And I was ready to upgrade when my Galaxy Z Fold finally gave up the ghost after years of heavy usage. The clearly logical pick felt like Samsung’s newest Galaxy Z Fold 7, a device with a slimmer case and an improved hinge, larger displays and new camera specs. It was then that I ran the numbers on total cost of ownership — what (if anything) that money could actually buy — and reconsidered. I went with a less expensive option instead — and I don’t have buyer’s remorse.
The short version: the particulars of my workflow were not worth top dollar. A near-mint Galaxy Z Fold 6 offered the same basic phone experience for half the price, and came with years of software support ahead.
Price and value trumped novelty in my real-world choice
Many markets have a list price on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 that circles around $2,000. Even with trade-in bonuses, you are paying flagship laptop prices for a phone. So that’s fine so long as the gains are radical. For me, they weren’t.
Meanwhile, in the secondary market, trustworthy refurbishers and peer-to-peer marketplaces commonly list a Z Fold 6 from around $850 to $1,100 based on storage capacity and condition. I bought a second-hand one that looked box-fresh, checked the charge count and diagnostics, and paid roughly half what you’d pay for a new Fold 7.
Depreciation sealed it. Indeed, third-party resale calculators such as those offered by SellCell have pegged the fall in value at between 45–65% inside of a year. Foldables cycle through in much the same way, especially now that new additions land faster and carrier promos drench the market. Less money up front softens that curve and reduces your risk if you ever decide to flip the device down the road.
The S Pen reality on foldables and everyday usability
I draw, annotate PDFs, and storyboard videos, so stylus support really counts. Samsung’s S Pen Fold Edition now works with the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and provides a large, gratifying canvas. The catch is the same one we’ve encountered before: there’s no integrated silo on the Fold line, meaning you’re keeping it in its case or a pocket of your bag. And that hasn’t changed substantially with the newer hardware; Samsung still prioritizes thinness, weight, and hinge design over making room for an included pen.
In other words, the Fold 7’s thinness bodes well for most people, but it didn’t elevate the one accessory that’s worth more to me than anything else. And the Fold 6 is already a sweet spot hitter: big inner screen, fine uses for pen input, and no real penalty for how I’d use it.
The performance gap proved smaller than I expected
On paper, the Fold 7’s new silicon chews through synthetic benchmarks and power efficiency data at a higher clip than its predecessor. In everyday use, that edge didn’t really rear its head. The Galaxy Z Fold 6’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and 12GB of RAM easily tackle three-way multitasking, DeX, and photo edits without breaking a sweat. Games like Genshin Impact and Call of Duty: Mobile play fine on high settings with solid thermals.
Even A.I. features couldn’t put it over the top. Samsung’s on-device and cloud-assisted tools — transcription, photo assists, summarization — are here where they matter, and One UI updates have been exceptionally generous about backporting capabilities. The Fold 7 is quicker; the Fold 6 is quick enough.
Longevity and software support still seem solid here
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is on the receiving end of Samsung’s life-of-the-phone update policy, which makes it a significantly more attractive resale option with years of OS and security updates in its future. That makes a used unit still a long way from falling out of support.
Durability has also matured. The Fold 6 added dust protection with IP48, kept the water resistance and improved the hinge. Repairs are still expensive — iFixit and carrier service schedules have not relented on the cost of fixing foldable inner displays and hinges versus their slab-phone counterparts — so picking up a Galaxy Z Fold at said discount is its own little bit of insurance if something goes wrong.
How I Bought Used and Never Regretted It
I looked at the purchase as if I were buying a certified pre-owned car.
- Confirmed the IMEI wasn’t blacklisted.
- Checked for carrier locks.
- Examined the crease under a bright light and looked for even brightness to eliminate any OLED burn-in.
- In Samsung Members, ran diagnostics for touch, speakers, and sensors.
- In Device Care, confirmed total battery cycles and screen-on time.
- Checked the hinge at different angles for play.
- Tested the pre-applied inner screen protector for lift.
- Requested proof of original purchase to validate warranty status.
It took 10 cautious minutes, but it spared me hundreds.
Who should still buy the Galaxy Z Fold 7 today
If you require the absolute thinnest body, brighter and bigger displays, and are ready to spring for the best cameras in Samsung’s foldable lineup while expecting to keep the phone around for several years, then yes, it’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 time.
For everybody else — especially those S Pen users who aren’t looking for an ultrathin frame — the Galaxy Z Fold 6 still makes more sense to buy. It provides me with the most important parts of what a foldable delivers, at about 50% of the price category, and that’s the upgrade that pencils out for me.