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Samsung Unpacked event boasts new smartphones, wearables, and AI tech

We were introduced to the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6, as well as the Galaxy Ring and Watch Ultra, during the Samsung Unpacked event.

Screenshot from the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked July presentation with the speaker revealing the Z Flip 6

Following the reveal of Galaxy AI earlier this year, we had some pretty significant expectations going into the latest Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event, and as ever, the Korean tech giant delivered. We got fresh wearables, smartphones, and yes, more AI features.

 

At the start of the show, we finally got a proper introduction to the Samsung Galaxy Ring. The Galaxy Ring boasts plenty of AI-powered fitness and health tracking features, a lightweight titanium build, up to seven days of battery life, coming in silver, black, and gold colorways. It arrives on the market at $399, almost $100 more than the Oura Ring alternative.

After the reveal of Samsung’s first smart ring, the brand turned to another fresh wearable, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra. The smartwatch is the first of its kind to be officially FDA-approved as a sleep apnea detector, which is a pretty substantial feature and could even save lives. It also comes with up to 100 hours of battery life, an Advanced BioActive Sensor for super accurate tracking, and a rugged titanium build ready for whatever life throws at you. The Watch Ultra is launching at $649, undercutting the Apple premium smartwatch alternative by $150, or there’s the Galaxy Watch 7, starting at the much more affordable price of $299.

Following the wearable-heavy introduction, the presentation moved on to the latest Samsung phones, the Galaxy Z 6 Series. The Z Fold 6 is thinner and lighter than ever before and has seen its bezel shrunk to offer more screen real estate to play with. I don’t say ‘play with’ lightly; the brand put a big emphasis on gaming on the Fold 6 during the presentation, highlighting the size increase in the device’s vapor chamber to offer prolonged gaming sessions and ray-tracing capabilities.

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After more AI discussion – including the introduction of Sketch to Image, a variation of the text-to-image generation tools we’ve seen that uses primitive sketches as inspiration instead – we got introduced to the other half of the Galaxy Z 6 series, the Z Flip 6. In terms of hardware, the Z Flip 6 has some much-requested upgrades, including a vapor chamber to keep the thing cool – a first for a Samsung flip device – and a bigger battery. Software-wise, it comes with all the same neat tricks as the Z Fold 6 and the flagship S24 Series, which is mightily impressive considering the size of the thing.

Now, onto what you’re waiting for – the prices. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 starts at $1,899, while the Z Flip 6 begins at $1,099. Both devices, plus the Samsung Galaxy Ring, Watch Ultra, Watch 7, and Buds 3 Pro, arrive on July 24. Pre-orders are open now via the official Samsung website. Both phones also come with seven years of security and OS software updates, just like the S24 Series, giving you the option to use them all the way through until 2031 if you so wish.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get a surprise announcement as we did with the Samsung Galaxy Ring tease back in January’s Unpacked. However, we did get a visit from Google, with Senior Vice President of Devices & Services, Rick Osterloh, committing to continuing the Silicon Valley brand’s partnership with Samsung into the future. There was also mention of the two company’s upcoming XR platform collaboration, but we didn’t get any concrete details outside of that fact we should be expecting more news later in the year.

There you have it, all the big news from the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event live from Paris. While you’re here, be sure to check up on what the other big Android brands are up to, see our guides to the best Motorola phones, best Google Pixel phones, and best Xiaomi phones. Or, to find out more about the next generation of Apple smartphones, see our iPhone 16 guide.