The latest details on the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 6 reveal an interesting addition to the specs that will benefit both consumers and Samsung.
The main details – a choice of 8 GB or 12 GB of RAM and either 256 GB or 512 GB of storage – will feel familiar among the high-end smartphones of 2024. What’s more interesting is the choice of chipset for the foldable flip phone. Samsung will use a mix of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and its own Exynos 2400.
Last year, every Galaxy Z Flip 5 model shipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, just as 2023’s Galaxy S23 family was exclusively Snapdragon. With the Galaxy S24 mixing chips from the two manufacturers, it was inevitable that Samsung would take a similar approach to its class-leading flip phone.
This is important because the Snapdragon and Exynos chipsets are not identical in performance. The community widely regards the Snapdragon platform as offering more power over Samsung’s homegrown rival. That small but measurable performance gap is present in head-to-head comparisons on the Galaxy S24 handsets, but the Exynos family is more power efficient and offers better battery life.
Unfortunately, consumers will not get to choose their preference; each sales region will receive either Exynos or Snapdragon, but not both.
With the specifications of the two chipsets closer than in previous head-to-head years, the Exynoso chipset has one more advantage for Samsung. As this is own chip, using the Exynos 2400 will reduce the overall bill of materials. With the market for foldable phones growing ever more competitive, consumers’ comparisons of the Z Flip handsets to similar designs from the likes of Oppo will see price as one major factor.
If someone is looking for the most powerful phone possible, they will look at the larger candy bar-styled phones—no doubt Samsung would like them to consider the Galaxy S24 Ultra. However, for those balancing functions and forms, the modern choice is foldable. At this point, the tiny performance loss thanks to the Exynos chipset will be more than offset by a more competitive price.
Now read the latest smartphone news in Forbes’ weekly Android Circuit digest…