I put the Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs Galaxy Z Flip 6 through a 7-round face-off — here's the winner

Now that I’ve had plenty of time putting them to the test, I have a good idea of how this Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs Galaxy Z Flip 6 face-off will turn out. In my Galaxy Z Flip 7 review, I was delighted by the bigger upgrades that Samsung gave its latest flip-style phone.

In fact, I’m so impressed by it that it has replaced the Motorola Razr Ultra (2025) as the best foldable phone you can buy right now. Just with any other year-over-year update, I still want to show how much of an improvement the Z Flip 7 makes over the Z Flip 6.

One of the biggest areas I was concerned about was its performance and battery life, as Samsung opted to go with its own, in-house Exynos 2500 chipset instead of Qualcomm’s. I’ll definitely cover that and many other things in my 7-round Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs Galaxy Z Flip 6 comparison. Here's how the latest Samsung flip-style phone compares to last year's model.

Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs. Galaxy Z Flip 6: Specifications

Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs. Galaxy Z Flip 6: Price

I’m happy to report that there isn’t a price hike with the Galaxy Z Flip 7, making it the same $1,099 starting cost just like the Galaxy Z Flip 6 last year. Given the hardware upgrades, paired with some incredible Galaxy Z Flip 7 deals going on right now, I would give this one to the Z Flip 7.

From what I’ve seen so far, most carriers and retailers haven’t slashed the price of the Galaxy Z Flip 6 in a substantial way to clear out stock. Depending on where you look, you might actually snag one for free — but that usually requires you to commit to a specific cell phone plan, just like what T-Mobile’s offered last year. In fact, that’s the same offer the carrier has right now for the Z Flip 7.

Winner: Galaxy Z Flip 7

Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs. Galaxy Z Flip 6: Design

Although the overall design language doesn’t differ between the two, there are a few noteworthy achievements that make the design of the Galaxy Z Flip 7 better. First of all, there’s not a substantial change to its size and weight — given how it features a larger battery and bigger screens.

They both feature similar armor aluminum frames that make them incredibly durable, but the Z Flip 7 benefits from a new Armor Flex Hinge that makes it smoother to open and close. There’s still a crease with the new hinge, but it doesn’t appear to be as deep as the Z Flip 6.

I will say, though, that I like the color options available to the Z Flip 6. You have a total of seven to choose from, versus the four with the Z Flip 7. However, I do anticipate Samsung coming out with more colors in the coming months.

Winner: Galaxy Z Flip 7

Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs. Galaxy Z Flip 6: Display

Starting off with their main displays, the Z Flip 7 gets the nods for its larger 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x display. In addition to that, it’s also brighter according to our display benchmark test — where it reached a peak brightness of 1,989 nits. That’s a smidge brighter than the 1,835 nits recorded from the Z Flip 6’s 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x display. Even though the Z Flip 6 has a higher resolution, I can hardly notice this miniscule difference.

What I think is more impressive though is how Samsung upgraded the Z Flip 7 with a larger 4.1-inch cover display. It’s noticeably larger than the 3.4-inch one with the Z Flip 6, and as a result, it makes using apps and capturing content with the cameras much more satisfying.

I can’t tell you how much the extra room makes, especially when it comes to running full apps — or typing with the keyboard. All of it is much easier with the larger cover screen of the Z Flip 7.

Winner: Galaxy Z Flip 7

Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs. Galaxy Z Flip 6: Cameras

When Samsung showed off the Z Flip 7 during its Galaxy Unpacked event, I was a little surprised by the camera specs. On paper, it doesn’t appear like any changes were made to its camera because it has the same 50MP main, 12MP ultrawide, and 10MP selfie cameras as the Galaxy Z Flip 6 — including the same aperture values.

However, Samsung did spend time explaining how its updated ProVisual Engine enhances the results. I’ve already detailed their differences in my Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs Galaxy Z Flip 6 photo shoot-out, which ultimately gave the performance to the Z Flip 7. I’ll explain some of the biggest differences I noticed below.

Galaxy Z Flip 7: LOG video sample - YouTube

Watch On

There are still new features and upgrades that make the Z Flip 7 the better camera phone. For starters, I can’t stress enough the advantage of having a larger cover screen here because it makes selfies and vlogs easier to capture. Over on the video side, the Z Flip 7 also gains the same LOG video recording mode that debuted with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. As someone that edits video a lot, this flat picture profile gives me more flexibility in the editing room to tweak the colors to my liking.

Image 1 of 2

Despite having the same camera as the Z Flip 6, I can tell that the ProVisual Engine is working its magic ever so slightly with the Z Flip 7's shot above of the parking lot. That's because it's boosting the exposure of the trees in the background, which reveals details that are hidden there in the Z Flip 6.

Image 1 of 2

I thought their 10MP selfie cameras would produce the same results, but there's one key difference that gives a boost to the older Flip 6. Due to how the built-in screen protector of the Z Flip 7 goes over the selfie camera, it results in a slightly softer look. In contrast, the screen protector doesn't go over the selfie camera on the Z Flip 6 — so it retains a sharper look overall.

