Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3: everything you need to know about Samsung's latest foldable flagship

Samsung launched its firstfoldable phone, the Galaxy Fold,  in 2019. Although the company launched the phone earlier in the year, it took  a long time to launch due to a series of unfortunate events. Samsung relaunched the phone with some improvements later in the year, but it still had some flaws.

A year later, Samsung released its successor, the Galaxy Z Fold 2, which fixes a few key issues. Thanks to the improvements, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 became the best  foldable phone of 2022. Samsung's latest foldable flagship, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is  finally here and it brings some improvements over its predecessor.

The new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 features an updated design and the latest flagship hardware, but at a slightly lower price than the Galaxy Z Fold 2. That's one of the main reasons we think so many  people will love it be interested in getting one for yourself. If you're interested in buying and want to know everything about the device before you hit the buy button, you've come to the right place.

In this post, we share everything you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 so you can make an informed decision.

Design & Build

The Samsung Galaxy Z fold 3 features several small improvements to the front design. The phone is slightly smaller, thinner and lighter than its predecessor. It has a rounder frame, which should make it a little more comfortable to hold. And features a new camera module design. The phone's folding mechanism appears to be the same as the  previous model, but Samsung  somehow managed to make it slimmer and more airtight.

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is the first foldable phone to offer IPX8 water resistance, and Samsung has made some significant changes to its design to achieve this feat.

Besides the IPX8 certification, Samsung has made a few other changes to the latest Fold to make it a little more durable. Victus on the outer screen and back panel and a new  inner screen protector that is 80% more durable than the previous model.

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 also comes with another notable change. Instead of a punch-hole camera on the internal display, Samsung has included an under-display camera sensor in the latest Fold, making it the company's first phone. to introduce the new technology. Sure, the camera sensor itself isn't anything out of the ordinary, but we're glad Samsung has finally jumped on the under-display camera bandwagon, and we can't wait to see what the company has in store for its future Galaxy line S series.

Displays

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 has a 6.2-inch external display with a resolution of 2268 x 832 pixels and a pixel density of 387 PPI. Despite having the same dimensions and resolution as the  Z Fold 2's outer screen, Samsung has made some improvements to the newer model.

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 uses a 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED panel for the outer display instead of a 60Hz AMOLED panel and offers adaptive refresh rate support. In addition, the outer screen has Gorilla Glass Victus protection.

Inside, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 features a huge 7.6-inch display with a resolution of 2208 x 1768 pixels and a pixel density of 374 PPI. It's a flexible Dynamic AMOLED panel with a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz and support for adaptive refresh rates. Pretty much the same panel as the  Z Fold 2 but with a redesigned protective layer on top that makes it 80% more durable than before.

In addition, the internal display is now 29% brighter than the  previous model and uses 25% less power. Samsung uses an Eco Square OLED panel in the foldable, which eliminates the traditional polarization layer and offers better energy efficiency.

SoC, RAM & Storage

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 is a flagship phone and as such comes with Qualcomm's latest generation Snapdragon 888 chipset. The 5nm SoC includes a main Kryo 680  core (based on ARM Cortex X1) running at 2.84GHz, three performance Kryo 680  cores (based on ARM Cortex A78) running at 2.4GHz and four Kryo 680 efficiency cores (based on ARM cortex). A55) at 1.8 GHz.

It also includes a GPU Adreno 660. The Snapdragon 888 in the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is paired with 12GB of LPDDR(?) RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage. Unfortunately, the phone doesn't have a  microSD card slot for expansion, so be sure to buy the higher-end 512GB variant if you need  extra storage.

Cameras

As previous reports have suggested, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 doesn't have an over-the-top camera system like the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Instead, Samsung  opted for a more modest camera setup on the device, presumably to keep the camera module relatively slim. Interestingly, the rear camera setup is one of the few areas where Samsung hasn't made any improvements. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 retains the same triple camera setup as its predecessor.

The phone features a 12 MP f/1.8 main camera with dual-pixel autofocus and optical image stabilization (OIS), a 12 MP f/2.2 ultra wide-angle camera with  123° view and a 12 MP 1/2.4 telephoto camera with PDAF, Dual OIS, 2x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom.

Another thing the Galaxy Z Fold 3 has in common with the Fold 2 is that it has dual selfie cameras. The phone has a 10MP f/2.2 selfie camera housed in a punch-hole cutout on the outer screen and a 4MP f/1.8 camera inside. But unlike the Galaxy Z Fold 2, the selfie camera inside Samsung's latest foldable flagship sits below the screen.

