The Galaxy Z Fold 6 will push a message of innovation more than any previous foldable phone. But now, a new leak highlights an area where Samsung could fall short of expectations.
Samsung has rarely pushed the Z Fold series to the limit of camera technology. Bleeding edge camera hardware is expensive, and with a foldable phone already requiring significant investment by customers, packing the latest optical hardware into a handset people will be buying in part down to the origami of the handset, there isn’t a pressing need to be at the top of the pile.
Lest we forget, Samsung leans heavily into the Galaxy S brand as its flagship camera smartphone. While there may be some disquiet over the current state of the software, the Galaxy S24 family—especially the S24 Ultra—remain the South Korean company’s camera champion.
That doesn’t mean the Galaxy Z Fold 6 camera will be ignored, but there will not be an automatic rush to lift the camera from the S24 family and drop it into the foldable handset. I do not doubt that there will be prototype models that feature the same 200-megapixel lens as the S24 Ultra sports, but those reports also question the impact on the battery if the larger lens is used.
It’s more likely that Samsung will make a practical choice and continue to use the same 50-megapixel lens used in last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 5.
Every smartphone is a compromise. To get a foldable phone down to a price that does not seem outlandish means the focus and budget that goes on the display needs to come from somewhere else. Using the previous camera hardware and improvements to the camera software (no doubt with a dash of AI to allow for crisper and more natural photos) ensures that the Z Fold 6 will hold its own against the competition.
There is an argument for packing the Z Fold 6 with the best camera possible, but there’s also an argument that folding phones are moving beyond status symbols and need to become more practical. That means better battery life, as much effort placed into the display as possible, and stopping the cost from getting away from what the market can tolerate.
A “good enough” camera will be balanced out by the innovation and flexibility in the rest of the phone.
Now read more about Samsung’s plans for an affordable Fan Edition of the Z Fold 6…