I’ve been using the Galaxy S23 Ultra ever since it came out and it has served me very well. It’s a great device with plenty of power and more camera features than I know what to do with. Even though I was initially enticed by this year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra, I couldn’t really justify the upgrade based on my individual use case, so I felt it was best to stay on the sidelines and see if the Galaxy Z Fold 6 would spark my curiosity.
Now I’ve moved between the Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy S Ultra models over the past few years. I’m not particularly set on sticking with one series. I opt to consider each model on its own merits and weigh them against my use case, and only buy the one that ticks all of the boxes for me. This time, the round has been won by the latest foldable smartphone, which is why I’ve got my Galaxy Z Fold 6 pre-order in already.
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Display Brightness
The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s display was exceptional when it came out and I loved every minute of using it. While I agree that its successor bumped up the brightness considerably, there was no other change beyond that, and I felt that an upgrade wouldn’t be that necessary if I was sticking with the same form factor.
My decision to pre-order the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is based on the fact that its internal 7.6-inch display reaches a peak brightness of 2,600 nits against the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 1,750 nits in HDR mode. That’s a considerable increase which will make a world of difference using the phone outdoors on sunny days. The increase in screen real estate is always a welcome change as well.
Faster On-board Memory
At first glance, both the Galaxy S23 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold 6 seem to have similar onboard memory of the LPDDR5X kind. Like most people, I bought the standard variant of the Galaxy S23 Ultra that had 8GB of RAM. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 gets 12GB of RAM as standard, so that’s a nice little upgrade there, but that’s not all.
It also has a higher clock speed, 4800MHz compared to the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 4200MHz. While that may seem like a negligible difference, a higher RAM clock speed means that the memory is capable of processing more data per second and thus provide a noticeable performance bump. Since I tend to extract maximum performance from my main device due to the nature of my work, this upgrade is well worth the upgrade cost for me.
Patterned Color Finish
Last but certainly not the least, perhaps the biggest reason why I’ve opted to switch is not performance-related, rather, it’s appearance-based. I find the Crafted Black color being offered for the new foldable phone incredibly appealing. This is an online exclusive and you can only get it if you pre-order the Galaxy Z Fold 6 from Samsung.
It’s unlike anything we’ve had on a foldable phone from Samsung before. It gives a carbon fiber type look to the device, and you’ve got to agree, that black on black look is a whole vibe. I find the usual color options to be a bit boring and Crafted Black is anything but boring, and it’s worth opening my wallet up.
Lastly, one major reason why the upgrade made sense is the fact that Samsung is giving $800 as trade-in value for the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Being able to trade the phone after using it for over a year and a half at such a decent value was too good of an offer to pass up. Samsung is only giving these elevated trade-in values until Galaxy Z Fold 6 pre-orders last, so it’s best to get your pre-orders in before July 24 so that you can also get the maximum bang for your buck.