Image 1 of 2

Again, the updated ProVisual Engine of the Z Flip 7 is working its magic in the portrait shots I captured of myself above. You might think the results are identical, but there are clues in the details that make the Z Flip 7's shot look more realistic. If you take a look at the strap on my shoulder, you'll notice that some parts of it blurred out — whereas the Z Flip 6 keeps it all in focus. The reason why the Z Flip 7 does this is because it replicates the behavior of an actual camera whose focus is squared on the face. It's exactly the look I'd get from using my mirrorless camera.

Image 1 of 2

Zooming is done through their respective main cameras, as they lack the dedicated telephoto shooters that other phones offer. The difference boils down to the enhancements made by the ProVisual Engine of the Z Flip 7, which gives more definition to the sign in the middle of the shot and the chain link fence in the background.

Image 1 of 2

Low light is where the updated ProVisual Engine really flexes its muscles. While both shots are bright given that they were shot in near pitch dark conditions, the Z Flip 7 benefits from capturing more definition all around the tree. When I zoom to it, I can make out the finer details of the tree's bark and its textures. They look softer and muddy with the Z Flip 6.

Winner: Galaxy Z Flip 7

Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs. Galaxy Z Flip 6: Performance

Out of all the categories I’m judging, this is the one I’m most interested in because of Samsung's decision to ditch Qualcomm for the Z Flip 7. It’s powered by an Exynos 2500 SoC and paired with 12GB of RAM, versus the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and 12GB of RAM in the Z Flip 6.

While I don’t see a huge difference in how they perform with my day-to-day tasks, like checking emails, surfing the web, gaming, and checking out my social feeds, their benchmark performance scores show something different. The Exynos 2500 barely beats out the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in GeekBench 6, but their graphics processing performances are almost identical. In a strange turn of events, the Z Flip 7 renders video slower with the Adobe Premiere Rush test.

Really, I was hoping for a wider gap — but this isn’t the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 gets a technical win here, but it really exposes how there’s not a huge improvement.

Winner: Galaxy Z Flip 7

Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs. Galaxy Z Flip 6: Battery Life and Charging

There’s a relationship between a phone’s chipset and its battery life, so given the minor performance boost of the Z Flip 7, I wasn’t expecting much in terms of its battery life. Thankfully I’m proven wrong because it seems as though Samsung invested more on making the Exynos 2500 power efficient, which could also be aided by the optimizations of One UI 8.

Regardless, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 cruised to the finish line with its time of 12 hours and 24 minutes on our battery drain test. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 ran the same exact test, but falls a bit behind with its 11 hours and 1 minute clocked time. But to be fair, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 has a larger 4,300 mAh battery — whereas the Z Flip 6 has a smaller 4,000 mAh.

Over on the recharge side, the Z Flip 7 gets the same 25W wired and 15W wireless speeds as the Z Flip 6. Yet, it charges a smidge faster after 15 and 30 minutes in our testing.

Winner: Galaxy Z Flip 7

Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs. Galaxy Z Flip 6: Software & AI

On the surface, their interfaces may not look or feel all that different, but there are features that give the Z Flip 7 the more compelling software package. For starters, it benefits from having the latest One UI 8 software on top of Android 16. Visually it’s not a huge departure, but new additions like the Now Bar and Now Brief are helpful.

There’s also the cross actions apps feature with the Z Flip 7, which makes it even more intuitive to perform complex actions all through voice commands. While it’s only a matter of time before the Z Flip 6 gets the new One UI 8 software, which should bring the Now Bar and Now Brief, I’m not confident it’ll get cross app actions.

When it comes to AI features, the Z Flip 7 introduces a few new things. The most notable, of course, is the multimodal AI experience with Gemini Live. This allows me to tap into the Z Flip 7’s cameras to allow Gemini see what I see, then ask it questions or make commands. I’ve actually used it to help me with a problem with my electrical breaker, which I know I couldn’t do on my own.

Secondly, there’s the Audio Eraser feature that lets me remove unwanted noise in my videos. It’s a handy tool that lets me tweak the audio on the device, rather than using software on my computer.

Image 1 of 6

And finally, Samsung finally brings DeX support to the series for the first time with the Galaxy Z Flip 7 — and I couldn’t be happier about this. That’s because Samsung DeX means I can now connect the Z Flip 7 to a monitor and essentially have access to a desktop PC-like interface. In some ways, it can replace my laptop because of how well it multitasks apps.

Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs. Galaxy Z Flip 6: Verdict

I’m not surprised by how this Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs Galaxy Z Flip 6 face-off turned out. The new Galaxy Z Flip 7 wins every category, with a few where there’s a substantial improvement. Not only do I love the larger and brighter displays of the Z Flip 7, but I think its updated software also helps out.

Both Samsung DeX support and multimodal AI Gemini Live are two big features you’re not going to get with the Z Flip 6, which also helps when its price remains unchanged.

Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple's next big move — iOS 27 is reportedly being built for the iPhone Fold
• 'Earthquake inside Apple' — AI efforts just dealt another major blow
• iOS 26 public beta release date just tipped for tomorrow — here’s what we know