Sidetracking a bit before we get into this review, writing this review while being sick and diagnosed for being at the cusp of pneumonia is no fun. But at least now I am in the recovery phase – but that said, this is a phone that I formed my opinion about way ahead of time when we tried during the hands-on because there’s honestly not much to talk about. While sure there are some improvements, in this Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 Review, I want you to understand why I say that this phone is falling into limbo.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 Review

It’s a Flip that Would Meet Most Expectations

Truth be told, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 got a lot of things right, though being an incremental upgrade from its predecessor. The entire body and finish are now matte including the metal rails, making this a fingerprint-free smartphone. We received the “Baby Blue” (which is what I like to call this colour) and there are accents of the colour on the camera.

Unlike the Z Flip 5, this 6 will meet most expectations as it has finally gotten an Ingress Protection for both water and dust – making this their first ever, IP48 foldable from them. So, it’s well protected as compared to its predecessor. That said, most of the phone is the same as its predecessor. The display, charging speeds, side-mounted fingerprint sensors, under-display camera and even the cover screen. Personally, it wasn’t exciting for me but an “ah okay” to me.

The Minor Change does Result in Major Improvements

For the most part of this phone, there are minor improvements like the battery, camera, protection and so on and while it may not be huge, it surely is heading towards the right direction. Samsung bumping the battery to 4000mAh made a world of difference as it’s now a proper one-day smartphone compared to its predecessor which lasted a lot less than that.

To give you the numbers, we used the phone for things like social media, communication, gaming and so on. For the most part, we could start the day around 9 am and end the day at 11 pm, with about 20+ pretty neat percentages. There’s not much to complain about here as this is much better than what the Z Flip 5 could do.

One of them is the 50MP camera which is great, but you won’t use it often

Samsung upgraded the main shooter to a 50MP camera, same as the Galaxy S24 which is a good addition but you need to remember that the moment you launch the camera, it shoots at 12MP. You will have to toggle the 50MP on top to shoot in that resolution. The increased resolution is a nice touch, but your best bet, a lot of consumers would end up shooting on 12MP to save on storage.

The ultrawide camera is the same as before. So, there’s nothing much to comment on. But expect to have a similar camera experience as the Z Flip 5, with the additional 50MP sensor. The low light image performance on the primary sensor is a bit weird as we noticed grains when shooting in broad daylight. But I am sure they can fix this with an update. Take a look at the samples below.

But Samsung has lost it’s Spark with the Software

Don’t get me wrong, One UI is as fantastic as it is – you do have this flavoured version of Android that’s pretty nice to use and smooth when it comes to the experience. But my biggest gripe with the Z series is that the features that were introduced through Good Lock were said to make it into the OS. But if the only way I can maximize the experience is by downloading an app off the Galaxy Store, that’s a bit frustrating.

Because answer this truthfully, how many of you really would want to go out of your way to download and set it up and use it? More specifically, for those who are coming from an older Z Flip 5. The entire Flip experience with the phone is the same as Z Flip 5 – And I wanted to see more than just having multiple widgets on the screen.

Moving on to the Exorbitant Price tag they seem to be Charging 

There is a group that goes “Oh it’s not so pricey” and then there’s the other group that goes “Mother of god, 5k for a phone is a lot of money”. We understand both perspectives and the rationale they bring to the table – but honestly, as a media-slash-content-creator ourselves, we too are consumers and the RM5000 asking price for the Z Flip 6 here in Malaysia is expensive.

One thing I will not deny is that we are privileged enough to get these devices to review without forking a penny for them (on a loan basis even). But at the end of the day, being a consumer and making sure our readers and viewers watch this, y’all would have been saving money for months to get this flagship and the last thing you want is to feel cheated by a reviewer.

This is why we take our content creation seriously and put down our foot and say that this is an expensive phone for anyone, even the one that goes “it’s not so pricey” – delusional as they can be, the bite your wallet feels while swiping the card is a painful one.

My Advice: If you don’t mind waiting, just wait and get it (And We Are Right)

The reason why we say this is because, if you want to save more, you might as well wait and get it – because at the time of writing, we already see an official listing for the phone lower than the RM 4900 mark – which isn’t a huge drop but you best bet that it will drop to RM 4000 in a span of a month. Especially when you know that you can pick up the best smartphone, the S24 Ultra for RM 4000 is pretty concerning. All this is coming from Samsung Malaysia’s official store. Fun fact, last October, you could pick up the Z Flip 6 for RM 2,599 at certain stores.

We understand that the Chinese smartphones are bringing a kind of competition that they didn’t have to deal with but to stoop down so low to a point, pre-owned values for a flagship that came out the very year to tank so low is a big fat oof. So, be the smart consumer and get it for a discounted price, it’s worth it.

As for the rest of the phone…

Honestly, it shares too many similarities with the Z Flip 5 in terms of the display, experience, charging speed and so on. So, it’s alright. And yes the under-display camera still leaves a lot to be desired because of the UTG.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 could have been such a great phone, it has the making of one, but it no longer excites me. But the brand can consider itself lucky for being the sole contender in most Asian markets and now that Xiaomi has entered with their Flip, there’s a chance that it’s game over for Samsung.

For those who are coming from an iPhone, and want to try Android, you have the Pixel available in Malaysia now but if you’d like to try a good Android foldable, this is probably your best shot because other foldable with Xiaomi Flip being one exception here in Malaysia, the rest don’t stand a chance.

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