Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs Google Pixel Fold: High-level bout

This summer, Samsung will announce the Galaxy Z Fold 6, its next attempt to capture the top of the foldable phone market. For nearly half a decade now, the Galaxy Z Fold lineup has been the one to consider if you were willing to have the latest bleeding-edge tech and had cash to burn. 

However, in the past few years, numerous challengers have risen, one of which is the Google Pixel Fold. The search giant's first attempt at a foldable phone surely had some squeaky wheels, but was generally well-received for a first attempt. Google is most certainly cooking up a successor to the Pixel Fold, but currently, the Pixel Fold is the one to beat. 

How would the Galaxy Z Fold 6 compare against the Google Pixel Fold?

The main difference between the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Pixel Fold could be the form factor. 

As we know, the Pixel Fold is a foldable that's wider than the norm, which makes it extremely usable even if it's not unfolded. Yes, you can rely on the Pixel Fold in your day-to-day tasks without ever unfolding it, as its cover display is actually useful, unlike the regular foldables that are too narrow. Hint: most previous Galaxy Z Fold models have been this way. The Pixel Fold is also thinner than Samsung's current Galaxy Z Fold, let's see if this will be true for the next generation. 

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is expected to be lighter and thinner than its predecessor. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 measures 13.4 in its folded state, making it a rather thick one, so any potential thickness reduction will be more than welcome. Rumors also claim we might see a lighter Galaxy Z Fold 6 thanks to the potential use of a titanium frame, like the one on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. 

The big change with Samsung's next foldable, as we mentioned, could be its different aspect ratio in contrast with its predecessor. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 might adopt a boxier aspect ratio, making the phone more squarish and therefore similar to the Pixel Fold. 

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 will also support Samsung's S Pen (sold separately), and will also certainly come along with IP68 water- and dust-resistance. The Pixel Fold doesn't have stylus support; it also has merely IPX8 water-resistance, which means that it's not dustproof. 

In terms of display, the Pixel Fold comes along with a large and beautiful 7.6-inch inner display. That's where most of the positive aspects of it end, though. Firstly, the Pixel Fold has a peculiar quirk that makes it unable to fully unfold to a 180-degree state, but remains ever-so-slightly folded. 

Secondly, there's also a very pronounced display crease. Thirdly, the enormous inner bezels aren't looking great either. Fourthly, this display is extremely prone to scratches––even fingerprints might leave permanent marks on it. Finally, the internal screen is quite reflective, so you might often have a challenging time as far as outdoor legibility goes.

Meanwhile, the rumor mill is still keeping things relatively quiet about the Galaxy Z Fold 6's display. As mentioned, the foldable could score new aspect ratio, likely 20:9 for the outer display and 1.08:1 for the inner screen. The outer screen will reportedly grow to 6.4 inches across, up from 6.2 inches. Both displays will of course be AMOLED ones, with up to 120Hz refresh rate for the ultimate interface smoothness.

No two ways around that: the Tensor G2 chip of the Pixel Fold could be seriously outperformed by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 that will probably make it inside the Galaxy Z Fold 6. And that's almost a given seeing how dominant the Galaxy Z Fold 5 was against the Pixel Fold, beating it in all our benchmarking tests. This means that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 could only deepen that rift. Of course, in real life, the difference might not be so drastic, but for future-proofness' sake, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 should be a more sensible purchase.

In terms of graphics and gaming performance, we definitely expect the Galaxy Z Fold 6 to have a serious edge over its Google-made competitor. The Pixel Fold tends to easily overheat during gaming and eventually throttle down, leading to stuttery performance, so the bar is set quite low for Samsung. 

Storage and memory-wise, the Pixel Fold comes along with 12GB of RAM, as well as 256GB and 512GB storage versions. 

We expect that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 will be available with no less than 12GB of RAM, too, as well as 256GB, 512GB and 1TB of storage options.  

The Pixel Fold has a rather capable camera system, just like any recent Pixel phone. It's very capable, but slightly inferior compared to the Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel 8 Pro. That's because while similar, the camera setup utilizes slightly smaller sensors, so image quality especially at night is not as spectacular. The Pixel Fold comes along with:

Rumors have it that Samsung will once again reuse the same camera setup that came along with both the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Galaxy Z Fold 5. Nothing wrong with it, but it could be time for some serious upgrades, eh, Samsung? This means the phone could feature the following rear cameras:

The speakers on the Pixel Fold are bigger and better than those on the Pixel 7 Pro, but it's not a big change in quality. Haptic feedback is accurate, but could be a bit weak in certain situations.

We expect that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 will also offer excellent sound quality, as well as the typical for Samsung strong and accurate haptic feedback that makes it rather challenging to miss an incoming call or an alarm. 

The Pixel Fold comes along with a 4,821mAh battery, which is relatively large for a foldable phone. In our experience, Google's foldable easily lasts a full day of use, but you might find it a struggle to get two days of battery life out of this phone. 

Currently, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 situation is quite uncertain, as the rumor mill has so far failed to give us a precise idea of what to expect. We only know that the device will sport a dual-cell battery, which was mostly a given. We doubt that Samsung would be increasing the battery capacity a lot, in the best case scenario we might get up to 200mAh more than the Galaxy Z Fold 5, which had a 4,400mAh battery.

The Pixel Fold charges at up to 21W of wired charging, which is relatively slow, but what's even slower is the wireless charging speed of measly 7.5W. The phone charges fully in roughly 90 minutes. 

We expect that Samsung will once again grace its best foldable with 25W wired charging, though we certainly hope for 45W charging speeds. Wireless and reverse wireless charging are certainly a go, too. 

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is already shaping up to beat the Pixel Fold in a few key areas, like performance and possibly design, where it could score a lighter and more premium body, not to mention the S Pen support and the more durable display. Camera-wise, the battle might not be that heated, and the Pixel Fold might ultimately have better battery endurance.

Of course, things are bound to change in the following months as more and more rumors of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 emerge. Let's not forget that the Pixel Fold 2 is also on the way and will hopefully fix many of the issues of its predecessor.