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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 Review: Best Folding Phone For Gaming

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 form factor has always made a lot of compromises compared to its conventional counterpart. But this year, many of them have been addressed, with the Galaxy Z Flip 6 featuring major upgrades in design, display, better cameras, and bigger batteries. The Flip 6 is available in Yellow, Silver Shadow, Mint, Blue, Black, White, Peach, and other colors.

It’s still not perfect, but the is more fun with the new software, and the form factor has some advantages beyond just being cute and nostalgic.

However, this phone is still not perfect, and there are some things you should know about before buying. The Flip 6 starts at $1,099, which is $100 more than the Flip 5 for 256GB.

Galaxy Z Flip 6 Specs:

Connectivity: Nano-SIM, eSIM, WiFi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, USB 3.2 Gne 1 Type-C
Dimensions & Weight:
- Unfolded: 165.1 x 71.9 x 6.9 mm
- Folded: 85.1 x 71.9 x 14.9 mm
- 187 g (6.60 oz)
IP Rating: Yes, IP48
Display:
- Main: Foldable Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 2600 nits (peak)
- Cover: Super AMOLED, 3.4 inches, 720 x 748 pixels (Gorilla Glass Victus 2), 306 ppi
Resolution:
- Main: FHD+ (2,640 x 1,080 pixels)
- External: 720 x 748px
Rear Camera: Dual-camera;
- 50MP, f/1.8 primary sensor;
- 12MP, f/2.2 ultra-wide lens
Front Camera: 10MP, f/2.4 aperture;
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy (4nm)
RAM: 12GB RAM, 256/512GB UFS storage (fixed)
Software & UI: Android 14 with One UI 6.0 on top
Fingerprint sensor: Side-mounted
Battery: 4000 mAh Non-removable Li-Po,
- 25W wired, QC2.0, 50% in 30 min (advertised)
- 15W wireless
- 4.5W reverse wireless
Colors: Yellow, Silver Shadow, Mint, Blue, Black, White, Peach

Galaxy Z Flip 6 Design

The design is my favorite Z Flip. The back glass, hinge, and sides all became matte. Even the bezel around the main screen, which was glossy before, is now also matte. I love the new texture. It doesn’t track fingerprints nearly as much, and it looks great. Another notable change is the hinge. It feels more firm and satisfying now.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 Review: Best Folding Phone For Gaming

On the last-gen Z Flip 5, when fully opened, it wasn’t perfectly flat. You could see a slight bend there. The new hinge improves on that, and the Galaxy Z Flip 6 opens almost completely flat.

I say “almost” because there’s still just a little bit of wiggle room when you push on the hinge like this. However, the new hinge didn’t provide any more dust resistance. It’s now officially rated for IP48, but that’s only against solid objects bigger than one millimeter. Only a rating of IP5-something would be considered dust-protected.

Also, when you first boot up the phone, it tells you that it’s not dust-resistant.

Galaxy Z Flit 6 Display

The main compromise of folding phones is having a crease right in the middle of the screen. The new hinge does help with this. If I run my fingers side by side against the Z Flip 5, it’s a noticeably shallower valley on the new phone. Sometimes, you can even see that it’s less steep, especially with reflections.

However, anything besides a perfectly flat screen is visually noticeable. When there are any reflections, you can tell that the screen is creased. But when there are no reflections or if the screen is bright enough to mask all the reflections, the crease becomes almost unnoticeable.

samsung z fold 5 and z fold 6 comparison

The screen is much brighter this year, peaking at 2600 nits. It’s just as bright as the S24 Ultra.

Of course, this helps with outdoor visibility, but it also helps to mask the crease better than before. The anti-reflection coating is also surprisingly good for a folding phone with a built-in screen protector layer.

It’s just as good as the smaller S24, but no match for the S24 Ultra, which has a super dark coating. To be fair, I haven’t seen anything else with such a good coating. The other aspects of the Galaxy Z Flip 6 screen are also very competitive, being 120 hertz and OLED. If you haven’t used the Flip before, you’ll be surprised by how tall it is. It’s as tall as the S24 Ultra but about the same width as the smaller S24.

So, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 still feels easy to hold, even if you have smaller hands. But when browsing the web, it feels like a larger phone, and you can easily swipe up to split the screen vertically into two usable halves. However, a regular 16:9 video doesn’t look bigger than on the smaller S24. Only ultrawide movies make use of this wider aspect ratio effectively.

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Galaxy Z Flit 6 Camera

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 has received a major upgrade on the camera front, with a 50 MP, f/1.8, 23mm wide main sensor and a 12 MP, f/2.2, 123˚ ultrawide shooter. This means that you no longer have to sacrifice camera quality on a Galaxy Flip phone.

