The Fold 4 was a relatively minor upgrade to the Fold 3, and the fifth iteration was so tame, so uninspired, that even I, the foldable fanatic, skipped covering it. Because while Samsung was making improvements you could only measure with calipers, companies like OnePlus, Google, Xiaomi, and Honor kept pushing the envelope with better cameras, bigger batteries, slimmer casings, different materials, and new aspect ratios. So many of us hoped that 2024 would be the year Samsung finally stepped on the gas. Maybe it would finally widen that cover screen to match the competition. Maybe it would add a 5X telephoto camera, or give its S Pen stylus a proper garage that didn't require a clunky case. Or maybe it would work on minimizing the crease. And even if Samsung didn't do any of that, well, maybe that would mean the price could finally come down. The Galaxy Fold 6 meets none of those criteria. And after its unveiling, my first impressions reflected that. If only I had more to talk about. If only we had gotten the Fold successor that I think we should have this year. Since that time, I've spent 10 days with the Galaxy Fold 6. First in Paris, where Samsung flew me along with a ton of media to cover its massive launch event. Then in Mexico City, where Spotify flew me. along with a ton of influencers, to cover something completely different. Fun fact, for that trip, I left my laptop at home and used the Fold 6 as my computer for all three days. That deep dive made me appreciate the Fold a lot more. It showcased the kind of polish you only get when your product is on its sixth generation, refinement that's really laudable. But neither that refinement nor the vaunted AI features cured my frustration with the phone's iterative timidity and the lack of flexibility. Nor did they convince me of the need to charge even more money for it. The main thing working against the Fold 6 is how similar it looks to its predecessors. So if you're trying to decide whether you should buy it, see if you can find a way to handle one in person. Once you pick it up, you realize how much Samsung has actually done to improve it. It's 14 grams lighter this year, which doesn't sound like a lot, but that perfectly matches the OnePlus Open, one of the lightest large format foldables of last year. Samsung didn't go as wide as OnePlus, it's only added a tenth of an inch to the cover screen's diagonal, so it's still that slender Samsung profile, albeit with a reworked aspect ratio that makes typing on the cover screen a bit more comfortable. I do love the new aggressive styling. The slab-sided, tight radius corners now better match the look of the Galaxy Ultra line, and so do the muted color options, for better or worse. I expected the camera styling to follow suit, but Samsung wasn't able to eliminate the plinth upon which the optics sit. So instead, the company went the other way, adding an extended flourish to each lens that looks just different enough. Also refined are the speaker ports. These new minimal slits are a much cleaner look than the old port row. and they sound incredible. Like last year, the phone closes completely flat, but it's about 10% thinner than Fold 5. That's thanks to a new dual rail hinge design that should also provide better shock absorption in concert with the spine of enhanced armor aluminum. The inner display has also been treated with something called STF. I hadn't heard about this before. It stands for Shear Thickening Fluid, and it's pretty wild stuff. It's a material whose viscosity can change depending on force. It's being researched for use in body armor. And the ultra-thin glass beneath it is also thicker. All that should make the screen more durable. And the peak brightness has also gotten a boost to match that of the S24 Ultra. The same goes for the cover display. Sadly, Samsung hasn't figured out how to bring the anti-glare coating of the Ultra to the fold, and that makes the crease as noticeable as ever. To paraphrase Ben Shone over at 95 Google, all these minor upgrades really do add up to an excellent foldable. You just need to ignore the competition. We're fresh off a release from Motorola that leaned hard into fun colors, materials, and software touches that make the new Razors feel fresh. The OnePlus Open continues to outperform on battery size, charging speed, and camera zoom, while Samsung slacks on all that. Speaking of the battery, the Fold 6's capacity is the same 4,400 mAh it's been since the Fold 2. In the real world, here's how that breaks down. You can use it to make sure your flight is on time while Ubering to the airport early in the morning. You can capture some JFK Terminal 4 day in the life footage while walking to your gate. Then while away your in-flight meal on the cover screen by scrolling threads. Check your calendar and travel plans on the full screen. and even