It seems like Samsung’s design team is going through some kind of design crisis. Just a day ago, we got our first detailed look at the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, and to say that it borrowed some aesthetic inspiration from the Apple Watch Ultra would be a cruel understatement.
The train didn’t stop there. Samsung’s next mainline earbuds seem to have blatantly copied the AirPods 3, while the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro seem to have pulled off a similar stunt after stealing a gander at the latest AirPods Pro, abandoning Samsung’s own standout looks.
Now, it looks like Samsung’s upcoming foldable phones won’t be any different either. Leaker Evan Blass shared some high-resolution renders of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Galaxy Z Flip 6 in his newsletter. A few hours later, WinFuture shared more images that were pulled from a retailer’s website.
Look, I have come to live with the realization that a fresh design makeover isn’t feasible each year, and neither does it make sense from a budget perspective. That’s just a fact of the industry.
But 2024 is shaping up to be a particularly choppy year for Samsung. Its first Ultra smartwatch has aped its direct rival. The Galaxy Watch 7 also looks identical to its predecessor, save for colorful thread loops on the band. The wireless earbuds, well, they look like dupes with an extra vertical.
The next clamshell foldable — the Galaxy Z Flip 6 — is going to be no different. It looks identical to the Galaxy Z Flip 5 from last year. It’s not a bad design by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s somewhat awkward to see that much smaller players like Motorola are beating Samsung at the design of foldable phones, and in a functional fashion, no less.
Just take a look at the latest Razr foldable and its massive cover screen that covers the entire upper half and surrounds the camera lenses. On the Galaxy Z Flip 6, buyers will have to have to live with that uneven-shaped bezel and secondary screen.
The sole consolation seems to be the new colors and the upgraded innards. As per the retail leak, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 will be sold in gray, yellow, sky blue, and light-green shades. The design of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is bland, but not surprising.
A few months ago, Samsung showed the press some design ideas for its foldable phones, and one of them, with a rather blocky look and sharp edges, seems to have finally made the cut for 2024.
Not much changed, however. The only standout elements are the less-rounded corners and a much sharper side profile, an idea that Samsung seems to have lifted from its Galaxy S series phones and, of course, the recent crop of iPhones. It looks clean, but I can already feel the pain from those sharp edges digging into the palms of my hands.
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 foldable will likely be available in navy blue, gray, and a new sand pink color. If the past few years are any indication, Samsung might have a few other colors that are exclusive to units from its own official storefronts. We’ll find out at the next Unpacked event, which is scheduled for July 10.
Samsung is reportedly using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip for both phones, but it seems the storage and RAM situation isn’t changing. The Galaxy Z Fold 6’s camera hardware includes a 50-megapixel primary camera, assisted by a 12MP ultrawide angle camera and a third 10MP zoom camera.
It’s not clear if Samsung has finally souped up the fast-charging pace, but at least the battery size on the Galaxy Z Flip 6 has reportedly reached 4,000mAh, so there’s that neat little bonus. WinFuture is predicting an asking price of 1,899 euros for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and at least 1,099 euros for the Galaxy Z Flip 6, which would be an increase of $100. Ouch!
Of course, if Samsung keeps the same asking price as last year, it would be a sweet surprise. But given the recent hike in the price of silicon and the added financial heft that comes with serving generative AI wizardry (read: Galaxy AI), a generation-over-generation price increase is likely on the horizon.
