In a pre-Olympic Paris, with an election hangover and Lamine Yamal’s goal still echoing in the bistros, Samsung has presented its mid-year novelties. The new versions of the company’s foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Galaxy Z Flip 6, arrive, supported by launches in the smartphone category. smartwatch and headphones. With a juicy tip: the brand new Galaxy Ring, which for now will not land in Spain.
The South Korean firm has shown strength with its new devices. After a brief overtaking Apple as the brand that sold the most smartphones, Samsung regained the lead in the first quarter of the year. It coincided with a growth in the market, a not inconsiderable 7.8% compared to the previous year. A padded stage for the launch of products and the demonstration, once again, of the capabilities of Galaxy AI, the company’s artificial intelligence.
TM Roth, president of Samsung’s mobile division, opened the presentation. From the stage of the auditorium of the Carrousel du Louvre, the shopping mall on the ground floor of the museum, he announced that Samsung’s artificial intelligence will reach more than 200 million devices this year. And he set the framework in which the manufacturer wants to play: “Samsung has a hybrid approach that combines AI supported by local resources and that based on the cloud.” The executive added that it is up to the user to decide what data they want to share with online AI systems and what they prefer to keep private on their device.
Samsung’s new foldable phones are powered by a cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. The Galaxy Z Fold 6, the older brother, has a slightly larger 6.3-inch external screen. The idea is that this wider format makes it easier to use the keyboard. The unfolded panel is 7.6 inches, with a density of 374 pixels per inch and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. This is where some of the artificial intelligence features shine.
Circle to Search o Circle to search, a feature developed in collaboration with Google, has more space on the Fold 6 screen. The user can circle the object they need more information about and it appears without hardly stealing the spotlight from the original image.
Another area where the Fold 6’s display offers greater possibilities is the automatic generation of illustrations. Based on a few light strokes from the user (although it also allows for more refined work; everyone knows their limits), the device’s AI generates different types of prints. You can choose between watercolor, 3D animation, sketch or pop art mode. In this way, you just have to drag your finger —ideally, you would do it with the S Pen— to sketch shapes of clouds, mounds and a sun to obtain the illustration of a mountainous landscape.
These are two of the features that stand out the most on the Fold 6’s unfolded screen, but they are also accessible on the Flip 6. This compact smartphone, which unfolds its screen vertically and not horizontally, in the style of old clamshell phones, has a 3.4-inch external panel and a 6.7-inch unfolded panel, with a refresh rate of 120 Hz.
Both foldables feature AI-powered productivity features. The Notes app allows you to make text summaries, translations, and even integrates the transcription function. That is, you can take notes while the audio you listen to is being recorded, so that you can later reproduce it. app transcribe it.
In photography, AI makes it easy to add elements. In a photo, you can draw a hat on a person who wasn’t wearing one and the technology will generate several images with different hats. You just have to choose the one you like best. Another new feature related to the camera is the option to generate a video. slow motion from one already recorded. Artificial intelligence adds interleaved frames, which it automatically generates to slow down the movement.
Without leaving the photographic section, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 is capable of adjusting the zoom automatically when there is no one behind the camera. Once the focus has been adjusted, the user only has to raise the palm of their hand to take the snapshot. In addition, the main sensor has increased from 12 to 50 megapixels and is complemented by a 12-megapixel ultra-wide angle. To these lenses, the Fold 6 adds a zoom 10-megapixel optical to complement its camera.
Another of the novelties of the younger brother of the folding ones is that it accommodates a greater number of widgets on the outer screen: up to three can fit at the same time. As for the Fold 6, one of its changes is in the hinge. The technology is the same, double rail, but the flexible material is different. Thus, the bump that is felt when passing the finger is more imperceptible. In addition, it has reduced weight and size, with the ambition of getting closer to the sensation that a traditional smartphone produces in the hand.
A cast of gadgets
Samsung has also presented its smart watches and headphones. Although the wearable The Galaxy Ring has attracted the most attention. We already got a sneak peek of it at the last Mobile World Congress, but it’s only now that it’s been officially unveiled. It will be sold in nine sizes (finger sizes), in black, gold and silver. It has a concave surface to resist scratches and the largest model has a battery that lasts a whole week.
The Samsung Galaxy Ring can measure pulse, send alerts to the user if they have high or low heart rates, or provide information about the time of their menstrual cycle. As an exclusive factor, the gadget offers a vitality score, which combines several parameters to then define whether the user should sleep more, rest or be more active. In Europe it will be sold in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, although there is no set launch date for Spain as of yet.
In watches, the most outstanding device is the Galaxy Watch Ultra, designed for sports in highly demanding environments. It has greater power thanks to a 3-nanometer processor and its battery lasts 100 hours. It has dual-frequency GPS, which improves location, in order to be useful in mountain or field sites. It even has an alarm function, which emits a loud beep for emergency situations.
The Watch Ultra also brings the new Galaxy Watch 7, in two sizes: 40 and 44 mm in diameter (the Ultra is 47 mm). All are associated with functions aimed at personal health. One of the hallmarks of this generation of watches is that they are certified by the FDA (the US regulator of medical devices) to detect apnea and identify problems with AGEs (acronym for advanced glycation end products).
The Galaxy Buds 3 and 3 Pro headphones complete Samsung’s presentation. They have a more ergonomic design, to better adapt to different types of ears. Of course, they are also supplemented with AI. Noise cancellation becomes selective: if a siren sounds in the street, the headphones will let the user hear it instead of minimizing it. Artificial intelligence also improves the quality of calls and isolates them from ambient noise.
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6, both with a vapor chamber cooling system, have a 4,400 mAh and 4,000 mAh battery respectively. The former is sold with 12 GB of RAM in three versions, 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB of storage, ranging from 2,009 euros to 2,369 euros. The Galaxy Buds 3 will range from 179 to 249 euros, while the Watch 7 will go from 319 to 399 euros. The Watch Ultra, meanwhile, will be priced at 699 euros. All devices can already be pre-ordered, although they will arrive in stores from July 24. The only exception is the Galaxy Ring. For reference, the Ring will appear in other markets at 449 euros.
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