Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 Australian review: Will cool AI win buyers?

Samsung’s latest phone offering, the Galaxy Z Fold6, has incredible AI. See how it fared during the ultimate road test on a family’s European trip.

Sketch to Image uses AI to create cool art from the most basic stick images. Picture: AI generated.

Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Z Fold6 is the Lamborghini of folding phones right now with speed, style, great design and productivity fire-power its selling points.

It’s also the phone we have had the most fun in years taking for a whirl.

AI features that generate art or additions to your photos from the most basic stick drawings may be seen as just a gimmick but when you start doing them it’s amazing how addictive it can become to watch the magic unfold.

Playing with Portait Studio has also been lots of fun.

You can take a selfie photo and then hit the AI button and choose between cartoon, water colour, 3D cartoon or sketch.

Portrait Studio uses AI to turn selfies into sketches, 3D cartoons, water colours and more. Picture: AI generated.

We found the results to be everything from scarily accurate to hilarious.

Mine kept giving me options for hair as well, even though I’m bald, while my my more handsome son looked like a movie star in some of his depictions.

The Sketch to Image function on the Galaxy Z Fold6. Picture: AI generated.

The Sketch to Image feature allows you to add a stick-like drawing to an existing photo and then have Samsung’s AI create something frighteningly realistic.

While visiting Amsterdam we added a unicorn next to one of their insanely small cars and a penguin to a boat in a harbour shot.

Our friends might have been wondering if we’d been smoking something there.

We’ve been testing the Fold6 for the past two weeks while on a long-awaited European holiday to visit our daughter.

An AI-generated image on the Galaxy Z Fold6.

As a travel device it has provided some stunning photos and videos while its 2600-nit 7.6-inch display is a beautiful canvas for viewing and editing our holiday scenes.

Chat assist will be useful for many doing emails or social posts.

We’ve also found Google’s Circle to Search along with translation and summarisation tools useful.

We saw a display for a movie in Dutch and couldn’t remember the English name but Circle to Search had our nagging curiosity resolved quickly.

The Thinker statue in Amsterdam taken on the latest Galaxy Z Fold6.

Having the larger square shaped screen is great for dual-screen translations, where each person can see text in their language in real-time, depending on what side of the phone they’re looking at.

The Fold6 uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, making for a quick device with apps opening and operating quickly.

For gamers there’s more graphic fire-power while a larger vapor chamber keeps the phone cooler for longer though it still generates a fair bit of heat when doing big updates like downloading all the language packs available.

For its part, Samsung has led the way in the folding phone revolution with 13 years of innovative technologies.

The 7.6-inch display is superb for going through your photos and videos. Picture: Mark Furler

But despite it being a niche market, the competition is getting stronger.

So is its flagship Galaxy Z Fold6 still the best in its class?

The answer is yes and no.

This year the focus is on fun and useful AI features.

But that has meant some missed opportunities.

The 4400 mha battery could be better, something we discovered in our travels.

With Google Maps constantly running as we got on and off trains, trams, buses and ferries, we saw the battery drain more quickly than we would have liked.

Coupled with shooting photos and videos, as well as editing them, and playing around with AI additions, it wasn’t too long

into the night we were reaching for a powerbank to do a top-up.

The other missed opportunity is a more significant camera upgrade.

An art installation of a folded London bus by Caspar Philips is unveiled at Bishops Square, London, commissioned by Samsung. The bus is folded at 90 degrees and forms part of a wider art project, Fold Town, by Samsung to mark the release of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 and Z Fold6 on July 24, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Samsung)

While the cameras are excellent, we would love to see the optical zoom power offered by the S24 Ultra given the hefty price tag of the Fold6.

Google’s Pixel Fold has a better 5x optical zoom and according to some reviews is better in overall photo quality, though camera assessment can be very subjective.

Overall, Samsung is still the clear leader in this space when looking at the total package of design, display, hardware, operating system, durability, and screen and hinge toughness.

Now lighter and thinner, in the hand Fold6 feels solid and classy.

The Sketch to Image function on the Galaxy Z Fold6.

Closed it is the perfect device for when you’re on the move.

You can easily snap photos and videos, check and respond to messages using AI powered suggestions, check maps and the weather.

The big screen beauty of having a wider canvas to play with comes when you open it up.

It’s a great space to edit photos and video, create some cool art or additions to your photos using Ai or even record some thoughts and have those transcribed on the fly.

We’ve written our review using the Fold6 with the on screen keyboard nice to use while auto suggestions greatly assists those who may not be touch typists.

The Sketch to Image function on the Galazy Z Fold6.

With the Fold6 closed, typing on the front screen is a little more difficult for anyone with larger hands but it has improved on previous models.

The screen display is superb and the upgrade in peak brightness was certainly appreciated in the middle of a sunny day.

As many have pointed out some of the AI features such as language translation are already available through apps like Google Translate.

Our experience using it in noisy outdoor settings while travelling wasn’t great, and with Samsung’s on phone assistance some languages are not yet available.

But with seven years of upgrades as part of your purchase, no doubt there will be more AI improvements and offerings to come.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is still arguably the most feature-packed smartphone on the market right now.

With a price tag starting at $2749 for the 256GB version to $3299 for the 1TB version, it’s not pitched at the masses. But neither is a Lamborghini.

Originally published as Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 Australian review: Will cool AI win buyers?