The Galaxy Z Flip 3 has become one of the most popular folding smartphones on the market. Price and release date, technical sheet, design, improvements… Find out everything we know about the folding smartphone.

Samsung has resurrected the flip phone design with the foldable screen of its Galaxy Z Flip. The new model, the Z Flip 3, arrived in France on August 27, 2021. Offered at a much more affordable price than its predecessor, it has already won over a very large number of customers.

⚙️ OUR COMPLETE TEST OF THE GALAXY Z FLIP 3

Find here our complete test of the Galaxy Z Flip 3, successor to the Z Flip. The smartphone gets an excellent rating, thanks to an improved design, a beautiful screen with perfectly respected colors, good performance with its Snapdragon 888, a larger external screen, not to mention its price, revised downwards.

A few small flaws tarnish this beautiful picture, such as a lackluster photo experience compared to the Galaxy S21s and an autonomy that is far too short to end the day, not to mention the fast recharge which could be faster.

📅 WHEN IS THE SAMSUNG GALAXY Z FLIP 3 COMING?

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Flip 3 on Wednesday August 11, 2021. It has been available in France since August 27, 2021, and was launched alongside the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Z Fold 3, the Korean manufacturer's other folding smartphone. .

💰 WHAT WILL THE SAMSUNG GALAXY Z FLIP 3 PRICE BE?

The Galaxy Z Flip was sold very expensive when it was released in France with a displayed price of 1500 euros. The Galaxy Z Flip 3 has seen its price drop compared to its predecessor. Indeed, the smartphone is sold at a lower price of 1059 euros, the same price as a classic high-end smartphone. This is the cheapest folding smartphone to date. A second version with more storage is offered at 1109 euros.

📱 DESIGN

The Galaxy Z Flip 3 retains the identity of the range with a horizontal fold on the screen allowing the smartphone to be folded vertically and only inwards, to close it like a clamshell. Samsung has made the Z Flip 3's chassis stronger, with the switch to what the brand calls an "Armor Frame".

The durability of foldable smartphones remains to be proven in the eyes of consumers, and it is logical that Samsung is giving itself the means to reassure the public in this regard. According to Samsung, the hinge has been certified to withstand at least 200,000 manipulations, which corresponds to 100 bends per day for 5 years. In addition, thanks to the new “Armor Frame” design, the Z Flip 3 benefits from an IPX8 water resistance certification, a first for a foldable smartphone. If you don't want to ruin it, Samsung has created a pair of perfect phone-specific jeans that cost no less than $1499.

The smartphone has a new design compared to the previous generation. The rear photo sensors are now placed vertically, while a secondary 1.9-inch screen allows you to read some of your notifications or read the time when the smartphone is closed.

The smartphone offers, like most other high-end models, stereo speakers, but this is really not one of the strong points of the smartphone. There is also a fingerprint sensor on the edge.

🔎 SCREEN

The foldable panel of the Galaxy Z Flip 3 revolves around AMOLED technology and a diagonal of 6.7 inches (1080 x 2640 pixels). It is an LTPO screen (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide thin-film transistor) capable of automatically adjusting the refresh rate according to needs and use in order to preserve the battery. For example, you don't need a 60 Hz display to watch video at 24 or 30 frames per second. The panel is therefore able to dynamically vary its frequency from 10 Hz to 120 Hz. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus glass protection.

The secondary screen, external and accessible even when the smartphone is closed, improves with this version. Called “front screen” or “cover screen” by Samsung, it allows you to quickly view notifications and answer calls without unfolding the smartphone. It also displays notifications in the manner of the Always-on display function in order to have an idea at any time of what has been missed since the last opening of the device. This screen is also used to take photos quickly without unfolding the Galaxy Z Flip and to get a double preview when taking a photo. The Galaxy Z Flip 3's cover screen is almost twice as large as the previous model, now measuring 1.9 inches (260 x 512 pixels) instead of 1.1 inches. It now allows you to read the entirety of certain notifications.

🚅 PERFORMANCE AND MEMORY

Just like the US Galaxy S21s and the Galaxy Z Fold 3, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 is powered by Qualcomm's high-end Snapdragon 888 SoC. The processor is engraved in 5 nm by Samsung and is 5G compatible. The smartphone is compatible with the latest wireless connectivity standards, WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.

The foldable screen smartphone is offered in two storage configurations: 128 and 256 GB, with 8 GB of RAM. You will therefore have to turn to the Galaxy Z Fold 3 if you want a folding smartphone with more storage.

🔋 AUTONOMY, BATTERY AND CHARGING

The autonomy of the Galaxy Z Flip 3 is entrusted to a 3300 mAh battery. As you'd expect, that's a lot to power a high-end smartphone with a 6.7-inch 120Hz display. The device benefits from fast wired charging limited to 15 W, as well as compatibility with the Qi wireless charging protocol. The charger supplied with the mobile also only supports a power of 15W.

Note also that Samsung has integrated a new feature into its special One UI 3.1.1.1 overlay. Called Battery Protection, it limits battery charging to 85%. The goal here is to preserve as much battery life as possible over the years. To access this feature, you will need to go to the “Battery and device maintenance” tab from your device settings. Then click Battery, then Other battery settings. Several options will be available to you in this menu, such as the adaptive battery, the activation of fast and wireless charging and at the end of the page the Battery Protection feature.

📸 CAMERA

On the photo side, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 is nothing revolutionary. It uses a two-sensor photo configuration, including a main 12 MP opening at f / 1.8 as well as a 12 MP ultra-wide-angle sensor opening at f / 2.2. We can regret the absence of a telephoto lens which would have allowed an optical zoom, but the smartphone is much too small to house more than two photo sensors.

For selfies, video calls and facial recognition, the smartphone relies on a 10 MP front photo sensor identical to that of last year's Z Flip. It is still housed in a punch in the center of the screen, rather than being placed under the slab like that of the Galaxy Z Fold 3.

🖊 IS THE GALAXY Z FLIP 3 COMPATIBLE WITH AN S-PEN?

Unlike the Galaxy Z Fold 3, which is the first folding smartphone to be compatible with the S Pen, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 is not compatible with the Samsung stylus.

📳 SOFTWARE

The Galaxy Z Flip 3 was launched under Samsung's overlay version One UI 3.1.1, based on Android 11. Since then, the smartphone has been updated to One UI 4.0 based on Android 12, but the update day caused major bugs on the smartphone.