Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 price, release date, specs, and more

After tons of rumors and speculation, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 has arrived on schedule at a special Unpacked event, alongside the Flip 6, Watch 7, and a few other announcements. Samsung’s most expensive phone returns with several tweaks to the old formula. Here’s everything you need to know about the latest Galaxy Z Fold.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6: Release date, price, and availability

• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 (12GB/256GB): $1,899.99 / £1,799
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 (12GB/512GB): $2,019.99 /£1,899
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 (12GB/1TB): $2,259.99 /£1,799

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 was officially announced on July 10, 2024, with pre-orders starting immediately. As usual, Samsung is offering a year of Samsung Care Plus and double the storage for those who pre-order. The phone isn’t for sale just yet but will be available for pickup in stores on July 24.

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 retails for $1,899.99 for the base variant. That’s a $100 increase over last year’s model, but this jump in pricing isn’t too shocking as Samsung has been raising prices for a while now due to our less-than-great economy.

As always, the new Fold 6 will be available in a variety of colorways. Samsung has confirmed the phone will come in your choice of Silver Shadow, Navy, or pink. If you don’t mind shopping directly from Samsung’s website, you can also get the Samsung.com exclusive Crafted Black or white colorways.

Where can you get the phone? The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 will be available globally, though exact markets will vary. As always, it will arrive in all major markets in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. We’ll update this article with more specific launch details as Samsung reveals them.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6: Specs

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is a notable upgrade from its predecessor with obvious updates like the switch to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy, but there’s more than just improved components. The Fold 6 sees a major redesign this year. Not only has the device’s footprint changed a bit over the last year, but it’s also lighter than ever before.

There’s even IP48 certification for the first time. The Fold 5 was rated IPX8, which meant it could handle being submerged in up to 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes without an issue. Although the same water protection remains, the new certification now has a dust protection level rated at 4. It can’t handle fine dust, but you don’t need to worry about wires or small objects (those 1mm or higher) getting into the hinge or other sensitive areas of the phone.

Below, we take a closer look at the Galaxy Z Fold 6 specs for those curious about what else has changed.

While the Galaxy Z Fold 6 specs tell half the story, design and software are just as important. Let’s dive in a bit deeper as we look at some of the biggest Galaxy Z Fold 6 features and changes.

Camera

There were a few rumors suggesting the Fold 6 might see the 200MP sensor from the Galaxy S24 Ultra this year, but unfortunately, the reality is a lot less exciting.

Samsung is once again keeping the same camera system, which first debuted on the Fold 4. There’s a 50MP main camera (ƒ/1.8, one-micron pixel size, OIS), a 12MP ultrawide lens (ƒ/2.2, 1.12-micron pixel size), and a 10MP 3x telephoto shooter (ƒ/2.4, 30x digital zoom, OIS). The same situation applies to the front camera, which is still a 10MP shooter. There’s also the same 4MP under-display selfie camera.

Although software improvements and a few new AI enhancements (which we’ll get into later) might make the camera experience better than last year, we wouldn’t expect a major jump here. The good news is this camera package isn’t bad and should produce vibrant and sharp photos, especially in good lighting. Even Night Mode was solid on the Fold 5, so we’d expect the same here. Just be aware it’s nowhere near other premium flagships out there, including the S24 Ultra.

Performance

As mentioned above, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 inherits the same chip as the Galaxy S24. Samsung claims the new CPU will be 15% faster compared to the Fold 5’s SoC. Furthermore, Samsung says the NPU is 41% better than last year, and the GPU is 25% faster with 53% better ray-tracing when compared to the Fold 5’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. That’s the largest on-paper spec change, as the RAM and storage configurations remain the same as last year. As a refresh, that means 12GB of RAM across all configurations, as well as storage choices of either 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB.

Until we have more hands-on time with the Fold 6, we can’t say how much better the new phone performs, but we’ll be sure to expand this post in the weeks to come with more specific performance metrics.

