The Galaxy Z Flip 6 comes with a hidden desktop mode that isn’t Samsung DeX
Samsung DeX desktop ambient mode wasn’t available on the Galaxy Z Flip phones until now, including the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6. However, the latest model does have another hidden desktop mode that you can use.
As noted by Android AuthorityThe mode can be enabled when the Z Flip 6 is connected to an external display. Rather than simply mirroring what’s on the phone’s screen, the mode lets you work with apps in separate, resizable windows (though there’s no taskbar).
First, you’ll need to force desktop mode for external displays in Samsung’s One UI 6.1. 1 software. To do this, you’ll need to enable Developer Options on your phone. If you’d like to try this out, you can contact Samsung has instructions here.
It’s an interesting little upgrade that we weren’t previously aware of – we didn’t discover it in our Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 hands-on – and it’s yet another reason to consider the foldable phone as your next smartphone.
Still no DeX
If you’ve never used Samsung DeX before, it lets you control your phone on a larger screen, as if it were Windows or macOS. Including support for a keyboard, mouse, and floating windows that you can move around as you please.
While this alternative desktop mode might not seem like it has the power and features of DeX, it’s certainly better than nothing. It means you can actually get some serious work done, whether that’s emailing, writing, or image editing, on the Galaxy Z Flip 6.
Running a desktop environment is a demanding challenge for a phone, and concerns about how the compact, foldable phone would handle it are the reason DeX has so far shied away from flip phones, including last year’s Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.
The Z Flip 5 was actually the first in the series to support external display output at all, and now the Z Flip 6 takes that even further. By the time the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 comes out next year, we might finally get full Samsung DeX support too.