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The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 retains the book-like design and functionality of its two predecessors, with a limited but usable 6.2-inch Cover Display on the outside of the handset that opens up to reveal a massive 7.6-inch display on the inside. The update was initially supposed to roll out in December but faced a series of delays due to some bugs that were bootlooping some devices. While it's not based on Android 12L— that's the sort of Android 12.1 that Google designed to work best for foldables and devices with large displays — we expect that some of Android 12L's new features will make their way to the next One UI update on the Z Fold 3. But my favorite optimized app for the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is Chrome. I like being able to see all my tabs at the top and move them around, just as I would on the desktop. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 review: S Pen
The rear cameras once again include a trio of 12MP lenses: an f/1.8 wide-angle shooter, an ultra-wide f/2.2 camera with a 123-degree field of view, and a 12MP telephoto camera. Based on our photo comparisons, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 takes colorful and mostly sharp photos. But it's a step behind the iPhone 12 Pro in terms of details and more realistic hues. And you miss out on the zooming power of the Galaxy S21 Ultra. The camera specs mirror what we got a year ago: a 12MP f/1.8 main camera, a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, and a 12MP f/2.4 telephoto camera that’s capable of 2x optical zoom. You’ll get optical image stabilization in the telephoto and ultra-wide cameras on this new device, but little else has changed. Taking pictures of your kids or pets can be challenging with some phone cameras — especially in low light — but I found the Fold 3 had no trouble keeping up with my son in any lighting condition. Multi-frame capture helps this significantly, and more than once, I noticed the camera would swap out the preview with another frame taken at the same time — another sign that Samsung's software has improved significantly in all the right ways.
That being said, Samsung has done a bang-up job when it comes to the camera software. If you partially unfold the phone – at a 90-degree angle – you can choose to place the phone on a table or another flat surface to line up your shots. You also get a live preview in this mode (on the inner and cover screen), as well as an updated camera roll whenever you press the shutter button. I had my doubts but came away with a level of trust in Samsung's camera software smarts that I simply didn't expect. Foldables are a category of their own and Samsung is essentially the only player right now. While Apple allegedly prepares its own foldable, we can only draw comparisons to what's available right now, and that's the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Other S Pen-powered features include productivity boosters such as Screen Write (a markup feature), Smart Select (pull text and pictures out of other apps) and translate (where you can tap words to find out what they mean in different languages). Other features like Live Message — where you can capture an image and add text and doodles — or AR Doodle for superimposing your drawings over real-world objects are less about productivity and more about fun.
On our video editing test using the Adobe Premiere Rush app, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 took 50 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p. That’s faster than the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s 1 minute and 2 seconds but still slower than the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s 28 seconds. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 review: Battery life and charging Samsung's 3rd generation of the Galaxy Z Fold is currently one of the largest folding smartphones in the world. New features include a 120 Hz outer display, waterproof housing and a brighter inner display. Thanks to the more powerful processor, the phone now supports the optional S-Pen as well. You also benefit from an invisible selfie camera and a slightly larger battery. Waterproof, Foldable Phone The under-display selfie camera, which sits behind the phone’s inner screen, doesn’t suffer quite as badly from a washed-out-looking image as some of the others do, but the overall image quality isn’t going to blow you away, either.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 delivers a more durable design, S Pen support and better multitasking, but it's still a pricey device for power users
Samsung is selling a brand-new S Pen specially designed for this foldable phone. Actually, there are two of them: the S Pen Fold Edition, and the larger S Pen Pro, with Bluetooth for Air Actions and USB-C charging. Elsewhere, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G is powered by the Snapdragon 888 chipset, along with a healthy 12GB dollop of RAM and a choice of either 256GB or 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage. Both the cover screen and tablet-like inner display have a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz – with S Pen stylus support – and it’s also the first-ever Samsung phone to incorporate an under-display selfie camera. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G review: Price and competition Google aimed to change some of this with Android 12L — which Samsung helped build — but there’s still a ways to go before this feels as natural as I hope it one day will. Still, even with some ever-so-slight jank that occurs from having two very different size and shape screens, the Z Fold 3 experience remains unparalleled in every single way. Review Changelog This article was originally published in August 2021. It was updated in November 2021 with the following changes:
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