The most important upgrade to the camera is the 50 MP main lens, which is now four times sharper than on the Flip 5, allowing for much better detail, a difference you can see in every photo. Plus, the sensor is larger, letting in more light and reducing noise in lower-light scenarios. I also found the color profile on the Flip 6 to be a step forward in terms of accuracy, producing a more true-to-life image.

Main Photo

The 12 MP ultrawide is also sharper than before, particularly around the edges, and has better low-light performance.

Of course, the one thing missing from the Flip 6 compared to the S24 is a dedicated 3x telephoto lens, but I’ve got to say, I don’t really miss it. This is because the 50 MP main lens is so good now that using the 2x digital crop works very well for portraits and product photography.

You can technically zoom up to 10x, but this is more for reading a sign in the distance than for taking an actual photo.

The selfie camera delivers decent quality, but the beauty of a Flip phone like this is how easy it is to use that main sensor and cover screen to get amazing quality selfies. Plus, the nice square shape of the Flip when closed is so easy to hold, giving a good grip.

4K 60fps video shot on the Flip 6 is solid too, with good image stabilization and accurate autofocus.

Galaxy Z Flit 6 Software / Ai

The software is a bit of a mixed bag, with great features I use all the time and gimmicky AI stuff that feels like a solution looking for a problem.

One customization trick I love is setting different combinations of lock screen, home screen, and cover screen using Modes and Routines. When I toggle on my custom mode, I can change all of my wallpapers instantly. There are also a few new AI features.

They’re currently only available on the new Flip and Fold, but they’ll probably make their way to other Samsung devices soon. The new Portrait Studio is fun for a few minutes—you try it on your friends and family once, then forget about it. Part of the reason is that it only stylizes your face, as opposed to the entire image.

Another new feature is Sketch to Image, and while it’s a great idea, the AI’s performance isn’t quite there yet. The stuff it generates often doesn’t blend well into the photo, and sometimes it’s unintentionally comical. So, the new AI features are somewhat underwhelming.

One thing that’s been notably missing on the Z Flip is the Samsung DeX, where you can plug into an external screen and have a more desktop-like experience.

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 technically doesn’t have DeX—there’s no option for it on the phone—but you can get a new DeX experience by toggling on Forced Desktop Mode in developer options.

If you really want to use DeX, I guess this is something. The reason given for why the Z Flip has never had DeX is due to thermal limitations, but given the new processor and vapor chamber, there’s no reason the Z Flip 6 can’t have DeX. Even in a thermally limited state, it’s at least as fast as the S23 Ultra in most cases, and that had DeX.

Galaxy Z Flit 6 Performance

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in every market, along with a bigger vapor chamber than the S23 Ultra, but in reality, it can only do so much. In comparison, the S24, which has the same processor and a vapor chamber that spans the entire height of the phone, is much more effective at dissipating heat.

The vapor chamber in the Z Flip 6 is only in the top half of the phone, and there’s no way to effectively move heat from one side of the hinge to the other.

ultimately, in this 20-minute gaming benchmark, you can see that the performance of the Z Flip drops off a cliff much faster than the S24, and by the end of the 20-minute test, it’s only performing at about 80%.

However, this is still a big upgrade over the last generation, since the new processor is so much faster, and you also get 12 GB of RAM with the Z Flip 6.

So even though the 8 Gen 3 can’t reach its full potential inside the Z Flip 6, it still somewhat keeps up with the previous flagship, the S23 Ultra. And the S23 Ultra is by no means bad at gaming, so neither is the Z Flip 6, although it’s kind of strange having only one of your hands heat up.

Overall, it’s a fairly good gaming experience. You get an ultra-widescreen feel.

Galaxy Z Flit 9 Battery

Another way Samsung flip phones compromise is in battery capacity. It’s now 4,000 mAh, the same as the S24. Two and a half hours after I started testing it, the S24 was at 85%, while the Z Flip 6 was at 83%.

samsung galaxy z flip 6 vs galaxy s22 battery comparison

So basically the same. Maybe the Z Flip’s bigger display is using a tiny bit more battery. In the gaming benchmark, it consumed less battery, mostly because it’s thermal throttling more.

Galaxy Z Plip 6 Should you upgrade?

Samsung has been making these folding phones for years, and each year they keep getting better. The Flip 6 brings important upgrades to key areas like the camera, display, performance, and battery life, meaning you no longer have to compromise on these aspects when choosing this folding phone. This, to me, is why the Galaxy Z Flip 6 is a worthy upgrade if you’re coming from a Flip 2 or even a Flip 3, and an excellent first flip phone if you’re looking for a super compact device that doesn’t compromise on flagship performance.