deploy into four pocket laptop mode to do some work once you've got your tray table back. Once you get to your destination, Mexico City in this case, you're good to shoot some more photos and video in the Uber to the hotel, at which after 10 hours of very heavy usage, you'll probably end up with around 20% battery. I had 40 minutes to charge it before my first meeting, which got me back up to 65%. Now look, it's not that that endurance is bad. It's just that it's standing still compared to the competition. And keep in mind, this is the best this brand new battery is ever gonna do. Oh, and if I'd had the OnePlus open, those same 40 minutes of charging would have gotten me from zero to 100%. Since we've already started the camera convo, and because I'd like to give my travel-addled voice a break for a minute, let me shut up and just show you what the Fold 6 cameras can do. Spoiler. It's mostly what the Fold 5 could do, since the only meaningful hardware change here is a slightly improved ultrawide shooter. Ultra wide is still worse than the main but way better than the ultra wide on the flip, so that's good. Cheers. Thanks for everything y'all. Appreciate you. As you can see, we're not in a bad place here. Not at all. There's no getting around it. I miss the 5x telephoto of the Galaxy S24 Ultra and it just feels wrong to spend $1,900 and not get the very best. Yes, I know that's been true for a while. That Foldables are treated like second-class citizens by most manufacturers. But that doesn't make it acceptable. At some point that needs to change and I would think that Samsung, which pioneered this category, might be the one to do it. Elsewhere, you'll find hardware bumps like the expected processor upgrade and a new vapor chamber to cool it, but not many new software features to fulfill that hardware's potential. That four pocket laptop mode is a good example. Samsung still hasn't enabled DeX for tablets to work on the Fold. So this isn't nearly as useful as it could be. And while Samsung's multi window is great, there's none of the ambitious rethinking of what multitasking could be, like we've seen from OnePlus and Google. The stuff that does stand out, we've mostly seen before. The interpreter that uses the cover screen to show translations, the tabletop flex mode with its slightly redone interface. Oh, and no, none of the buzzy Galaxy AI features made by time with the Fold 6 measurably better. Maybe I'll revisit this in more detail when I review the Flip 6 in a few weeks. Let me know in the comments if there's something you'd really like me to try out. But my initial impression of most of this stuff is it's all hat, no cowboy. At the risk of belaboring the point, it's not that there's anything about the Fold 6 that's a full-on... failure. It does all the things I love large format foldables for. Reading books so I don't need to bring a Kindle. Rendering big maps and web pages so I don't need to carry a tablet. Being a great video calling platform for meetings. The list goes on. Foldables are still the most impressive phones on shelves, which is why I still use them full-time as my daily drivers. And anyone still using a Fold 3 or older will find much to love here, especially if they take advantage of Samsung's pre-order or trade-in programs. But ultimately, there's just too... much about the Fold 6 that rehashes the same Samsung stuff, which might have been okay if the price had come down, but instead it did the opposite. That's a formula that makes for a phone I can recommend, but only with a big asterisk and a footnote that says, just hold off until we see what Google and OnePlus bring to the fight later in the year. If you do get a Fold 6 and you don't wanna undo all the weight and thickness savings with a clonker of a case, consider skinning instead with my sponsor, dbrand. Way back in the Fold 2 days, I loved adding texture with the mini honeycomb matrix skin, and I still think it's pretty cheeky to make your phone look like marble too. But if you've been around a bit, you know there's only one true skin for me and my foldables, real leather, so I can pretend it's a classy pocket notebook. dbrand your device at the link in the description. This video was produced following 10 days with a Fold 6 review sample provided by Samsung, which also provided travel, lodging, and food and drink for Mr. Mobile and other media at Samsung Unpacked in Paris. But clearly, Samsung had no editorial input or copy approval rights concerning this content, not even an early preview, and the company furnished no compensation in exchange for its production. Subscribe to theMrMobile on YouTube so you don't miss my reviews of the Galaxy Watch Ultra, Buds 3 Pro, and Galaxy Flip 6, all coming soon. Till next time, from Michael Fisher, Captain Two Phones on Threads, thanks for watching and stay mobile my friends.

