Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 Review
The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is Samsung's latest flagship foldable, and while it looks very similar to the previous generation Fold, it actually makes some big changes - for better and for worse.
An under-display selfie camera's biggest move to the internal screen, which gives you the option of taking selfies and video calls without a punch-hole or notch - though it's not exactly invisible. S Pen stylus support, waterproofing, and a significant reduction in price, and it starts to look like an awfully impressive phone.
Samsung has been leading the foldable market so far, but with increased competition in China from Huawei and now Xiaomi, the Korean giant has a lot to prove with the Fold 3 to stay ahead of its rivals Read on to see if it is managed.
How much does the Galaxy Z Fold 3 cost?
Despite packing in a few major upgrades, Samsung has clearly tried to keep prices down for this new generation of the Z Fold, in an effort to make the phone more mainstream.
256GB: £1,599/$1,799/€1,799
512GB: £1,699/$1,899/€1,899
This is a £200/$200 reduction from the £1,799/$1,999 starting price for last year's Z Fold 2. It's not quite as sharp a price cut as Samsung has managed for the new Z Flip 3, and certainly leaves this phone firmly in the 'ultra flagship'. ' category, but it should still help make the new Fold more attractive.
There are also pre-order bonuses - in the UK, anyone who pre-orders will get one year of Samsung Care+ for free.
Order before 30 September and you'll be eligible for an additional £250 on top of the trade-in price of an eligible old phone - from Samsung or other retailers - along with a free £79.99 Samsung Galaxy Note pack, which includes A flip case, S Pen and 25W charger.
Check out our full guide to the best Galaxy Z Fold 3 deals for more savings in the UK and elsewhere.
What are the Galaxy Z Fold 3 specs?
Considering the huge jump in innovation between the first two Fold models, don't expect the same jump again.
Samsung managed to fix a number of elements on its second-generation device, including enhancing the smaller 4.6-inch front screen and improving durability - read on to know what we disliked about that first iteration. Read our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold review to find out.
The Fold 3 offers more subtle improvements and refinements to the design along with some exclusive new features and upgrades.
Design
Here's one area where Samsung hasn't rocked the boat, keeping the Z Fold 3 design essentially the same outside of its cameras.
The rear camera module is now rounded - unlike the square-off dominoes Samsung has used in other recent flagships - although the big change is the introduction of an internal under-display camera - more on that later.
Other than a slightly thinner hinge, the phone is roughly the same size, but at 271g it's 11g lighter than the previous version.
It also comes in new colors, with the option of a black, green, or silver finish—the last of which is a lighter iridescent rather than the standard silver.
The build quality of the phone has indeed undergone major changes as compared to its design. The new 'Armor Aluminum' frame is said to be tougher than ever, while Gorilla Glass Victus protects the external display, and Gorilla Glass DX coats the camera lens.
In a first for a foldable, the phone has also received an IPX8 rating. It shows a high level of water resistance ('8'), but Samsung hasn't tested the phone for dust or sand resistance ('X').
Displays
Samsung hasn't changed much about the phone's two displays - with the obvious exception of that under-display camera on the inside.
The main, folding display stays at 7.6in, while the outer display is 6.2in. Both the screens are AMOLED and support a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate.
Specs
Core specs are also mostly as expected, with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 at the core of the handset.
That's with 12GB of RAM, and either 256GB or 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage - no real change from last year.
Naturally, 5G is supported, although this year's model has been upgraded to dual SIM, and furthermore still supports eSIM.
Battery and charging
Again, the changes here are limited. The actual battery has dropped a bit - from 4500mAh to 4500mAh, so it's likely a small enough drop that it won't seriously affect runtime.
Charging hasn't changed at all, with 25W wired charging and the same 10W wireless charging support.
Cameras
As mentioned above, perhaps the biggest change in the Z Fold 3 is the under-display camera that is used on the folding screen.
It's intended to help address the awkward positioning of the internal camera, which sits in the center of one side of the panel, making it awkwardly positioned when the screen is fully open. The idea behind this technology is that it will be less visible than the punch-hole camera of the Z Fold 2, and thus offer a smoother display.
After seeing the effect in person, it's not conspicuously invisible, and in fact, looks similar to the blocky under-display camera found on last year's ZTE Axon 20 5G - and unveiled by Xiaomi this week at Mi Much more obvious than similar techniques. Mix 4.
The real question is how well the 4Mp lens actually takes pictures, and it's hard to assess after only taking a few quick sample selfies on my hands, which I wasn't allowed to share here. Photos looked a bit soft, but the quality looked good enough for video calls at least, and in theory, the more visible camera should be capable of better photo output than Xiaomi's Stealth option.
The saving grace, either way, is that the Fold also packs another selfie camera - the 10Mp, f/2.2 camera found in the punch-hole on the external display.
You also get a triple rear camera setup similar to the Fold 2, with three 12Mp lenses: an OIS-enabled main camera; an ultrawide; And a 2x zoom lens, now also emphasized by OIS.
S Pen support
Lastly, since the Galaxy Note 21 won't launch at all, it's no surprise that the Fold 3 supports Samsung's S Pen stylus, though only on the internal folding display.
It's supported in the same way as the S21 Ultra, and the phone won't physically slot in but will fit inside compatible cases for foldable.
The Fold 3 will also support only two specific S Pens, both of which are new: the S Pen Fold Edition, and the S Pen Pro - the phone will warn you if you try to pair another S Pen model, and Samsung says You run the risk of scratching the display.
Both supported S Pens have a new retractable stylus tip that limits the amount of force applied to help prevent damage to the display, which the older S Pen lacked.
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