Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: All the biggest upgrades

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 has been around for a couple of months now and, with Black Friday on the horizon, many will be wondering if it is time to upgrade their Galaxy Z Fold 5.

There's no doubt that the Z Fold 5 is a great phone, especially compared to its predecessor. It's lighter to hold, and the motion when unfolding it feels amazing. The screen is beautiful and there's no doubt that the cameras were some of the best of the generation.

However, there's always room for improvement, and the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is by no means a slouch thanks to an even better design and some other great improvements. So, the question remains, do you need to upgrade or can you with a generation?

are these improvements enough to tempt you to upgrade your foldable? Our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5 comparison looks at all the changes to help you make up your mind.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Specs

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Price and availability

Samsung has been charging $1,799 for its high-end foldable since the days of the Galaxy Z Fold 2. That's what the phone maker charges for the Galaxy Z Fold 5, but sadly that has now changed. The starting price for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is now $1,899 for a 256GB model — $100 more than you would have paid last year.

It's not ideal, especially since we had been hoping for a low cost version of Samsung's foldable in the form of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 FE. But since that has reportedly been canceled, we're left paying even more for our foldable fix.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Design and display

The Galaxy Z Fold 5 introduced some key design changes to Samsung's foldable lineup, highlighted by the Flex hinge, which allows the phone to close all the way flat, without the gap we had come to expect from previous Folds. The new design helped the Z Fold 5 feel more streamlined, too.

This same design has been brought over to the Galaxy Z Fold 6, in truth the two phones could almost be copies. While this means that you are still getting the same stellar design, the same issues are still present. For instance, the cover screen can still feel a bit cramped to write on.

However, the Z Fold 6 is now thinner and lighter than the Z Fold 5. It weighs just 8.4 ounces to the Z Fold 5's 8.92 ounces, and 0.22 inches thinner when the phone is open. So it won't feel as clunky in your pocket and is more comfortable to hold in your hand.

The internal displays haven't changed much in terms of size, with there only being a 0.1-inch difference between the two. However, the screen on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is much brighter, while the Z Fold 5 offers better color coverage and accuracy. this means that, when it comes to watching media on your phone, both excel in different places. The Z Fold 6 will make it easier to watch in darker places, but the Z Fold 5 will offer a better image.

Samsung's placed a lot of emphasis on durability with the Z Fold 6, but that doesn't expand to adding titanium to its frame — as you'd find in the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Instead the phone is made from armor aluminum, which is supposed to be 10% stronger than the Z Fold 5.

Samsung has also added an extra protective layer to the screen, and combined with the new Dual Rail Hinge it improves the shock resistance and decreases the display crease. The Hinge is also said to be twice as strong as the Flex Hinge in the Z Fold 5, while also being thinner. what this means is that the new foldable is durable, although that isn't to say that the older model isn't by any means.

One of the big fears with foldable phones is that the hinge will snap, at least for me. However, both devices offer major improvements over the older Galaxy Z Fold 4. You won't see the new model having the same hinge issues we are seeing in the older models and that's a big win.

Finally, the Z Fold 5 offers IPX8 water resistance, which means it's capable of surviving submersion in up to 1 meter of fresh water for 30 minutes. The Z Fold 6 ups that rating to IP48, meaning it has the same level of water resistance but also officially rated protection from dust particles up to 1mm in size.

The Z Fold 6 is available in Silver Shadow, Pink or Navy, as well as Craft Black and Purity White if you buy direct from Samsung. The Z Fold 5 is available in Icy Blue, Phantom Black, Cream, Gray and Blue.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Cameras

We felt that image quality improved from the Galaxy Z Fold 4 to the Galaxy Z Fold 5, even if Samsung didn't make any changes to the camera hardware that its foldable uses. Instead, we'd chalk up the changes to software tweaks that produced better colors and more balanced shots.

We took the time to take 200 photos with the Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs the Galaxy Z Fold 5 to see if history repeated itself. For reference, the two phones have identical camera setups — a 50MP main camera on the outside of the phone joined by 12MP ultrawide and 10MP zoom lenses alongside an external 10MP selfie cam and a 4MP under-display camera.

There are some changes mind, for instance, the Galaxy Z Fold 6's Ultrawide lens can now film in 4K and at 60fps, with improved low light performance. But that doesn't change the fact the hardware is essentially the same for another year.

