Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 TESTED: Best display on a foldable?

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6 has created all the news since last week. The smartphone has been launched as a more refined rather than a “redefined” foldable from Samsung, at a time when the competition is much tighter than it was even less than a year back. And while the comparison with the competition can wait, I’d first like to take a deeper look into the foldable display everyone is talking about.

Now, Samsung is known for its display prowess. A company that makes displays for other OEMs is bound to have a good display. Well, that is subject to testing and testing I did! And that is exactly what this article is all about. The two marvelous displays on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 and how well they perform in our stringent display tests at the Digit Test Lab. Let’s begin.

First and foremost, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 comes with two displays. One is the outer display or the cover display, the other is the main display that folds. The outer display is a 6.3-inch LTPO Dynamic AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and a 968 x 2376 pixels (2K) resolution. The cover screen also comes with a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection, which makes the smartphone more resistant to scratches and scuff marks.

The main or the folding display is also an LTPO Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with a 1856 x 2160 pixels resolution, making for a rather square-ish aspect ratio. Here also we are getting 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. One thing that only Samsung has done so far and I personally really like is the under-display front camera on the main folding display. This year also, we are getting a hidden selfie camera with the main display. Much appreciated.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 display test

Now, while the display is good on paper and in terms of the face value, is it good enough to beat competition in terms of colour accuracy and luminance? To find this out, I put the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 through the Calman analyses and tested the colour accuracy and greyscale on this device. Since there are two displays we are dealing with here, I’ll start with the outer display.

The outer display of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 showcased an average DeltaE of 0.9 and a max DeltaE of 2.2. This showcases exceptional colour accuracy since for smartphones, a DeltaE of under 3.0 is considered very good. A DeltaE of under 1, however, means that the colours you see with your eyes and the colours you see on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6’s can not be differentiated by the human eye. Even the main display of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 showcased an average DeltaE of 1, which again is superb for a smartphone.

But this is not all. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 also did well in the Grayscale test. The smartphone showcased good results. The smartphone tracks a Gamma of 2.2 very consistently, while maintaining a good RGB balance. I saw a little bit of a spike during my test, but that seems to be some adjustment in the brightness, even though the brightness wasn’t set to automatic. Both the displays of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 showcased similar results.

Now, while the results of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 are as good as they come, its competitor, the Vivo X Fold3 Pro showcased even better results in our display tests. The Vivo X Fold3 Pro, which was launched in India last month, showcased an average DeltaE of 0.8 and a maximum DeltaE of 2.3 on the outer display! This is even more impressive than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6’s results, although the competition is extremely tight. Exciting stuff.

Coming to the inside display, the Vivo X Fold3 Pro impressed me even more here, since along with the same DeltaE of 0.8, the Vivo X Fold3 Pro’s inside display showcased a maximum DeltaE of 2.1, which just means that even the most inaccurate colour on this display is pretty decent for a smartphone screen.

So even though I would still say that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 has one of the best two displays out there, the Vivo X Fold3 Pro is just a tad better in terms of the colour accuracy.

It is important to note that I ran all these tests in the “Natural” colour profile of both the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6’s displays and tested them in the sRGB target colourspace.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 display certifications

Apart from the abovementioned tests and specifications, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 also comes with HDR10+ certification, which will allow users to watch High Dynamic Range content on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6’s bigger display. The smartphone doesn’t come with Dolby Vision support, which is a bit of a bummer, since the Vivo X Fold3 Pro comes with Dolby Vision support, giving the Vivo an edge in HDR content viewing experience.

But with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6, it’s not a deal breaker. I watched a few HDR videos on YouTube and watched some shows on Amazon Prime on HDR and the experience there was nothing short of immersive, especially on the bigger display. In HDR mode, the brightness of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is pushed to a higher level, so you can actually enjoy those darker scenes in movies and TV shows clearly. The only thing that irks me the most with these bigger displays are the thick borders that we have to bear with while watching movies and TV shows.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6: Best display ever?

So yes, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 has a brilliant display. Yes, the Vivo X Fold3 Pro may have come ahead in terms of sheer numbers, but that should not take away from the fact that this still remains one of the best display combinations out there.

Yes, I don’t like the aspect ratio of the cover screen. Yes, I don’t like the thick black borders on the big screen while watching content. And yes, the tuning is a bit more on the vivid side of things, but just the sheer quality of everything somehow makes sense in terms of having the display game on point.