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 introduces several design changes this year, though the cover screen is probably the most immediately noticeable update.

While the Fold 5 had a 6.2-inch display with a 23.1:9 aspect ratio, its successor is switching it up a little, upgrading to a slightly bigger 6.3-inch display. While the screen size might not be a major change, the switch to a 22.1:9 aspect ratio sure is. The Samsung Galaxy Fold series has always had a pretty odd-looking front display, but this new aspect ratio means the shape and size are a bit closer to your typical bar-shaped smartphone.

The aspect ratio change also results in a pretty different body profile. The Galaxy Fold 5 measured 129.9 x 154.9 x 6.1mm unfolded, while it had dimensions of 67.1 x 154.9 x 13.4mm in folded form. In contrast, the Galaxy Fold 6 measures 132.5 x 153.5 x 5.6mm unfolded, and 68.1 x 153.5 x 12.1mm if it’s folded. The newer model is also quite a bit lighter at 239g versus the Fold 5’s weight of 253g.

Beyond the aspect ratio, the two displays should provide a similar experience to the Fold 5, as there are no major changes to resolution or refresh rates this year.

Design and build quality

Unsurprisingly, the cover screen’s new aspect ratio means the Fold 6 looks a bit different from its predecessor. That’s not the only design change, however. The phone’s edges also seem a bit sharper and more akin to the Ultra than last year, which is a bit ironic considering rumors suggest the Galaxy S25 Ultra might have a slightly more rounded design than before. Durability also sees a huge upgrade with the new Fold.

We already mentioned briefly that the Fold finally has IP certification, but Samsung did a lot more than this. For starters, there is a new dual-rail hinge structure and a strengthened folding edge, which combine to help the phone better distribute shock from drops and other external impacts. The main display also has enhanced layers that are designed to increase its strength while helping further reduce crease visibility.

The Fold 6 is also equipped with Armor Aluminum and Corning Glass Victus 2 glass, which helps prevent scratches and cracks. Even the phone’s cooling system has been improved, as the Fold 6 has a much larger vapor chamber than its predecessor, which should help prevent heat issues.

Battery life and charging speed

If you were hoping for big changes to the battery life or improvements in charging speeds, we’ll stop you right there. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 remains the same as its predecessor here. Not only do you get the same 4,400mAh battery size as last year, but the phone sticks to 25W wired charging and the same Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 technology.

To be fair, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is more energy efficient, so the Fold 6 should still see a minor improvement over its older brother, but expect the difference to be pretty negligible.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 runs Android 14 on top of One UI 6.1.1, providing an experience that’s not too different from what you’d get with the Galaxy S family. This includes familiar Galaxy AI features such as Chat Assist, Note Assist, Circle to Search, Browsing Assist, and Smart Reply. Samsung has even embraced Google Gemini under the hood.

The photo experience is also getting a few enhancements on the software side as well. It turns out the AI-powered ProVisual Engine is making its way over from the Galaxy S24 series. This feature incorporates AI during the capture and editing process. There’s also a Photo Assist mode to help make your content look its absolute best.

If that’s not enough AI for you, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 are also the first Samsung phones to introduce two new AI features.

The new Interpreter feature consists of a Listening Mode for one-way translations and a Conversation Mode that uses the inner and outer screens for two-way, live translations of entire conversations. If this sounds familiar, that’s because the Pixel Fold has a similar Interpreter Mode of its own. The second new feature is a Drawing Assist function that lets you scribble or write a prompt and then AI transforms it into an actual image.

It’s also worth noting that Samsung’s foldables follow the Galaxy S24 series by offering seven years of OS and security updates. Only Google is matching this update policy.

While the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold series has supported the S Pen for years, it doesn’t ever include one. This tradition continues with the Fold 6. Samsung will continue to sell you the S Pen separately. It also offers an S Pen Case, as the phone doesn’t have a built-in holder.