Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs OnePlus Open: What’s the difference?

Samsung has revealed its updated book-style foldable for 2024, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. But how does it compare to one of the best foldables around right now, the OnePlus Open?

While you might assume that, being almost a year old, the OnePlus Open trails behind what the Z Fold 6 offers – but that’s not the case. In fact, the OnePlus Open looks like it could remain a competitor for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 in several areas, from camera performance to overall design and, most importantly, price.

We’ve fully reviewed the OnePlus Open and while we’ve not yet benchmarked the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, we have gone hands-on. That said, here’s how the two premium foldables compare on paper. 

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 has a more powerful processor

When it comes to performance, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 should have the upper hand with a newer, faster, custom Snapdragon chipset. More specifically, the Z Fold 6 sports the same custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy as the top-end Galaxy S24 Ultra, coupled with 12GB of RAM. 

While we’ve not yet benchmarked the chipset, going by results from the Galaxy S24 Ultra, we’re expecting top-end performance – and there’s an improved vapour chamber within to help keep the phone running smoothly for longer too. 

That’s not to say that the OnePlus Open is a slouch, sporting the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 – the chipset of choice in 2023 – but it likely won’t be able to compete with benchmark results from the latest Samsung foldable.

That said, you’re probably unlikely to notice a difference in performance in day-to-day tasks with solid general performance from both foldables, but the Z Fold 6 will likely perform better when it comes to particularly demanding tasks like playing high-end 3D games. 

The OnePlus Open has larger screens

The OnePlus Open has one of the best foldable screen experiences around, with two high-quality panels at play. The cover screen measures 6.31 inches, boasts OLED screen, tech, an LTPO-enabled 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 2800nits. Plus, the aspect ratio means it feels more like a regular smartphone screen than much of the competition.

That experience continues with the inner foldable screen, measuring in at 7.82 inches and boasting similar tech including OLED screen tech, an LTPO-enabled 120Hz refresh rate and even the same 2800nits peak brightness for a consistent experience regardless of the screen you choose to use.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 has had a few key changes in the screen department this year, with the Dynamic AMOLED 2x cover screen growing to 6.3 inches and sporting a slightly squatter and wider 22.1:9 aspect ratio, down from the 23.1:9 of previous Z Folds, complete with an LTPO-enabled 120Hz refresh rate, although the inner screen has stayed at the same 7.6 inches with the same Dynamic AMLOLED 2x 120Hz refresh rate. 

That all said, it seems the OnePlus Open has the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 beat – in terms of sheer screen size, anyway.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 has GenAI capabilities

If there’s one area where the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 stands head and shoulders over the OnePlus Open, it’s in the GenAI department. 

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 continues the journey that Samsung began with the S24 series earlier this year, sporting the same GenAI-enabled Galaxy AI tech as the candybar flagship range. 

That means that the Z Fold 6 can do some pretty cool stuff, from being able to rewrite text messages in different styles to translating calls in realtime, voice note transcription, summarising websites and even removing subjects from photos, and it’s likely that feature set will expand with future Galaxy AI updates. 

The OnePlus Open, on the other hand, doesn’t sport much in the way of GenAI prowess. OnePlus is slowly rolling out the ability to remove subjects from photos like the Z Fold 6, and it’s possible that other features could roll out throughout the rest of 2024, but that’s about all it can do for now. 

The OnePlus Open has a higher-res camera setup

This year’s Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 boasts a couple of key upgrades in the camera department, sporting a 50MP main sensor that’s identical to the one that’s found in the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus, alongside a new 12MP ultrawide sensor. 

Granted, the latter doesn’t offer a megapixel bump compared to the previous Z Fold ultrawide lens, but Samsung claims that the new sensor should boost low-light and HDR performance in particular. That’s rounded off with the same 10MP 2x telephoto lens we’ve seen in the past few generations of Z Fold.

The OnePlus Open, on the other hand, goes all-in on foldable camera tech with a main 48MP sensor that was designed specifically for foldables, alongside a 48MP ultrawide and a 64MP 3x periscope lens for boosted zoom performance.

It’s also true of the selfie and cover screen cameras, with the OnePlus Open boasting 20MP and 32MP sensors respectively in place of the 4MP and 10MP sensors available from the Z Fold 6. 

Of course, there’s more to great camera performance than megapixel count, and we’ll hold final reservations on camera performance until we’ve spent more time with the Z Fold 6, but it does certainly look promising for the OnePlus Open based on specs. 

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is more expensive

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 was already more expensive than the OnePlus Open in 2023, and that gap has widened further with the release of the Z Fold 6, which costs £1799/$1899 with 256GB of storage, a £50/$100 increase over last year. 

The OnePlus Open, on the other hand, has an RRP of £1,599/$1,699, complete with a boosted 512GB of storage, though you can pick it up for slightly cheaper – £1,349 at the time of writing – at the OnePlus Store in the UK.