Samsung unveiled its newest foldable smartphones on Wednesday at its Unpacked presentation in Paris, France. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6, which run Android and are powered by Google (GOOG, GOOGL), are a major point of differentiation for Samsung in its protracted competition with Apple (AAPL) for supremacy in the global smartphone market.
Similar to Apple, Samsung is positioning its generative AI capabilities as a key differentiator for these two phone models. The Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6 are priced at $1,099 and $1,899, respectively, which is $100 higher than their predecessors and places them firmly in the premium smartphone segment. In comparison, the starting price of Apple’s bigger Pro Max model is $1,199, while that of the 15 Pro model is $999. The starting prices for Samsung’s S24 and S24+ are $799 and $999, respectively. $1,299 is the price of its top-tier S24 Ultra.
The Flip 6 and Fold 6 from Samsung are being marketed as more than just foldable phones. Its Galaxy AI platform is presenting them as potent, generative AI-capable gadgets. The software offers a variety of generative AI functions, from real-time translation and conversational capabilities to photo editing tools and productivity alternatives. Samsung unveiled it earlier this year alongside its S24 lineup.
The company claims that among Samsung customers, artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly popular. According to the tech giant, 77% of S24 users utilize its AI capabilities once a week. The most used ones are Samsung’s Edit Suggestions and Google’s Circle to Search. With Circle to Search, you may take a picture of an object or text and use it to translate or do an online search. As the name suggests, Edit Recommendations offers generative AI text recommendations for emails and text messages that are being written.
According to Samsung, the distinctive shapes of the Fold 6 and Flip 6 make them particularly useful for utilizing Galaxy AI functions. The Interpreter app now has a new conversation feature that lets you communicate with someone in multiple languages. Your comments are automatically heard and shown on the cover screen and main screen of the phone.
Let’s say you are conversing in English with someone who speaks French exclusively. The Flip 6 can be folded like a makeup compact, or the Fold 6 can be folded so that it rests on the table like a tiny laptop. Then, the conversation feature will show your words on the external screen and your friend’s words on the main screen. The goal is to enable smooth, real-time communication between you. Google’s foldable smartphone, the Pixel Fold, has a feature comparable to this one.
Additionally, Google’s Gemini app, which uses its own AI algorithms, is pre-installed on both phones. Gemini may be accessed by simply saying “Hey, Google” or by swiping on the corner of the screen. Gemini offers a wide range of services, such as assistance with idea generation for tasks such as job assignments, travel schedules, locating locations on Google Maps, and more.
In terms of efficiency, Galaxy AI now offers a new PDF translation feature for the Samsung Notes app, in addition to editing suggestions. This feature, appropriately enough, can translate your PDFs on your phone while maintaining the document’s layout. It’s likely that you’ve attempted to open and translate a PDF in the past, only to have the formatting completely collapse and become unreadable. Translations into PDFs ought to help get rid of that.
With the exception of a few minor adjustments, the Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 are essentially the same designs as the Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5 from the previous year. To feel more like a typical rectangular smartphone when closed, the Z Fold 6 has a slightly larger 6.3-inch cover screen. Even though it’s only a 0.1-inch increase, the greater display real estate should prove to be a nice upgrade, given it was one of my complaints with the phone.
Together with a new ultra-wide-angle camera, the Z Flip receives the same primary camera as the company’s flagship S24. Additionally, Samsung claims that since the phone’s battery is identical to that of the S24, customers will no longer have to forgo overall functionality in favor of the Flip over its mainline flagship.
A 50-megapixel primary camera, a newly developed 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera with a 3x optical zoom and a maximum 30-x digitally enhanced zoom are all included in the Fold.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 CPU and 12GB of RAM are standard in the Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6. While the Fold has 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB of storage, the Flip also has 256GB and 512GB.
There are other foldable smartphones available than Samsung’s. Motorola and other Chinese smartphone manufacturers, like Huawei and Xiaomi, also sell foldable smartphones. However, Samsung’s Galaxy AI platform might guarantee that those shopping for foldables continue to think of it first.