Roh Tae-moon, president and head of the mobile experience business at Samsung Electronics, unveils the new Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 smartphones during Galaxy Unpacked 2024 at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, Wednesday (local time). Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics unveiled its new Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 smartphones during the summertime Galaxy Unpacked event in Paris, Wednesday (local time), introducing a number of technical upgrades and artificial intelligence (AI) functions tailored to its flexible form factors.

"Samsung's long history of innovation has allowed us to lead in the mobile space, creating the foldable form factor and ushering in the mobile AI era," said Roh Tae-moon, president and head of the mobile experience business at Samsung. "Now, we are excited to bring these two complementary technologies together and unlock new possibilities for users around the world."

Earlier this year, Samsung made waves in the global smartphone market by embedding advanced AI capabilities into the Galaxy S24 series. This time, the company is turning its attention to foldable phones, seeking to integrate AI features that promise to redefine user experiences.

The new Galaxy Z Fold 6 / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

Both the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 are equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, optimized for AI processing and offer enhanced graphics along with improved overall performance. The cooling system was upgraded with both phones featuring vapor chambers to enable improved performance.

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 features a new 50-megapixel main camera, a significant upgrade from the 12-megapixel camera on its predecessor, and is powered by a 4,000 mAh battery. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 also boasts a 50-megapixel main camera, along with a 4,400 mAh battery for enhanced performance.

The new Galaxy Z Flip 6 / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

One of the new AI-powered features is the transcript function in Samsung Notes. Building on existing capabilities like translation, summaries, and auto-formatting, this feature allows users to transcribe, translate, and summarize voice recordings directly within the app. Additionally, the PDF overlay translation feature enables users to translate text in PDF files and overlay the translations directly onto the original document.

The AI interpreter function has seen notable enhancements in the latest models. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6 introduce a new conversation mode that displays translations on both the main and cover screens for more natural dialogue. Plus, the live translate feature has been expanded to support nine popular messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM, and KakaoTalk.

For crisper photos, the new Galaxy Z series introduces a fresh editing experience powered by the AI-based ProVisual Engine. The Portrait Studio function offers a range of creative portrait styles, including 3D cartoon and watercolor, providing users with more artistic possibilities.

The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

Pre-orders for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 kicked off on Wednesday, and the devices will be available for purchase starting July 24. The Z Fold 6 is priced from 2.23 million won ($1,607) to 2.7 million won, depending on storage options, while the Z Flip 6 ranges from 1.48 million won to 1.64 million won.

Along with the foldable phones, Samsung also unveiled the Galaxy Buds 3 and Buds 3 Pro, adopting new designs and advanced functions such as interpretation.

From left are the Galaxy Ring, the Galaxy Watch 7 and the Galaxy Watch Ultra / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

Wearable devices for healthcare

During the event, Samsung also revealed the Galaxy Ring, adding a new device into the company's wearable device portfolio. It also unveiled the new Galaxy Watch 7 and the Galaxy Watch Ultra.

Samsung said the new devices represent the company's vision to enable "tailored health experiences," as they will function as tools to obtain, monitor and track data on personal health.

"The latest additions to our wearables portfolio integrate Samsung's most advanced technologies and innovations, enabling you to take control of your health and wellness with preventative healthcare solutions," Roh said.

"The intelligence, guidance and insights that are offered with Galaxy Ring, Galaxy Watch7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra will help users turn data into meaningful insights and create a whole new era of expanded intelligent health experiences."

Among them, the Galaxy Ring stands as the smallest wearable device in Samsung's portfolio, functioning as a high-tech sensor that is designed to be worn around-the-clock. Designed for constant health monitoring, the Galaxy Ring weighs between 2.3 grams to 3.0 grams and provides 10ATM water resistance.

All data and information collected through the ring are integrated into Samsung Health application without a subscription. It features sleep analysis and sleep AI algorithm to help users easily understand sleep patterns by providing sleep score and snoring analysis.

The Galaxy Ring also supports broader everyday wellness monitoring, such as heart rate alert, auto workout detection and inactive alert.

The ring and the two smartwatches will be also available in stores starting July 24. The Galaxy Ring is priced at 494,900 won, while the Watch 7 is priced between 349,000 won and 419,100 won. The Watch Ultra, which comes with more advanced capabilities, is priced at 899,800 won.