An expensive but extremely powerful pocket PC for a new generation of mobile accomplishers. But here's the problem. Samsung saw that success and milked it. And then milked it some more. The Fold 4 was a relatively minor upgrade to the Fold 3, and the fifth iteration was so tame, so uninspired, that even I, the foldable fanatic, skipped covering it.

Because while Samsung was making improvements you could only measure with calipers, companies like OnePlus, Google, Xiaomi, and Honor kept pushing the envelope with better cameras, bigger batteries, slimmer casings, different materials, and new aspect ratios. So many of us hoped that 2024 would be the year Samsung finally stepped on the gas. Maybe it would finally widen that cover screen to match the competition.

Maybe it would add a 5X telephoto camera, or give its S Pen stylus a proper garage that didn't require a clunky case. Or maybe it would work on minimizing the crease. And even if Samsung didn't do any of that, well, maybe that would mean the price could finally come down.

The Galaxy Fold 6 meets none of those criteria. And after its unveiling, my first impressions reflected that. If only I had more to talk about. If only we had gotten the Fold successor that I think we should have this year. Since that time, I've spent 10 days with the Galaxy Fold 6. First in Paris, where Samsung flew me along with a ton of media to cover its massive launch event.

Then in Mexico City, where Spotify flew me. along with a ton of influencers, to cover something completely different. Fun fact, for that trip, I left my laptop at home and used the Fold 6 as my computer for all three days. That deep dive made me appreciate the Fold a lot more.

It showcased the kind of polish you only get when your product is on its sixth generation, refinement that's really laudable. But neither that refinement nor the vaunted AI features cured my frustration with the phone's iterative timidity and the lack of flexibility. Nor did they convince me of the need to charge even more money for it. The main thing working against the Fold 6 is how similar it looks to its predecessors. So if you're trying to decide whether you should buy it, see if you can find a way to handle one in person.

Once you pick it up, you realize how much Samsung has actually done to improve it. It's 14 grams lighter this year, which doesn't sound like a lot, but that perfectly matches the OnePlus Open, one of the lightest large format foldables of last year. Samsung didn't go as wide as OnePlus, it's only added a tenth of an inch to the cover screen's diagonal, so it's still that slender Samsung profile, albeit with a reworked aspect ratio that makes typing on the cover screen a bit more comfortable.

I do love the new aggressive styling. The slab-sided, tight radius corners now better match the look of the Galaxy Ultra line, and so do the muted color options, for better or worse. I expected the camera styling to follow suit, but Samsung wasn't able to eliminate the plinth upon which the optics sit.

So instead, the company went the other way, adding an extended flourish to each lens that looks just different enough. Also refined are the speaker ports. These new minimal slits are a much cleaner look than the old port row.

and they sound incredible. Like last year, the phone closes completely flat, but it's about 10% thinner than Fold 5. That's thanks to a new dual rail hinge design that should also provide better shock absorption in concert with the spine of enhanced armor aluminum. The inner display has also been treated with something called STF.

I hadn't heard about this before. It stands for Shear Thickening Fluid, and it's pretty wild stuff. It's a material whose viscosity can change depending on force. It's being researched for use in body armor.

And the ultra-thin glass beneath it is also thicker. All that should make the screen more durable. And the peak brightness has also gotten a boost to match that of the S24 Ultra.

The same goes for the cover display. Sadly, Samsung hasn't figured out how to bring the anti-glare coating of the Ultra to the fold, and that makes the crease as noticeable as ever. To paraphrase Ben Shone over at 95 Google, all these minor upgrades really do add up to an excellent foldable. You just need to ignore the competition. We're fresh off a release from Motorola that leaned hard into fun colors, materials, and software touches that make the new Razors feel fresh.

The OnePlus Open continues to outperform on battery size, charging speed, and camera zoom, while Samsung slacks on all that. Speaking of the battery, the Fold 6's capacity is the same 4,400 mAh it's been since the Fold 2. In the real world, here's how that breaks down. You can use it to make sure your flight is on time while Ubering to the airport early in the morning. You can capture some JFK Terminal 4 day in the life footage while walking to your gate.

Then while away your in-flight meal on the cover screen by scrolling threads. Check your calendar and travel plans on the full screen. and even deploy into four pocket laptop mode to do some work once you've got your tray table back. Once you get to your destination, Mexico City in this case, you're good to shoot some more photos and video in the Uber to the hotel, at which after 10 hours of very heavy usage, you'll probably end up with around 20% battery.

