Vivo X Fold 6 Review: A serious alternative to Samsung and Google's foldables

Vivo has built a compelling foldable, but it now needs to convince buyers that its overall experience warrants the premium

The past few months have been a season of foldables, with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and the Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold raising the expectations for what these devices can offer. The competition is no longer just about slimmer designs or larger inner displays. Cameras, battery life, performance and software now play equally important roles in making a foldable worth buying.

Vivo has joined this race with the X Fold 6, priced at ₹2,19,999 for its 12GB RAM and 512GB storage variant. That is a significant jump from the X Fold5, which launched at ₹1,49,999. The new model brings a 200 MP ZEISS main camera, a newer MediaTek processor and a larger 6,900 mAh battery. But with Samsung and Google offering compelling alternatives, the question is whether these upgrades justify Vivo's ₹70,000 price hike. Let's find out.

Design

The Vivo X Fold 6 retains the familiar design language of its predecessor, with rounded corners, a flat metal frame and a large circular camera module. The Nebula Teal finish gives it a distinctive look, while the camera ring blends with the rear panel. The Prism Black option offers a more understated appearance, with subtle ridges that create different reflections as the light changes.

One addition I particularly appreciate is the inclusion of a case in the box. When spending over ₹2 lakh on a smartphone, having basic protection included is welcome. Several brands leave buyers to purchase a case separately, adding to the overall cost. It is a small detail, but it makes the out-of-box experience more complete.

The X Fold 6 also offers IP5X dust resistance and IPX8 and IPX9 water resistance. Vivo says the phone can withstand specific water exposure conditions, including folding underwater (under controlled test conditions). This does not make it a phone you should routinely submerge, but the protection is reassuring for everyday use.

The controls follow a conventional layout, with the power button and volume rocker on the side. USB Type-C handles charging and connectivity. The flat metal frame gives the phone a clean profile, while the rounded corners help make it comfortable to hold. The included case is particularly useful here, as the prominent camera module makes protecting the rear panel worth considering.

Display

The Vivo X Fold 6 features an 8.02-inch inner display with a resolution of 2504 × 2312 pixels. The 6.51-inch cover display offers a resolution of 2528 × 1120 pixels. Both panels use LTPO technology, support adaptive refresh rates from 1Hz to 120Hz and have a claimed local peak brightness of up to 5,000 nits. Both screens can also dim to as low as 1 nit, which is useful when checking messages or reading in a dark room.

The inner display is the highlight. Vivo has done a good job of making the crease almost invisible during everyday use. You can still notice it under certain lighting conditions and feel it when running your finger across the screen, but it rarely distracts from reading, browsing or watching content. This is important because the crease is one of the most noticeable compromises of a foldable display.

The large screen also makes multi-tasking more comfortable. Documents, webpages and supported apps have more room, and the 120Hz refresh rate keeps scrolling and animations fluid. The cover display, meanwhile, is large enough for regular smartphone tasks, so you do not have to unfold the phone every time you want to reply to a message or check a notification.

OS and AI

The Vivo X Fold 6 runs OriginOS 7 based on Android 17, with a focus on multi-tasking, smoother interactions and cross-device connectivity. Origin Workbench lets users open up to five apps simultaneously and drag text, images and documents between them. Desktop Mode extends the experience to an external display, offering resizable app windows for a PC-like workspace. The phone also supports connectivity features across devices such as MacBooks and iPads, making it easier to move between screens.

Vivo's AI features focus on simplifying everyday tasks. The AI Cross-App Drag can extract text from images, translate content across 16 supported languages and move contact details into the Contacts app or Dialer. Jovi, Vivo's AI agent, can help execute tasks across connected devices, while the AI Recorder creates searchable transcripts and summaries. The Smart Call Assistant offers call screening and call summaries, and Origin Island's Snap & Go can identify travel or event details from screenshots and suggest adding them to the Google Calendar. These features give the foldable a practical productivity angle, particularly for users who want to do more than simply run apps on a larger display.

Performance

Powering the Vivo X Fold 6 is MediaTek's Dimensity 9500 Super Edition, co-developed with Vivo. My review unit comes with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage. The phone's performance hardware is designed to support demanding apps and multi-tasking, while the large inner display gives you more room to work across multiple applications.

Vivo has also optimised the processor for Origin Workbench, which supports up to five apps simultaneously. The company claims these optimisations reduce power consumption by over 10% under heavy Origin Workbench workloads, compared with the previous generation. This could help balance performance and efficiency when switching between apps, although the improvement is based on Vivo's stated testing rather than an independent measurement.