That explains why Samsung opted for a lower megapixel count for the internal selfie camera. The under-display camera is located in the top-right half of the internal display.

Battery & Charging

Another area where Samsung hasn't made any improvements is the battery. In fact, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 has a slightly smaller 4,400mAh dual-cell battery, while the Fold 2 had a 4,500mAh unit. As expected, because the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is a bit more compact than the previous model. When it comes to charging, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 supports 25W wired fast charging  and 10W wireless charging. However, you need to buy a 25W charger separately as the phone only comes with USB Type-C to Type-C will cable in the box.

Connectivity

Galaxy Z Fold 3 offers 5G compatibility thanks to the 5G modem built into the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip. Supports Sub6 and mmWave 5G (SA/NSA). It also has 4G LTE connectivity, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. Other connectivity options include a USB Type-C port and NFC.

S Pen Support

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is the first foldable device from Samsung to offer support for the S Pen. It has a Wacom layer for universal stylus compatibility and is compatible with both the new S Pen Pro and the S Pen Fold Edition. While Samsung mentioned the S Pen Pro during the Galaxy S21 series launch event earlier this year, the S Pen Fold Edition is an entirely new product.

The S Pen Fold Edition is smaller, more compact and can be stored in a compatible case with the phone. It supports handwriting input, air gestures, off-screen notes, etc., but it's not an active pen like the Pro variant. The stylus has a retractable tip to prevent damage to the Galaxy Z Fold 3's internal screen.

On the other hand, the S Pen Pro is slightly larger and offers a ton of additional features. It's an active pen that charges via the USB Type-C port on top and supports Bluetooth controls, air gestures, a new copy/paste feature with built-in storage, device switching, and more. It also features a retractable tip like the S Pen Fold Edition.

It’s worth noting the S Pen Fold Edition is only compatible with the Galaxy Z Fold 3, and it won’t work with older Samsung smartphones. That’s because it operates at a different frequency. However, the S Pen Pro is backward compatible.

Software — One UI

The Galaxy Z Fold three runs Android eleven out of the container with Samsung’s One UI pores and skin on top. It gives all of the capabilities you get with Android eleven, along side more than one extras to help you make the maximum of the foldable display. These consist of UX optimizations for Samsung’s inventory apps, the choice to pin Edge Panels to the display screen for less complicated get entry to to apps, optimizations for split-display screen view, etc.

S Pen-specific features in the Galaxy Z Fold 3 as well. When using the S Pen Fold Edition with the phone in Flex Mode, you can press the button on the S Pen and double-tap the screen to open up the Notes app.

In the browser app, you can use the S Pen-to-Text feature to type directly into the address bar to perform a search. When writing with the S Pen, you can also fix incorrect spacing between letters with an "add" gesture, delete words by crossing them out, and draw a "V" between words to add a space.

Other noteworthy functions consist of Cover Screen mirroring, an open pop-up window at place gesture, a multiview mode for numerous apps, image-in-image mode, and an smooth switch button.

Along with the One UI optimizations, Samsung has partnered with app builders to optimize their apps for the foldable shape factor. Apps like Spotify, TikTok, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Office, Google Chrome, YouTube, and Google Duo could have an optimized format for the foldable display. Samsung plans to feature greater apps to the combinationture going forward.

Cases & Accessories

To keep your Galaxy Z Fold 3 safe, Samsung offers a range of proprietary cases. These include:

• Galaxy Z Fold 3 Silicone Cover (Green, White, and Black)

• Galaxy Z Fold 3 Leather Flip Stand Cover (Green, Camel, and Black)

• Galaxy Z Fold 3 Leather Cover (Green, Camel, and Black)

• Galaxy Z Fold 3 Aramid Cover (Black)

• Galaxy Z Fold 3 Flip Cover with S Pen (Black)

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3: Pricing & Availability

As mentioned above, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is slightly cheaper than its predecessor. The phone starts at $1,799 and went on sale on August 27th. It is available in three color combinations: Phantom Black, Phantom Green and Phantom Silver. Samsung will also offer a Thom Browne edition of the device.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold is  for sale on the Samsung website. While all of Samsung's pre-order benefits have now expired, Samsung is still offering great device trade-in benefits. The company lets you trade in up to four devices for an attractive discount on the Galaxy Z Fold 3.

Thanks for reading, you may post a comment below telling us the next phone to talk about.