I had 40 minutes to charge it before my first meeting, which got me back up to 65%. Now look, it's not that that endurance is bad. It's just that it's standing still compared to the competition. And keep in mind, this is the best this brand new battery is ever gonna do. Oh, and if I'd had the OnePlus open, those same 40 minutes of charging would have gotten me from zero to 100%.

Since we've already started the camera convo, and because I'd like to give my travel-addled voice a break for a minute, let me shut up and just show you what the Fold 6 cameras can do. Spoiler. It's mostly what the Fold 5 could do, since the only meaningful hardware change here is a slightly improved ultrawide shooter.

Ultra wide is still worse than the main but way better than the ultra wide on the flip, so that's good. Cheers. Thanks for everything y'all. Appreciate you. As you can see, we're not in a bad place here.

Not at all. There's no getting around it. I miss the 5x telephoto of the Galaxy S24 Ultra and it just feels wrong to spend $1,900 and not get the very best. Yes, I know that's been true for a while. That Foldables are treated like second-class citizens by most manufacturers.

But that doesn't make it acceptable. At some point that needs to change and I would think that Samsung, which pioneered this category, might be the one to do it. Elsewhere, you'll find hardware bumps like the expected processor upgrade and a new vapor chamber to cool it, but not many new software features to fulfill that hardware's potential.

That four pocket laptop mode is a good example. Samsung still hasn't enabled DeX for tablets to work on the Fold. So this isn't nearly as useful as it could be.

And while Samsung's multi window is great, there's none of the ambitious rethinking of what multitasking could be, like we've seen from OnePlus and Google. The stuff that does stand out, we've mostly seen before. The interpreter that uses the cover screen to show translations, the tabletop flex mode with its slightly redone interface. Oh, and no, none of the buzzy Galaxy AI features made by time with the Fold 6 measurably better.

Maybe I'll revisit this in more detail when I review the Flip 6 in a few weeks. Let me know in the comments if there's something you'd really like me to try out. But my initial impression of most of this stuff is it's all hat, no cowboy. At the risk of belaboring the point, it's not that there's anything about the Fold 6 that's a full-on... failure.

It does all the things I love large format foldables for. Reading books so I don't need to bring a Kindle. Rendering big maps and web pages so I don't need to carry a tablet.

Being a great video calling platform for meetings. The list goes on. Foldables are still the most impressive phones on shelves, which is why I still use them full-time as my daily drivers.

And anyone still using a Fold 3 or older will find much to love here, especially if they take advantage of Samsung's pre-order or trade-in programs. But ultimately, there's just too... much about the Fold 6 that rehashes the same Samsung stuff, which might have been okay if the price had come down, but instead it did the opposite. That's a formula that makes for a phone I can recommend, but only with a big asterisk and a footnote that says, just hold off until we see what Google and OnePlus bring to the fight later in the year. If you do get a Fold 6 and you don't wanna undo all the weight and thickness savings with a clonker of a case, consider skinning instead with my sponsor, dbrand.

Way back in the Fold 2 days, I loved adding texture with the mini honeycomb matrix skin, and I still think it's pretty cheeky to make your phone look like marble too. But if you've been around a bit, you know there's only one true skin for me and my foldables, real leather, so I can pretend it's a classy pocket notebook. dbrand your device at the link in the description.

This video was produced following 10 days with a Fold 6 review sample provided by Samsung, which also provided travel, lodging, and food and drink for Mr. Mobile and other media at Samsung Unpacked in Paris. But clearly, Samsung had no editorial input or copy approval rights concerning this content, not even an early preview, and the company furnished no compensation in exchange for its production. Subscribe to theMrMobile on YouTube so you don't miss my reviews of the Galaxy Watch Ultra, Buds 3 Pro, and Galaxy Flip 6, all coming soon. Till next time, from Michael Fisher, Captain Two Phones on Threads, thanks for watching and stay mobile my friends.

Transcript for:Galaxy Fold 6 Review Summary

Transcript for:
Galaxy Fold 6 Review Summary