Benchmark scores offer a clearer picture of the hardware. The X Fold 6 scored 1,933 in Geekbench single-core, 7,137 in multi-core, 13,925 in the GPU test and 3,278,189 in AnTuTu. For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra recorded 3,510 in single-core, 9,456 in multi-core and 21,287 in the GPU test. The Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold scored 2,281, 5,779 and 3,213 in the corresponding tests. These results suggest the Vivo trails Samsung in the reported CPU and GPU figures, while its multi-core and GPU scores exceed Google's

Gaming performance is good too. High-end titles such as BGMI, Pokemon Go and Call of Duty: Mobile run smoothly without noticeable lag, making the large inner display an enjoyable canvas for gaming. However, during extended gaming sessions, I did notice some minor heating. It was not a major concern, but it is worth noting if you regularly play graphics-intensive games for long periods.

Camera

The camera system is one of the biggest upgrades on the Vivo X Fold 6 over the X Fold 5. While its predecessor featured three 50 MP rear cameras, the X Fold6 upgrades the main camera to a 200 MP ZEISS sensor with a larger 1/1.4-inch sensor size and optical image stabilisation. It retains the 50MP ultrawide camera but upgrades the telephoto system with a Sony LYT-602 sensor, ZEISS APO certification and a periscope design. The phone still offers 3x optical zoom, but Vivo says the new telephoto camera improves light sensitivity and stabilisation. These changes make the X Fold 6's camera hardware a more meaningful upgrade than the megapixel count alone suggests.

The ZEISS treatment works well with the X Fold 6's camera ambitions. Images retain impressive detail, particularly in landscapes and architecture, while the 200 MP main sensor leaves room to crop and reframe shots. Daylight photos capture textures while maintaining a good balance between highlights and shadows. The Mount Everest samples shared for this review also illustrate the phone's potential for capturing distant scenery with useful detail.

Night photography benefits from optical image stabilisation and ZEISS T* coating, which is designed to reduce unwanted reflections. Vivo also includes a Night Flash Portrait mode for low-light portraits. Portraits benefit from multiple focal-length options, ranging from 23mm to 100mm equivalents, while the dedicated telephoto camera offers 3x optical zoom and up to 100x ZEISS Hyper Zoom. The highest magnifications rely heavily on digital processing, so they should not be confused with optical-quality results.

Compared with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, which also features a 200 MP main camera but uses a 10MP 3x telephoto camera, Vivo offers a higher-resolution dedicated zoom camera on paper. The Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold, meanwhile, offers 5x optical zoom, giving it greater native reach. The X Fold6 counters with its 50 MP ZEISS APO periscope camera, a 50 MP ultrawide and 4K recording at 60fps with Dolby Vision. Overall, the camera upgrades over the X Fold5 are substantial, particularly for main-camera detail and telephoto imaging, making the X Fold6 a strong contender among premium foldables.

Battery

The Vivo X Fold 6 packs a 6,900 mAh battery, up from the 6,000 mAh unit on the X Fold 5. The phone easily lasts a full day on a single charge, even with regular use of its large inner display and multi-tasking features. It supports 80W wired and 40W wireless charging, matching its predecessor's charging speeds in spite of the larger battery. Vivo also uses fifth-generation silicon-anode technology and a third-generation semi-solid-state battery design. Compared with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra's 5,000 mAh battery and 45W wired charging, the X Fold 6 has a clear advantage in battery capacity and charging speed.

Verdict

The Vivo X Fold 6 competes hard with other premium foldables, establishing itself as a serious alternative to Samsung and Google. Vivo has managed to bring together the key elements expected from a flagship foldable without compromising its appeal as a conventional smartphone. The camera system stands out, while the slim design and large displays make the phone suitable for both everyday use and productivity. The software experience also gives the inner screen a clear purpose beyond watching videos or browsing. Overall, the X Fold 6 feels like a well-rounded device that can hold its own in an increasingly competitive segment.

The biggest hurdle, however, is its ₹2,19,999 price tag. At ₹70,000 more than the X Fold 5's launch price, the increase is substantial enough to make buyers in India think twice before investing in it. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold also give buyers alternatives at the premium end of the market, each with its own strengths. Vivo has built a compelling foldable, but it now needs to convince buyers that its overall experience warrants the premium. If photography, battery life and a productivity-focused foldable experience are high on your priority list, the X Fold 6 deserves consideration. For everyone else, the price may be the deciding factor.