Samsung’s mid-year Galaxy Unpacked launch for 2024 was a bit boring. The Galaxy Watch vary didn’t see many enhancements bar the introduction of the Ultra (which is de facto solely supposed for essentially the most diehard health heads), and time was largely dedicated to the present stopping Galaxy Ring, a completely new product class for the smartphone maker (one which I’m excited for in Australia, the place it’s nonetheless but to launch). Combined with an especially lukewarm yr for the sixth technology Samsung foldables, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 arguably obtained the least love of all the brand new devices – however I’ve come to understand the cellphone for what it’s past the apparent gimmick.
The Galaxy Z Flip 6 has existed in a bizarre area amongst Samsung’s premium cellphone lineup for a while now. Vertically foldable akin to trendsetting telephones of the 2000s, the Z Flip’s solely actual drawcard is within the identify – it’s trend earlier than perform. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 makes a a lot better case for its existence, appearing as a tablet-phone hybrid, albeit at a excessive worth level.
Internally, the cellphone underperforms in comparison with equally priced fashions within the flagship Galaxy S product vary, with a dimmer and fewer detailed display screen together with a smaller physique. Its unimpressive cameras don’t do it any favors and its battery life is middling at greatest.
But I don’t actually wish to be too down on the Galaxy Z Flip 6, as a result of it’s an aesthetics first system – and it aces that. In truth, it’s extra enjoyable than virtually each different cellphone I’ve used this yr. The flipping perform makes for a enjoyable fidget toy and the cellphone may be positioned in a bunch of artistic poses.
But because it seems, my favourite side isn’t truly that it folds – it’s the slim portrait orientation that the shape issue creates.
But why is that cool?
Perhaps it’s me admitting that smartphones are form of mixing collectively in my head, as all of them share the identical fundamental ‘huge glass rectangle’ attribute, however I’ve really fallen in love with simply how tall the display screen of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 is.
The cellphone folds in on itself from prime to backside, and to keep away from being too brief for informal use in its folded kind (the place it is square-shaped and usable in a restricted capability through the display screen on the again) it has a taller stature.
Let’s pull up the specs: the scale of the Galaxy Z Flip 6 are 165.1 x 71.9 x 6.9 mm (H x W x D), whereas the Samsung Galaxy S24 (the cellphone with which it shares essentially the most DNA) has dimensions of 147 x 70.6 x 7.6 mm. The Z Flip 6 has a barely narrower (and thinner) chassis, with thicker bezels that give the S24 an excellent screen-to-body ratio.
The 18mm taller display screen on the Galaxy Z Flip 6 makes me want we had extra telephones with zanier dimensions. That’s 18mm extra for Google outcomes to fill in Chrome, or for traces on a information article, or displaying extra tweets, or for textual content in your messages, and whereas a variety of the additional area may be counteracted by the easy act of scrolling, I’ve been having fun with the longer show and the way in which content material fills it from prime to backside.
Somehow it brings me again to the early iPhone years, when touchscreen telephones have been dramatically smaller and faux iPhone idea movies included fully absurd designs (notably this one). It additionally takes me again to the early smartphone years when these devices have been rather more creatively designed, notably fashions just like the LG BL40.
Today you’re unlikely to discover a smartphone smaller than six inches (excluding the 4.7 inch iPhone SE, which is prone to be defunct quickly), with all dimensions getting a bump as the scale goes up.
And that’s what we wish, proper? The uniformity of show dimensions throughout manufacturers and producers is knowledgeable by how we use the tech and the content material we eat. It’s no coincidence that the majority streaming companies cater content material to a 16:9 side ratio with cinematic bars added in for a greater viewing expertise – it’s as a result of smartphone use habits stem drastically from TV use.
Even extra so than films and TV reveals, smartphones require show uniformity for the sake of app consistency. Some apps nonetheless are compatible points between pill and smartphone variations, the place on the pill the app is scaled as much as cater for the show dimension at the price of picture high quality. If smartphone makers instantly needed to cater for vastly completely different side ratios from longer (or wider) smartphones, not to mention merely greater screens, the consequence could be better strain on builders and extra unused useless area as builders try to hit the candy spot of side ratios (letting the tops and bottoms of shows go to waste).
How far can a gimmick take the Z Flip 6?
It’s at this level that it’s price discussing the inevitable – can Samsung proceed to make the cool, quirky, but fashionable little foldable attention-grabbing sufficient to patrons?
There’s at all times going to be the area for customers wanting one thing a bit extra aesthetically pleasing, however within the vertical folding area, Samsung’s now competing with cheaper (and arguably higher wanting) choices from Motorola and different smaller manufacturers. Comparative to the Z Flip 5, the Flip 6 was much less a revision and extra a re-release with some small modifications made.
It’s additionally a conflict with actuality to try to place the Z Flip 6 as an upmarket system, which is probably going why we heard rumors of an inexpensive Flip FE earlier this yr. The Flip isn’t meant to be a efficiency cellphone and the constraints of the show current a substantial impediment to positioning it that means. So why not go down market with the FE, then?
For now although, I’m fairly glad with having an extended cellphone. The taller display screen meshes so properly with my smartphone habits that I can’t assist however adore it. The folding side is cool too, and I’ve discovered a bunch of nice makes use of and conditions for it, however I’ve fallen for the show in a means not supposed.
