Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Future versus present

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is now finally official, succeeding the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and further propagating Samsung's strong position in the foldable phone market. Some key upgrades are rumored to be making the rounds on the Z Fold 6, namely a redesigned hinge which could finally do away with the unsightly display crease. 

Meanwhile, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is Samsung's top flagship for 2024, which comes along with everything but the kitchen sink. Four cameras at the rear, a fresh new titanium design, S Pen stylus on board, as well as the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, the bevy of Galaxy AI features, and seven years of software support make this one arguably the best Android phone you can consider in 2024. 

Also read: Galaxy Z Fold 6 AI features: Samsung is already making big improvements

Both phones are arguably the best of the best in their respective classes, so while they are not technically direct competitors, it's intriguing to play mind games and compare the two. Is the Galaxy S24 Ultra the safe and logical choice, or is 2024 the year to get a foldable phone? 

Z Fold 6: up to $1,200 of; Z Flip 6: up to $650 off

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 are available at Samsung.com. Right now, you can get the 512GB Galaxy Z Fold 6 for up to $1,200 off its list price with eligible phone trade-ins. The Z Flip 6 is available with 512GB of storage and can be yours for up to $650 off its price tag with trade-ins.

$1850 off (57%) Trade-in

$1389 ⁹⁸

$3239 ⁹⁸

Buy at Samsung

Galaxy Z Fold 6: $300 Gift Card + Free storage upgrade

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is available at Amazon. Right now, you can save $120 on the smartphone in the form of a FREE storage upgrade. The offer includes a $300 Gift Card as well.

$420 off (18%) Gift

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Of course, both the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Galaxy S24 Ultra differ quite a lot in the design aspect. One will aim to perfect Samsung's foldable phone formula, while the other is the epitome and the culmination of years upon years of candy bar phone evolution. 

How is the Galaxy Z Fold 6 improving on Samsung's previous Galaxy Fold devices? Aside from a reinforced hinge and a much lighter overall build, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 still relies on Armor Aluminum and now has a more squarish design. Similarly to the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 abandons the slightly curved design and relies on flat edges, which is in line with the design trends these days. 

Also read: Galaxy Z Fold 6 colors: all the official hues

The external screen is slightly wider, while the inner one is shorter but wider, which could improve the ergonomics in comparison with previous Folds. 

Sadly, there's still a palpable display crease present, despite Samsung seemingly working hard to vanquish it. Other foldables like OnePlus Open lack such a stark crease, so a more low-level rethinking of the Galaxy Fold mechanism might be necessary. 

Oh, and at just 239gr, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is a surprisingly lightweight device!

Meanwhile, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is already employing a titanium body, with nearly flat design that still employs slightly curved sides for improved ergonomics. 

And, unlike other phones, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has an S Pen silo on board, so it comes with its stylus out of the box, which is a major selling point. The Galaxy Z Fold will also support an S Pen, but you will have to buy it separately. Moreover, you probably won't be able to slot the stylus inside the Galaxy Z Fold 6 body, but will have to get the corresponding official case.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is fully protected from the elements thanks to an IP68 certification. While foldable phones usually don't get a dustproof specification, they can be fully protected against water; that's precisely the case with the Galaxy Z Fold 6, which has an IP48 rating. This means it is waterproof but only dust-resistant to some extent. 

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 boasts a 7.6-inch AMOLED display with dynamic refresh rate that can switch between 1 and 120Hz. The same applies to the outer screen, which measures 6.3 inches across. Despite the use of thicker Ultra Thin Glass above the inner display, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 still features a visible crease.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with a large 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, with high maximum brightness and exceptional color rendition properties. Not only that, but it also uses Corning's latest Gorilla Glass Armor, which boosts scratch-resistance and is way less reflective than previous Gorilla Glass solutions.

Display Measurements:



Above, you can check out our in-house display measurements for the screen quality, as well as max and minimum brightness. A take-away from these benchmark tests is that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 can hit a noticeably higher peak brightness versus the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The minimum brightness that can be achieved is also technically slightly lower on the Galaxy Z Fold 6. 

The Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset globally––and the Galaxy Z Fold 6 follows suit. 

And given just how great the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 performance is inside the Galaxy S24 Ultra, we have extremely high expectations for the Galaxy Z Fold 6, both in terms of overall performance and battery efficiency. Graphics processing on the latest Snapdragon is especially spectacular, even surpassing Apple's latest A-series chips. 

And totally unsurprisingly, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Galaxy S24 Ultra reach similar performance heights in our custom benchmark tests. In both the CPU-heavy Geekbench 6 and the GPU-centric 3DMark Extreme tests, the two devices perform similarly. This means that you can expect proper flagship performance out of Samsung's new foldable phone. 

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of on-board storage. The same setup applies to the Galaxy S24 Ultra. 

What's especially intriguing about the Galaxy Z Fold 6, however, is the prospect of a long, seven-year software support that will match the existing Galaxy S24 Ultra policy. This means the upcoming foldable will receive major Android updates and security patches until the end of the decade, and slightly beyond. 

