Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 vs. Z Flip 5: design

Last year’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 improved upon its 2022 predecessor in two significant areas: the hinge and the cover screen. These may seem like minor improvements, but combined, they give Samsung’s latest flip phone a much nicer fit and finish.

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Samsung’s new “Flex Hinge” eliminated the gap from previous models, such that when the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is folded closed, it feels properly shut. That looks nicer and gives the device a more solid feel overall, but it also shaves 2mm off its thickness when folded. The new hinge is also quieter and smoother yet still holds its position when you want to prop the phone up. Overall, it feels better in every way, especially when combined with the excellent overall build quality.

We’re not anticipating any big changes to the hinge on the Galaxy Z Flip 6, but that’s fine, as we don’t think any are needed. Samsung nailed this one last year, and it’s hard to improve upon near perfection. However, Samsung may build on the other significant improvement from last year by making the cover screen even bigger. More on that in a moment.

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The Galaxy Z Flip 6 will undoubtedly sport some new colors, so it may be worth waiting to see what Samsung will have to offer if you’re not a fan of the Galaxy Z Flip 5’s palette. Leaks say we can expect Light Blue, Mint, Silver Shadow, Yellow, Crafted Black, Peach, and White, with the last three likely being the usual Samsung exclusives. Sadly, there’s no indication that we’ll see a return of the Z Flip 4’s fun Bespoke Studio.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 vs. Z Flip 5: display

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 expanded the cover screen to a far more useful size than the previous model, as it sports a new 3.4-inch Super AMOLED panel. While we’re not expecting anything quite that dramatic for the Z Flip 6, some reliable reports say the cover display could grow to 3.9 inches. However, that information conflicts with some of the renders we’ve seen, so it could go either way. Nevertheless, while any size increase is nice, we don’t think 0.5 inches is a deal breaker, especially if that’s the only change.

Even if it grows in size, the screen’s design won’t change much, and we’ve heard no news about any improvements in resolution or refresh rate. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 has a 720 x 748 panel with a 60Hz refresh rate. Samsung might surprise us here, but it’s much more likely the Galaxy Z Flip 6 will have roughly the same specs as the Galaxy Z Flip 5.

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That will leave it behind competitors like Motorola, but we’re not convinced a 144Hz refresh rate is truly necessary on a flip phone’s smaller cover screen. It’s what’s inside that counts here, and the Galaxy Z Flip 5 has a gorgeous 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display that the Z Flip 6 will undoubtedly inherit.

Samsung may continue its trend toward brighter screens — the Galaxy Z Flip 5 gained 550 nits over the Z Flip 4 — but the display specs are expected to be the same otherwise. Plus, at 1,750 nits, the inside display of the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is already plenty bright; we’ve certainly had no problems seeing it on even the sunniest summer days.

It remains to be seen whether Samsung will finally be able to eliminate the crease. There are reports of Samsung Display trademarking a new “Ironflex” foldable OLED technology, but that might be more about durability and dust resistance.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 vs. Z Flip 5: performance and battery

Samsung typically puts each year’s best Qualcomm silicon into the North American versions of its Galaxy S-series and Z-series flagships. While most reports expect that to continue, the smartphone maker might throw us a curveball this year.

The flagship trio of Galaxy S23 models received a custom “for Galaxy” version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which later came to the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5. Only the “Fan Edition” Galaxy S23 FE used an older Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. This year’s Galaxy S24 lineup welcomed the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 to North American shores, but there’s a slight possibility the Galaxy Z Flip 6 could go in a different direction.

An April report from SamMobile revealed that Samsung is testing the Z Flip 6 with last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, although it also appears to have boosted it to 12GB of RAM rather than the 8GB that’s standard for Samsung’s Z Flip series.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 vs. Z Flip 5: cameras

If you’re hoping this year’s Galaxy Z Flip 6 will gain a telephoto lens, we have disappointing news. Every report and render we’ve seen suggests that it will sport the same type of dual camera array found on the Galaxy Z Flip 5.

However, that doesn’t mean we won’t see some improvements. The best information available right now suggests that the primary sensor will get an upgrade to 50 megapixels (MP). That’s not only a healthy boost over the 12MP found on the current model, but it’s also likely that Samsung will take advantage of the higher resolution to add the same pseudo-optical zoom capabilities it brought to the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S24 models by using the 12.5 million pixels in the center of the sensor to produce a 2x image.

That won’t match a proper 3x telephoto lens, but it should definitely be an improvement over digitally zooming from a 12MP sensor. There’s no word on whether Samsung will improve the specs on its ultrawide or selfie cameras from the 12MP and 10MP versions on the Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Nevertheless, last year’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 delivered some noticeable image processing improvements over the Z Flip 4, and we expect the Galaxy Z Flip 6 will follow suit, especially if it gets the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip with its better image signal processor (ISP). The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is no slouch in the camera department, though, and it delivers the kind of vibrant and rich images you’d expect from a Samsung phone.

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 or wait for the Z Flip 6?