The Galaxy Z Flip 6 comes with a hidden desktop mode that isn’t Samsung DeX

The Samsung DeX desktop environment mode hasn’t been available on the Galaxy Z Flip phones up to now, including the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 – but the newest model does have a different desktop mode hidden away that you can make use of.

As spotted by Android Authority, the mode can be enabled when the Z Flip 6 is hooked up to an external display. Rather than just mirroring what’s on the phone screen, the mode lets you work with apps in separate, resizable windows (though there’s no taskbar).

First, you need to force desktop mode for external displays in Samsung’s One UI 6.1.1 software, which requires Developer Options to be enabled on your phone – if you’re interested in trying it out, Samsung has instructions here.

It’s an interesting little upgrade that we didn’t previously know about – we didn’t discover it in our Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 hands-on – and it’s another reason to consider the flip foldable as your next smartphone.

Still no DeX

If you’ve never encountered Samsung DeX before, it essentially lets you operate your phone on a larger screen as if it were Windows or macOS – complete with support for a keyboard, a mouse, and floating windows you can reposition as needed.

While this alternative desktop mode doesn’t seem to have the power and features of DeX, it’s certainly better than nothing. It means you can actually get some serious work done, whether that’s emailing, writing, or image editing, on the Galaxy Z Flip 6.

Running a desktop environment is a demanding challenge for a phone, and worries over how the compact flip foldable would cope are the reason why DeX hasn’t appeared on the flip phones so far – including last year’s Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.

The Z Flip 5 was actually the first in the series to support external display output at all, and now the Z Flip 6 has improved that even further. By the time the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 rolls around next year, we might finally get full Samsung DeX support, too.