Samsung unpacks its Fold and Flip 6, an Ultra watch, and more besides

Samsung’s second Unpacked of the year is here and this one, much like the last, is as much about Galaxy AI as it is about the new devices coming from the company. There’s a decent crop of the latter, at least, with the Galaxy Fold 6 and a revamped Flip 6 putting in an appearance. There’s something altogether new in the form of the Galaxy Watch Ultra and there are also new Galaxy Buds to look forward to.

Best of all, the launch date isn’t far off for South Africa, with pre-orders on everything coming to SA opening immediately and the product lineup arriving from 31 August. That’s just a few short weeks away so maybe now is a good time to start leaning on your financial advisor. In the meantime, let’s see some of the devices arriving with new and interesting forms of Samsung’s Galaxy AI.

Samsung’s sixth Fold

We’ll open by saying that most of Samsung’s recent leaks were completely correct. This is especially true in the case of the company’s newest foldables. The Galaxy Fold 6 arrives in three hues (Silver Shadow, Pink, and Navy), adds a few millimetres (2.7mm, to be precise) to its opened width, trims back 1.4mm from height, and measures 1mm wider when folded. It’s not much as dimensions go, but it qualifies the phone as ‘new’, we suppose. The 239-gram weight drops the phone’s weight by 14 grams, but that’s not something we didn’t already know.

The opened size of the Galaxy Fold 6 is 7.6in and the outer display measures 6.3in. The latter screen uses Corning’s Victus 2 glass and Samsung has plumped for new Armour Aluminium in the frame for added durability. A new Galaxy Edition processor, a custom version of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, powers both this and the Galaxy Flip 6. Finally, there’s also a larger vapour chamber so your Fold 6 should run a little cooler, even when it’s ray tracing. But not everything is shiny and (somewhat) new.

Last year’s cameras have returned for a second round. That’s not a bad thing, since the cameras weren’t exactly a shabby lot, but it makes recommending this year’s phone over last year’s model even harder to justify. Unless, that is, you think artificial intelligence really is the future.

If that’s the case, then the Fold 6’s Galaxy AI features might be worth checking in for (before the Fold 5 gets most of these features in a software update, we’re pretty certain). Transcription features abound, with Note Assist getting voice note support, letting you dictate your notes and letting your phone type out every ‘um’ and ‘ah’.

Samsung’s got a real-time translation overlay for web browsing (so Google Translate for Samsung’s web browser), Circle to Search arrives on the Fold 6, and are also printed and vocal translation functions baked in. One of these handles two sides of a conversation, as long as the languages involved are supported by Samsung’s setup. Mostly, it’s Europe, the States, and Asia getting a look-in, at least at launch.

But you’ll live-translate voice calls on the Galaxy Fold 6 with those languages, which is an undeniably cool feature. Provided it works. Other cool additions are automated message replies that use your previous twenty messages to match your tone so nobody knows you’re not paying attention. Smart image editing features are also a thing, with Samsung showing off how to add rather realistic sunglasses to a dog using even shoddy scribbling skills. It’s basically Scribblenauts but for your Gallery. Additionally, you can turn crappy sketches into “art”, of a sort, with the Galaxy Fold 6 sprucing up your doodles into something publication-worthy. Your results may vary.

If you want one, expect to pay R43,500 for the 256GB version and R46,000 for the 512GB edition of the Galaxy Fold 6.

Let’s Flip for it

Samsung’s Galaxy Flip 6, by comparison, is an altogether newer device. It’s got four shades (Blue, Yellow, Silver Shadow, and Mint) and much of the same internal hardware. Samsung has bunged a vapour chamber into the Flip lineup for the first time and also increased the battery size to 4,000mAh. Screen sizes remain unchanged from the Galaxy Fold 5 but the 3.4in outer screen is at least more useful this time around. More on that in a second.

The phone’s 12MP main camera sensor has been swapped out for a larger 50MP unit, making the Flip 6 more competitive on the photography front. That, and the new on-device AI, might explain the need for that cooling chamber. With the Flip 6’s folding ability, the palm-activated snap activation means you can be in your own photos even if you don’t have any friends to hold the camera. AI tweaks portrait settings for you and it’ll also refocus to keep (human) targets in frame on its own. Finally, Instagram uses Samsung’s native camera app, allowing you to craft high-quality images for Meta’s online shopping portal image-sharing app.

In addition to the various productivity and translation features, Samsung’s Galaxy AI will provide wallpaper suggestions, in keeping with the Flip’s focus on fashion. These can match ambient lighting or change depending on the time or weather, even if you’re simply using a photo from your gallery. It’s also possible to use generative AI to suggest or create new wallpapers.

The outer screen gets widgets and other customisation, a feature called Flex Window, and the Interpreter function uses both screens so you can order something from an Italian street vendor and both understand each other.

Want one? Samsung is charging R26,000 for access to the Galaxy Flip 6.

Watch what happens next

Samsung is bringing an all-new device to its wearables lineup (not that this is a surprise). Meet the Galaxy Watch Ultra, a totally-not-Apple-Watch-Ultra that will set buyers back R20,000. It’ll justify the price via its build (Grade 4 Titanium), screen (3,000 nits), battery (between 48 and 100 hours), and IP68 rating. Plus it’s got a military spec rating for toughness. Samsung is marketing this as a multisport watch, having upgraded the Watch Ultra’s sensors and the GPS for accuracy.

Also coming is the Galaxy Watch 7. New features include pinch and spread gestures, suggested replies (using AI, naturally), and sleep apnea tracking are included. Something called an Ages Index, which tells you how old you biologically are, is coming via a software update sometime after launch.

It’s R20k for the Watch Ultra and R7,000 for the 40mm Galaxy Watch 7. The 44mm Galaxy Watch 7 will set you back R7,500.

Find some new Buds

Samsung has gone for an all-new design for its Galaxy Buds 3 and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, adding stems to the headphones for the first time. Samsung calls them ‘blades’ but it’s the same basic idea. Expect Samsung’s signature audio but with added AI features… in the Buds 3 Pro. Interpreter is a one-way listening mode that translates (supported) languages on the fly for listeners and it’s a fantastic reason to pick up Samsung’s new in-ears.

Samsung debuts a hearing test to customise the listening profile and uses Galaxy AI to manage active noise cancellation on the fly. The idea, it seems, is to tweak levels to match your environment instead of just having differing set levels of cancellation. Whether this will eliminate hiss when ANC is working overtime remains to be seen. We’ll check this feature out as soon as we’re able.

The Galaxy Buds 3 will cost R4,000 and the Buds 3 Pro will launch at R5,000.

Also coming to Samsung South Africa for launch are pre-order incentives (more on those later but it mostly involves Samsung vouchers, it seems) and a trade-in program that will return up to R15,000 for your old device. Finally, the Galaxy Flip 6 and Fold 6 will get seven years of software and security updates.