I think the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is the best foldable for first-time users

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 was announced on July 10 during Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event. The new foldable smartphone received many minor refinements, including a faster chipset, a slightly wider cover display with a more user-friendly aspect ratio, and a brighter screen and improved thermals.

There’s no denying that this year’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 is still a small iterative update. But it still brings a lot of great features and changes, which is why I believe it’s the best foldable for first-time users who are starting to explore the world of versatile folding form factors.

The hardware is even better than last year

It’s more refined despite the small changes

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 sports several revisions. Samsung managed to improve the brightness of the display, which is now more than double that of its predecessor. The cover screen is also 1 mm wider, making it look more spacious, user-friendly, and easier to use — whether you’re typing away on the keyboard, browsing the web, or using your favorite social media apps.

Samsung has also redesigned the thermals on the Fold 6, which now fits a 1.6x larger vapor chamber, further improving the gaming performance and overall experience under a full load. The added vapor chamber will be needed, thanks to the more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, which will bring new AI features and a more enhanced experience to the table.

Additionally, the Fold 6 is one of the first foldable smartphones to come with IP48 ingress protection. Samsung was among the first to make its foldable water-resistant, and it’s also now the first to include some form of protection against dust.

While the number 4 rating isn’t the highest on the list, it should still provide some peace of mind when going to the beach. However, we’d still recommend you avoid using it near a pool or dusty environment to prevent small particles from entering the device and damaging the hinge and other components.

All in all, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is an excellent and well-refined device that caters to new users more than the existing Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 4 user base. This move shouldn’t be too surprising. After all, foldables are still a novelty and cost nearly twice as much as standard flagships. Users aren’t expected to upgrade yearly, but presumably every other year or every three to four years.

And let’s not forget that the latest Galaxy Z series devices will also receive seven years of OS and security updates, making them among the longest-supported devices that are available today. If you’re starting to think about exploring and trying out foldables for the first time, now might be the best time to do it.

It’s far from perfect

Small iterative upgrades ruin the Fold 6 for those wanting to upgrade, but it remains one of the best options for first-time foldable users

With that said, it’s worth mentioning that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Samsung has seemingly put on the breaks for its flagship foldables, and we’re seeing the same components being used year after year.

We’re yet to see a meaningful camera upgrade on both the Fold and Flip devices, and the battery technology, as well as the charging solution, has remained the same for at least three generations now – all while competitors like OnePlus, Honor, and other foldable smartphone makers have proved that even thinner devices can benefit from larger batteries, and faster charging speeds.

Samsung has also failed to include other upgrades that users, like myself, have been asking for, for several years. Those include the aforementioned improvements to the camera, battery, charging speed, but also the way the S Pen is used and stores. Many users would like to use the pen on the front cover screen, and store the stylus in an embedded slot, similar to the way its done on the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

While there are some physical limitations on what’s possible, we’ve seen several competitors accomplish some of the items on our wishlist. As of right now, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 remains an excellent device for those who don’t mind the small refinements, those who want to enter and experience a foldable for the first time, and, of course, those who have the budget to get it.