One of the best foldable phones I've tested is not made by Google or Motorola

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The $1,219 Galaxy Z Flip 6 is Samsung’s latest take on a modernized flip phone. Right now it’s on Amazon for $949.
• It comes with a few upgrades, such as a tougher design, better performance, a new main camera, and a bigger battery.

• It’s far from exciting, however, given its similarities to the Z Flip 5, and it’s priced over $200 more than Motorola’s Razr Plus.

Samsung is already on the sixth iteration of its Galaxy Z Flip, and by now, we’ve all grown familiar with folding phones, what they’re capable of, and what their unusual form factors bring to the table. The Z Flip 6 is the most polished clamshell we’ve seen thus far. Compared to the Z Flip 5, Samsung has changed very little, with only a handful of features to market the new model with.

The starting price has also gone up by $220 to $1,219. So, after using the Z Flip 6 for a little over a week, the big question for me is whether the new price tag is justified, especially when Motorola’s Razr Plus, the Z Flip’s closest competitor, didn’t go up in price. Here’s my answer.

Samsung doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel every time it ships a new folding phone, but there’s been room for improvement on the Z Flip’s design for a while. On the Z Flip 6, Samsung switched back to matte aluminum sides instead of glossy like on the Z Flip 5, which I appreciate.

Also: I replaced my Samsung S24 Ultra with the Z Fold 6 for two months – here’s why I’m keeping it

The new Z Flip also has an IP48 rating, marking the first time one of the company’s folding phones has offered any certified form of dust protection. The hinge has also been strengthened, resulting in a shallower crease along the middle of the display.

These improvements are nice to see, but are by no means monumental. I would’ve loved to see a bigger cover display; Samsung upped the ante last year when it swapped the Flip 4’s 1.9-inch cover display for a 3.4-inch panel on the Flip 5. The Flip 6 carries that same larger screen on the outside, but it’s dwarfed by the much cooler-looking 4-inch panel on the 2024 Razr Plus.

Also: I tested Motorola’s new Razr Plus (2024) and it made the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip feel outdated

Not only does Motorola’s display stretch to each edge and behind the cameras, but it also lets you run any app you want, so you rarely need to open the phone to do quick things like respond to a text. On the Z Flip 6, you’re limited to the panels and widgets Samsung gives you access to, which makes the experience far less useful than Motorola’s.

Naturally, I found myself opening the Z Flip 6 display a lot, but that’s not a bad thing. The 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X is stunning, with a sharp Full HD+ resolution and excellent color reproduction. There’s a 120Hz refresh rate that keeps everything silky smooth, and Samsung even threw in 2,600 nits of peak brightness, which is much brighter than the 1,750-nit panel on the Z Flip 5. 

I also love the performance of this phone. Inside sits a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, 12GB of RAM, and either 256GB or 512GB of storage. It’s fast. Whether you’re scrolling Instagram, flipping between your calendar and to-do list, gaming, or taking pictures like a crazy person, the Z Flip 6 will have no problem keeping up.

Also: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 vs. Motorola Razr+ (2024): I’ve tested both, and the winner is not so obvious

What I’d like to see Samsung work on is heat management. There’s very little space for companies to add the same ventilation and cooling systems as normal phones, so most foldables tend to suffer from excessive heat even when you’re doing normal things like checking TikTok or firing off emails. The Z Flip 6 is no exception; I’ve noticed it gets really warm quite often, both in the summer heat and in my 62-degree bedroom. When gaming, it can get even hotter. 

The cameras are a step up from the Z Flip 5, but they continue to fall short of what normal flagships are capable of. I like most of the photos I’ve taken with the Z Flip 6; the new 50MP main camera collects more detail and sharpness than the old 12MP sensor did on the Z Flip 5, and you can take full-resolution 50MP photos if you want to crop in or have them printed. Meanwhile, the 12MP 123-degree ultra-wide performs fine during the day, but gets pretty dark and muddy at night with a lot of artificial light injected into it.

If you care about camera quality and want a clamshell flip phone, the Z Flip 6 is the one to get. I compared some of the photos I took to photos I captured with the Razr Plus, and the difference is almost night and day. Colors are more true to life on Samsung’s phone, lighting is oftentimes better, and you can take pictures at night without each of them coming out unusable. Video quality is also better on the Z Flip 6 than the Razr Plus.

Also: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 hands-on: The foldable most people should buy gets one key upgrade

Of course, the shooting experience remains unmatched with the Z Flip’s flexible form factor. Like other foldable phones, you can prop it up like a kickstand for hands-free photos, use the cover screen as a second viewfinder, record videos in classic handheld camcorder fashion, and more.

That whole experience is driven by software, which is solid on the Z Flip 6. The overarching story is that it’s still purely Samsung, with One UI 6.1 and its smorgasbord of features piled on top of Android 14. There are Edge panels, split-screen modes, an array of customizable UI options, performance and battery optimization settings, and more, along with all the features that make foldables so unique. Samsung is also promising up to seven years of software updates on the Z Flip 6, which means it falls in line with the direction the industry is heading.

Also: The Galaxy Watch Ultra convinced me to replace my Apple Watch in less than a week. Here’s why

Samsung also includes a list of AI features on the Flip 6 like it does with its other 2024 flagships, including context-aware replies for messages on the cover screen, live translations, conversation recording, and automatic transcriptions. None of these features have been ground-breaking, but they are nice to have and add a bit of flair to the experience. It’s only a matter of time before Samsung goes as hard as Apple is in iOS 18 with AI, so let’s all enjoy it while it’s still complimentary.

The battery on the Galaxy Z Flip 6 can last a full day, so long as you’re careful. Samsung increased the size of the battery from 3,700mAh to 4,000mAh, which helps it stretch well into the later hours of the day, but it’s by no means a two-day phone.

ZDNET’s buying advice

At $1,219, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 is easy to perceive as “boring” or “overpriced,” especially when the Z Flip 5 is so similar and costs significantly less. Odds are, however, that no one who owns a Z Flip 5 is going to buy a Z Flip 6, and Samsung is banking on older Flip customers or folks who are new to foldables altogether to spring for its latest clamshell, and for those who do, you’ll get a pretty decent phone in exchange. (Especially if you take advantage of the Z Flip 6 offer currently on Amazon.)

That said, the Motorola Razr Plus is out there looming over the Z Flip 6 with its superior cover display, vegan leather design, and lower price. If you don’t mind giving up your ultra-wide camera (and don’t need seven years of software updates), you might want to think about picking up the Razr Plus instead.