The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 is finally here – if you’re wondering ‘what’s going on with the Z Flip 2’, it seems that the 5G version of the original Galaxy Flip was technically that counting, despite the lack of the number of.
Launched alongside the Z Fold 3, and like that bigger foldable phone, you’ll find that the Z Flip 3 is more of an iterative update to its predecessor than a vastly different device, although there are some welcome tweaks. The ‘big’ change here is that the price is lower than the original Flip, although the reduction is certainly not enough to make the Z Flip 3 a more attractive device.
This is the best clamshell foldable phone out there right now – that’s not saying much, as the only competition is the Motorola Razr 2020 or the original Z Flip. The fact is, however, that even with this asking price drop, the Z Flip 3 just isn’t worth the cost right now.
Beyond the novelty of a foldable smartphone, the Z Flip 3 doesn’t justify its price tag – as well as some form factor issues, such as the fact that there’s a gap in the phone when you close it, how stiff it is to close, or the way too high fingerprint scanner, it has issues that would plague any smartphone experience like small battery and questionable cameras
So while the Galaxy Z Flip 3 is a fun party trick or fashion statement, it’s not as great as a regular everyday smartphone. You may prefer to spend your money on a rigid device because foldable just isn’t there yet.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 Release Date And Price
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 comes in two storage sizes: 128GB, which costs $999 / £949 / AU$1,499, or 256GB, which will cost you $1,049 / £999 / AU$1,599
In comparison, the original Galaxy Flip cost $1,380 / £1,300 / AU$1,800, and the 5G model was even more at $1,449 / £1,399 / AU$2,599. So the Flip 3 is definitely more affordable, although it’s still a lot more than what you’d pay for many top-quality non-foldable devices.
One thing we need to highlight, however, is that the original Flip lost value pretty quickly and is now available brand new for less than the launch price of the Flip 3. Oh, and if you were to buy a rigid phone with the Z Flip’s specs 3, you could probably save about $1,000 / £1,000 / AU$2,000.
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 goes on sale on August 27, pre-orders are now open. In Australia, the pre-order date is the same, but the device will not ship until September 10.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 Price in India
Pre-ordering of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 in India will begin on August 24, and sales will begin from September 10. The price of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 starts at Rs. 84,999.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 Price in Nigeria
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 Expected price Start is NGN. 350,000 to NGN. 520,000, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 comes with Android 11, 6.7 inches folding dynamic AMOLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G chipset, Octa-core CPU, 8 GB RAM, and 128 GB ROM / 256 GB ROM, non-removable Li-Po 3300 mAh battery.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 Price, Specs & Review – Design & Display
To look at it, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 doesn’t seem to offer much that differs from its predecessor. But looks can be deceiving, and once you have the phone in your hand you will notice some improvements.
The phone has a ‘Glasstic’ plastic back with glass surrounding the camera module, unlike the all-glass original, and while the dimensions and weight are basically the same as before, the new phone feels sturdier. Plastic is more resistant to drops than glass and is generally easier to grip, meaning the Flip won’t slip out of a wet hand.
Part of the phone’s reassuring sturdiness is likely due to the hinge mechanism, which feels less wobbly and more secure than the one on the first Flip.
Like the original Galaxy Z Flip, the Z Flip 3 has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner; and as with the original, this is a little hard to reach when the phone is unfolded. There is also a bit of a gap between the two halves when the phone is folded which makes the phone less hardy in this position than it could be.
One of the weirder design choices from the original Z Flip returns here: When folded, the Z Flip 3 is nearly square in shape and as wide as your average smartphone. That means it can be a bit cramped for smaller pockets, even if the phone isn’t as tall as your average handset.
The phone comes in a few different colors including beige, black, green, and purple, although some are exclusive to Samsung’s website depending on your region.
The main display is the same 6.7-inch FHD+ panel as the 2020 model, although the refresh rate has been increased to 120Hz. The folding mechanism isn’t too obvious behind the screen, unlike the original Flip and all Fold models, which is a nice change, although it’s not completely hidden in any way.
Bigger improvements have been made to the outer screen, which was 1.1 inches on the original Flip but gets a significant increase here to 1.9 inches. This makes it easier to see the redesigned layout for this screen, which is useful because of new settings that allow you to change the apps on the cover screen to mimic your Galaxy Watch 4.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 Price, specs, and review – Cameras and battery life
This is going to be a pretty short section as both the camera and battery specs are the same on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 as on its predecessors.
On the back are 12MP wide and 12MP ultrawide snappers, although the sensors have larger pixels than those in the original Flip, so photos are a bit brighter and more colorful. The 10MP snapper on the front is also essentially unchanged, although we don’t know anything about the sensor size here.
The collection of camera modes also seems identical. There’s a Flex mode so you can partially fold the phone at a right angle and use one side as a stand to keep the other side steady with the camera, along with the stand modes you’ll find on the Galaxy S21. Zooming is fully digital and goes up to 10x.