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 comes along with the same camera setup employed since the Galaxy Z Fold 4. It uses the same 50MP main camera, a 10MP telephoto with 3X optical zoom, and finally, a 12MP ultra-wide camera. The latter is reportedly new and improved, albeit it shares the same specs as the previous ultra-wide found on the Galaxy Z Fold 5. 

Meanwhile, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has one of the best camera setups around. It comes along with a 200MP main camera, a 50MP telephoto with 5X optical zoom, as well as a 10MP telephoto with 3X magnification, and a 12MP ultra-wide. Notable here is the omission of a true 10X periscope, but the 50MP 5X telephoto delivers optically superior results.

With that said, Samsung's foldables have never put too much focus on the camera experience, so it's probably wise NOT to expect the Galaxy Z Fold 6 to be a dramatically better cameraphone than the Galaxy S24 Ultra. 

Also read: Galaxy Z Fold 6 Camera: Great, but no major leap forward

The main cameras of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Galaxy S24 Ultra deliver similar performance during the day. Great colors, excellent dynamics, and lots of detail are common on both phones. The Galaxy S24 Ultra takes the cake as it would take a slightly sharper image without oversharpening, which is always a plus. The Z Fold 6 still performs admirably, though. 

At night, the two phones perform extremely similarly, with pictures boasting great dynamics in details on both accounts. No clear victor here, except for us, the users! 

At 3X zoom, which is native for both devices, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy S24 Ultra perform similarly and deliver great pictures. Tons of detail and no sign of oversharpening are good news for Galaxy fans. 

At 5X, however, the Galaxy S24 Ultra starts to establish a lead: as the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is already out of its comfort zone and relies on digital zoom, the dedicated 5X camera of the Galaxy S 24 Ultra makes the difference. Although the Galaxy Z Fold 6 delivers usable results, the regular flagship beats it in sharpness and optical quality. 

At 10X, it's the Galaxy S24 Ultra that takes the cake. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 still succeeds in capturing a photo that doesn't strike as oh-too-bad, but it's a bit hazy and lacks the finer details delivered by the Galaxy S24 Ultra. 

The ultra-wide camera of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is apparently improved in comparison with the Galaxy Z Fold 5, and it really does deliver more than decent results, but it can't really match the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The new foldable fails to resolve as much detail as the Galaxy S24 Ultra; it also lacks a dedicated macro mode, which the S24 supports. 

The same is true in low-light conditions as well. In this scene, the Galaxy S24 Ultra delivers richer colors and better dynamics in comparison with the foldable phone.

Samsung phones usually take great selfies, and these two champs here are no different. You get all the detail you need, alongside a mostly unaltered and realistic capture of your facial features. Definitely Instagram material. 

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is up there with the Galaxy S24 Ultra when it comes to audio quality. Both phones deliver rich and deep sound from their loudspeakers, making media consumption a lovely experience. Still, we'd recommend using a pair of earbuds for the ultimate enjoyment without disturbing the folks around you.

The same applies to haptic feedback on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which is strong and precise, just the way we like it. 

Samsung has once again put a 4,400mAh battery inside its latest foldable phone. That's just as much as the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 4, so don't expect the battery life to be radically better than the one on those two models. Surely, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip will bring some much-needed energy efficiency to the mix, but this possibly wouldn't translate to a that much better battery life in comparison with last year's Fold. 

Meanwhile, you can find a 5,000mAh battery if you dig into your Galaxy S24 Ultra. The phone has more than a decent endurance, although it's not a "two-day" phone by no means. Still, you can expect it to last you a full day of even heavier combined usage, scoring above 20 hours in our custom web browsing test, more than 8 hours in our video streaming test, and finally, some six hours and a half in our dedicated 3D gaming test. All in all, superb battery life. 

As per our custom battery benchmark tests, which are all conducted with the displays set at 200 nits, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 loses to the Galaxy S24 Ultra in our web browsing and video streaming tests. That's to be expected given the difference in battery size and the same chipset on deck. 

Also read: Galaxy Z Fold 6 battery and charging: Some good and some bad news

Charging-wise, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 supports up to 25W wired, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra has faster 45W wired charging. Wireless and reverse wireless charging are similarly fast on both devices.  

Check our Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs Galaxy S24 Ultra specs comparison table right below. 

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Galaxy S24 Ultra are both top Samsung flagship phones, yet they couldn't be any more different despite sharing a ton of components.

Which one should you get? Hard to come up with a one-fits-all answer: the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is clearly a futuristic phone that hints at what the inevitable future of smartphones looks like. The other one is tradition perfected, a no-nonsense device that's adept at everything. 

While both will suit power users quite well, one is aimed at adventurous individuals who get excited by foldable tech, while smartphone traditionalists will undoubtedly go for the tried-and-tested Galaxy S24 Ultra.

And the price factor should be considered as well: the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is much pricier than the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It's actually $100 more than last year's Fold, so a $1,900 starting price. The Galaxy S24 Ultra, on the other hand, can be yours starting at $1,300, which is a significantly lower bar for entry. 

With that in mind, the Galaxy S24 Ultra surely feels like the better bang for your buck.