If you’re unfamiliar, a vapor chamber is, as the name suggests, a thin sealed chamber filled with low-pressure liquid. When heat is applied from the CPU, this liquid vaporizes and circulates within the chamber, spreading heat across the surface in all directions. The heat still has to escape from the handset, but spreading this out over a larger area helps cool the CPU down and reduces any noticeable hotspots when holding the phone.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 benchmarks
To see whether the vapor chamber makes any difference, I compared the Z Flip 6 to the Galaxy S24 and last year’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 against the S23. These pairs feature the same chipset between them, and by tracking the performance differential, we can roughly gauge if the new cooling system is indeed helping. Let’s dive in.
With the GPU running all out in 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme and ray tracing Solar Bay tests, the Flip has historically struggled to keep up with the base Galaxy S models, let alone the Ultras. However, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 performs better than last year’s model. It still drops performance pretty quickly, but the curve is much more in line with the Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S24, meaning we’re much closer to performance parity between the two. By comparison, the Z Flip 5 fell way behind the S23. The new vapor chamber certainly appears to make a difference.
Looking at the Galaxy S puts the results into context. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy is worse than the 8 Gen 2 when it comes to sustained performance, so the Flip 6’s cooling solution is clearly a decision to help prop up what would otherwise be a hot and quick-to-throttle little clamshell. The vapor chamber succeeds in improving the phone’s stability under stress, as the phone ends up putting out performance that’s right in the same ballpark as the Galaxy S24 in the tests we conducted. However, it isn’t a cure-all for high temperatures and the dubious stability of this more powerful processor.
Superior cooling helps the Z Flip 6 perform as well as the Galaxy S24.
Lanh Nguyen / Android Authority
So, the new vapor chamber helps mitigate the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s higher temperatures somewhat and ensures performance remains much more comparable to the Galaxy S24. However, it’s certainly unable to take this little clamshell phone into the ultra-high performance space or compete with bigger and cooler phones like the Galaxy S24 Ultra or dedicated gaming handsets. Still, it’s a solid and probably quite necessary addition to the series’ hardware.
The Flip series has never been about blistering performance (no one buys these phones to break out all the emulators), and the Galaxy Z Flip 6 is no different. The handset really stands out because of its portable clamshell form factor, fashion appeal, and new Galaxy AI features. Still, with a powerhouse Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor and this new vapor cooling setup, you won’t be short on performance if you plan to pick the new Z Flip 6.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6
Compact design • Foldable display • Improved battery
The Flip gets refreshed.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 introduces several exciting updates over previous Flip phones. It is equipped with a larger battery, improved cooling, and a next-gen chipset. 12GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage mean you do not need to compromise on performance. The 3.4-inch front display offers info at a glance, while the 6.7-inch 22:9 main AMOLED display offers a 120Hz refresh rate.
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