The camera setup here is nothing compared to what you’ll find on other recent Samsung flagships like the S21, so don’t buy this phone expecting great photos.
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 packs the same 3,300 mAh battery as its predecessor, which is on the light side for a phone with a 6.7-inch display, but we suspect the form factor limits how big the power pack can be. As this is a hands-on review, we haven’t had enough time to properly test the phone’s endurance, but we found that the original Flip sometimes struggled to last an entire day.
There’s also no change to 15W charging, which we’d consider slow if the battery wasn’t relatively small. There’s also wireless charging here, which works better when the phone is folded due to the placement of the charging coil inside the phone.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 Price, Specs & Review – Performance & Specs
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 brings some minor performance upgrades over its predecessor – the main one being that it uses the Snapdragon 888 chipset, the top-end Android processor available for it (save for a Plus version of the 888 who have few phones).
Thanks to this processor and 8GB of RAM, the phone felt quite powerful to use when scrolling through menus or apps. We haven’t tested any games on the phone – we’ve been too busy folding and unfolding to our dismay – but we’ve used plenty of other Snapdragon 888 phones so it’s likely to be a pretty powerful device.
The software is Samsung’s OneUI, a fork of Android with some of the company’s apps thrown in — like most Android reskins, what you make of it, and the accompanying bloatware is largely due to personal taste.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 Specifications
| BASIC INFO | |
| Brand | Samsung |
| Model | Galaxy Z Flip 3 |
| Status | Available |
| Release Date | 2021, August |
| BODY | |
| Dimensions | Unfolded: 166 x 72.2 x 6.9 mm Folded: 86.4 x 72.2 x 15.9-17.1 mm |
| Weight | 183 g (6.46 oz) |
| Colors | Phantom Black, Green Lavender, Cream, White, Pink, Gray |
| Body Material | Plastic front, glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus), aluminum frame |
| SIMs | Nano-SIM, eSIM |
| Water & Dust | IPX8 water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins) |
| DISPLAY | |
| Size | 6.7 inches |
| Type | Foldable Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1200 nits (peak) |
| Resolutions | 1080 x 2640 pixels Cover display: Super AMOLED, 1.9 inches, 260 x 512 pixels |
| PPI | 426 ppi density |
| Multi touch | Yes |
| NETWORKS | |
| 2G | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 CDMA 800 / 1900 |
| 3G | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 CDMA2000 1xEV-DO |
| 4G | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 46, 48, 66, 71 |
| 5G | 2, 5, 25, 41, 66, 71, 260, 261 SA/NSA/Sub6/mmWave |
| Speed | HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (6CA) Cat20 2000/200 Mbps, 5G |
| GPRS | Yes |
| EDGE | Yes |
| CAMERA | |
| Rear Dual | 12 MP, f/1.7, 27mm (wide), 1/2.55″, 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS 12 MP, f/2.2, 123? (ultrawide), 1.12µm |
| Features | LED flash, panorama, HDR |
| Videos | 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@60/240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR10+ |
| Front | 10 MP, f/2.4, 26mm (wide), 1.22µm HDR 4K@30fps |
| HARDWARE | |
| OS | Android 11, One UI 3.5 |
| Chipset | Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 5G (5 nm) |
| CPU | Octa-core (1×2.84 GHz Kryo 680 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 680 & 4×1.80 GHz Kryo 680) |
| GPU | Adreno 660 |
| RAM | 8GB |
| Storage | 128GB / 256GB |
| Card Slot | No |
| BATTERY | |
| Type | Li-Po |
| Capacity | 3300 mAh |
| Removable | Non-Removable |
| Talk Time | N/A |
| Stand By | N/A |
| Fast Charging | Fast charging 25W |
| WirelessCharging | Fast wireless charging 11W Reverse wireless charging 4.5W |
| COMMONS | |
| Sound | Yes, with stereo speakers |
| Sensors | Fingerprint (side-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified) |
| Bluetooth | 5.1, A2DP, LE |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS |
| USB | USB Type-C 3.1, USB On-The-Go |
| Wi Fi | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot |
| NFC | Yes |
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 Price, Specs, and Review – Early Verdict
Don’t order the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 and expect a vastly different phone than the original Z Flip – it has the same dimensions, cameras, battery, and software. And after fully testing it, we’re not convinced we’d spend a lot of money on it — the form factor issues lurking around the Z Flip 3 like a dark cloud.
However, there are a few improvements that may appeal to those who skipped the original Flip but were still tempted by it. The chipset is better, you get a bigger outer screen and the inner screen has a faster refresh rate.
But it may be the price that finally convinces you – while this phone is still super expensive, it’s not as super expensive as its predecessor, and we hope this price drop is a sign of things to come in the foldable space.