This zoom comparison, for example, isn't really that different between the two phones.

However there is a brightness difference between the two phones' ultrawide cameras.

Image 1 of 2

At night, however, we're back to minimal differences.

There's a more noticeable change to the camera housing, though, with the Galaxy Z Fold 6 featuring larger black rings around each lens. Will that make much of a difference? unlikely, but it does help differentiate the two phones by look.

Overall the Z Fold 6 does offer the better camera experience, but not by much. We did find that the Z Fold 6's software is better at handling adverse lighting conditions which means it's better for the outdoor photographer. However, the changes are so minimal that it isn't worth upgrading just for the cameras.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Performance

Samsung usually turns to the best Qualcomm silicon available when it releases a foldable phone. For the Galaxy Z Fold 5, that was the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. For the Galaxy Z Fold 6 that's not just the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, it's the Galaxy-specific Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy — the same as the chip found in the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

The figures above show a considerable increase in performance for the Z Fold 6, especially in the single-core portion of the Geekbench 6 CPU test and the Solar Bay GPU test.

Both the Z Fold 6 and Z Fold 5 come with 12GB of RAM and UFS 4.0 storage options — which is faster and more power efficient than the old UIFS 3.1 storage chips. However the Z Fold 6 also comes with special optimization for games running the Vulcan API, ensuring a better and more immersive experience — aided by a vapor cooling chamber that's 1.6x larger than last year.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Battery life and charging

Samsung kept the Galaxy Z Fold 5's battery the same 4,400 mAh size as its predecessor. The same has happened this year, with the Z Fold 6 packing in the same capacity battery.

The Galaxy Z Fold 5 lasted 11 hours and 15 minutes on our battery test with the main display open and running its standard adaptive refresh rate. The Z Fold 6 was able to last almost as long at 11 hours 13 minutes on an equivalent test, but only on one run. On average, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 manages roughly 10 hours 35 minutes, which is disappointing to see.

The Z Fold 6 used the same 25W charging speed offered by the Z Fold 5, which is a shame as we'd liked to have seen the same 45W speeds as the Galaxy S24 Plus and Ultra. Our testing revealed basically identical refuelling performance from the two phones, with the Z Fold 6 and Z Fold 5 filling up to 56% and 55% respectively after 30 minutes of charging time.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Software

With Samsung pushing Galaxy AI, it's no surprise that the features that on this year's Galaxy S24 phones have come to the Z Fold 6. But rather than just repeating the same features, some of which already came to the Z Fold 5 in the OneUI 6.1 update, Samsung has improved upon them.

One of those improvements comes in Interpretor Mode, which utilizes both screens to show both sides of the conversation. So while you see a real time translation in English, the person you're speaking to will see it in their own tongue on the cover display. Live Translate will also come to third party call apps, letting you translate phone conversations in more places.

Other new features include Sketch to Image, which improves your doodles, Portrait Studio that transforms your selfies into one of four different art styles, Chat Assist will draft emails and messages with contextual awareness, while Samsung Notes also supports Live Transcription.

The Z Fold 6 (and Z Flip 6) will also be getting first access to the next wave of Circle to Search features. While they will come to other Android phones later, presumably including the Z Fold 5, it means Z Fold 6 owners will have early access. These new features include circle to scan QR codes, circle to translate a whole screen and circle to solve math equations.

Samsung will also be extending the same 7-year software and security support enjoyed by the Galaxy S24 to the Galaxy Z Fold 6. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 gets four years of Android updates and an additional fifth year of security support.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Outlook

You'd be forgiven for feeling a little disappoint in the differences between the Z fold 5 and Z Fold 6. This is a very iterative update, especially on the hardware side of things, and it's about time Samsung started offering more substantial upgrades to things like the camera.

That said the improved durability and emphasis on software feature, particularly Galaxy AI, could be appealing. Primarily to people who either have an older Galaxy Z Fold phone or are looking for their first ever foldable. Z Fold 5 owners don't really have that much to entice them into picking up a new handset. And considering the amount of extra competition Samsung now faces, it's probably going to have to step up its game a little more.

If you are tempted to upgrade or are still using one of the older Samsung models, then check our coupon page to see if you can get an even better deal.

More from Tom's Guide

• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 AI — 7 best features announced at Unpacked
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 vs Flip 5: Biggest differences
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 just launched with few hardware upgrades — but plenty of AI enhancements