What We Know About The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 So Far
When it comes to foldable Android smartphones, it's difficult to argue against Samsung being the top dog. The Samsung Galaxy Z series is prominently placed in carrier stores and has generally been well received, with the most recent versions, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 (flip phone form factor) and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 (larger form factor) both getting very strong marks in our reviews here at SlashGear.
Though Geekbench results for its flip phone counterpart, the Galaxy Z Flip 6, surfaced recently, revealing a lot of the details of its internals, there has been no such definitive leak for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 just yet. As of this writing, what we know about the Z Fold 6 consists largely of scattered rumors that have surfaced from reliable tipsters with past track records of accurate sourcing. We should probably have more details soon, though, because the last few Galaxy Z models came out in August, and that's just a few months away. So let's take a look at what's known, or at least rumored, so far and how it stacks up against last year's Galaxy Z Fold 5.
There's little reason to doubt a late July/early August release date
As noted above, based on recent history, it's pretty safe to assume that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 will be available by the end of August 2024. That isn't the only reason to be confident about the release window, though.
On April 30, SamMobile reported that Samsung's next Galaxy Unpacked event is set for July 10 in Paris, France. It's there that Samsung is expected to announce not just the Galaxy Z Fold 6, but also the Galaxy Z Flip 6, Galaxy Ring, and Galaxy Watch 7, among other products. Invitations are expected to be sent to the media in late May or early June.
Beyond that report and the history of the previous Z Folds coming out in August, there are other reasons that this timeline makes sense. The previous two Galaxy Unpacked events were held on July 2, but this year, that's the day of the Summer Olympics' opening ceremonies in Paris. As luck would have it, Samsung is a major sponsor of this year's games, and their partner page on the Olympics website makes it clear that this is the mobile devices arm of the company. With Samsung having been involved with the Olympics since joining on as a local sponsorship partner for the Seoul, South Korea games in 1988, this just makes sense.
The basic specs as best as we can tell
Though the GeekBench leak in April was ostensibly for the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and not the Galaxy Z Fold 6, there's good reason to believe they're at least broadly similar on the inside. That's because all of Samsung's flagships in a given year tend to use the same chipset. Just as 2022's Galaxy S22 series, Galaxy Z Flip 4, and Galaxy Z Fold 4 all used the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, 2023's Galaxy S23 series, Galaxy Z Flip 5, and Galaxy Z Fold 5 all used the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. It stands to reason, then, that as the GeekBench leak suggested for the Flip, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 will have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset that powers the Galaxy S24 series. Tech Radar has also heard from multiple sources that this is the case.
If we go by the comparison page on Samsung.com for last year's models and try to extrapolate for this year, then aside from form factor-dependent elements like the battery, the biggest difference between the Z Fold 6 and the other Samsung Galaxy flagships for 2024 will be the amount of RAM. In 2023, while the Z Flip 5 carried the same 8 GB RAM as the S23, the Z Fold 5 had 12 GB, the same amount as the step-up version of the Galaxy S23 Ultra. The same goes for the 2022 models and beyond. Yes, some of this is guesswork, but it's in an area where Samsung has been very predictable.
It's going to remain very big and very expensive
Unsurprisingly, Samsung's overall largest phone is going to stay that way. In March, Smartprix— with an assist from X tipster @OnLeaks — reported that the handset has a 6.2-inch cover display, plus a 7.6-inch screen measured diagonally when unfolded. The overall dimensions of the unfolded device, meanwhile, are 153.5 x 132.5 x 6.1 mm, roughly similar to last year's 154.9 x 129.9 x 6.1 mm. While it's 1.4 mm shorter than the Galaxy Z Fold 5, it's also 2.6 mm wider.
The original Galaxy Z Fold hit the market at a whopping $1,980, but the subsequent models have retailed at $1,799, approximately nine percent less. That's out of reach for most people, even on an installment plan. Without a discount, that's a pretty steep $75 per month if paying it off across the standard two years. If anything, there's room for a second version of the Z Fold at a lower price point, but if the current rumors are any indication, if there is a variant, it's likely to be a more expensive "Ultra" version of the device. According to the German website WinFuture (reported in English by Android Police), the chatter coming out of MWC Barcelona 2024 was that this was a plan for a second SKU, as opposed to the existing rumors spread by sites like Phone Arena of a less expensive Z Fold 6 FE filling that spot.