What I like about the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 isn’t that it’s foldable
Samsung’s mid-year Galaxy Unpacked launch for 2024 was a bit boring. The Galaxy Watch range didn’t see many improvements, apart from the introduction of the Ultra (which is really only aimed at the most die-hard fitness enthusiasts), with time mainly spent on the spectacular Galaxy Ring, an entirely new product category for the smartphone. maker (one I’m excited about in Australia, where it has yet to launch). Combined with an extremely tepid year for Samsung’s sixth generation of foldables, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 may have gotten the least love of all the new gadgets – but I’ve come to appreciate the phone for what it is, beyond the obvious gimmick.
The Galaxy Z Flip 6 has existed in an odd space in Samsung’s premium phone range for a while now. Vertically foldable, similar to trendsetting phones of the 2000s, the Z Flip’s only real selling point is in the name: it’s fashion before function. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 proves its existence much better, acting as a tablet-phone hybrid, albeit at a high price.
Internally, the phone performs worse than similarly priced models from the flagship Galaxy S product range, with a dimmer and less detailed screen and a smaller chassis. The unimpressive cameras don’t do it any favors and the battery life is mediocre at best.
But I don’t really want to be too down on the Galaxy Z Flip 6, because it’s a device that’s aesthetically at the forefront – and it’s good at that. In fact, it’s more fun than almost any other phone I’ve used this year. The flip function makes for a fun fidget toy and the phone can be placed in a number of creative poses.
But it turns out my favorite aspect isn’t so much the folding – it’s the narrow portrait orientation the form factor creates.
But why is that cool?
I may admit that smartphones kind of blend together in my head because they all share the same basic “big glass rectangle” trait, but I’ve really fallen in love with how big the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6’s screen is. is.
The phone folds into itself from top to bottom and to avoid being too short for casual use in its folded form (where it is square in shape and has limited usability via the rear screen) larger in size.
Let’s take a look at the specs: the dimensions of the Galaxy Z Flip 6 are 165.1 x 71.9 x 6.9 mm (H x W x D), while the Samsung Galaxy S24 (the phone with which it shares the most DNA ) has dimensions of 147 x 70.6 x 7.6 mm. The Z Flip 6 has a slightly narrower (and thinner) chassis, with thicker bezels that give the S24 a great screen-to-body ratio.
The Galaxy Z Flip 6’s 18mm larger screen makes me wish we had more phones with smaller dimensions. That’s 18mm more for Google results to populate Chrome, or for lines in a news article, or for displaying more tweets, or for text in your posts, and while much of the extra space can be made up by simply scrolling, I enjoyed the longer view and the way the content fills it from top to bottom.
Somehow it takes me back to the early iPhone years, when touchscreen phones were dramatically smaller and fake iPhone concept videos featured completely absurd designs (especially this one). It also takes me back to the early smartphone years, when these gadgets were designed much more creatively, especially models like the LG BL40.
These days you’re unlikely to find a smartphone smaller than six inches (with the exception of the 4.7-inch iPhone SE, which is likely to be extinct soon), with all dimensions getting a bump as the size increases.
And that’s what we want, right? The uniformity of display dimensions across brands and manufacturers is determined by the way we use the technology and the content we consume. It’s no coincidence that most streaming services offer content in a 16:9 aspect ratio with added cinematic bars for a better viewing experience. The reason for this is that smartphone usage habits largely stem from TV usage.
Even more than movies and TV shows, smartphones require uniformity in display for the sake of app consistency. Some apps still have compatibility issues between tablet and smartphone versions, where the app on the tablet scales up to accommodate display size at the expense of image quality. If smartphone makers suddenly had to accommodate vastly different aspect ratios of longer (or wider) smartphones, let alone simply larger screens, the result would be greater pressure on developers and more unused dead space as developers try to hit the sweet spot of aspect ratios. reaches. (losing the top and bottom of displays).
How far can a gimmick take the Z Flip 6?
At this point it’s worth discussing the inevitable: can Samsung continue to make the cool, quirky yet stylish foldable thing interesting enough for buyers?
There will always be room for consumers who want something more aesthetically pleasing, but in the vertical folding space, Samsung is now competing with cheaper (and arguably nicer) options from Motorola and other smaller brands. Compared to the Z Flip 5, the Flip 6 was less of an overhaul and more of a re-release with some minor changes.
It’s also a clash with reality to position the Z Flip 6 as a higher-end device, which is probably why we heard rumors of a low-cost Flip FE earlier this year. The Flip isn’t intended as a performance phone, and the limitations of the screen are a significant obstacle to positioning it that way. So why not go to market with the FE?
But for now, I’m pretty happy with having a long phone. The larger screen suits my smartphone habits so well that I can’t help but love it. The folding aspect is cool too, and I’ve found a lot of great uses and situations for it, but I’ve fallen for the display in a way that wasn’t intended.