Samsung Galaxy y Fold3
It’s third time lucky for the Fold, with a more durable design and thoroughly likeable form factor
In-depth test of the world’s most curious phone
SCORE★★★★☆
PRICE £1,332 (£1,599 inc VAT) from samsung.com/uk
The original Galaxy Fold didn’t have the best start in life. Plagued with design flaws, it was far from the shiny folding future Samsung hoped for. But the South Korean firm didn’t give up, producing a much-improved sequel just before the pandemic hit.
With this year’s Galaxy Z Fold3, it’s clear that Samsung has renewed confidence in its high-priced foldable flagship. And what makes it clear is that this is the first time Samsung has been brave enough to send units out for review in the UK.
What’s new
This year’s Fold benefits from a full-service upgrade. Not only is it waterproof, but it’s far more durable. Incorporating some must-have improvements, such as a stronger inner screen, redesigned hinge and hardwearing “Armour Aluminium” frame, the Fold3 5G might just be the first human-proof foldable.
Powered by the Snapdragon 888 chipset, along with 12GB of RAM and a choice of 256GB or 512GB of fast UFS 3.1 storage, it includes cutting-edge components. 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.
And it even looks nice. The phone comes in a choice of three colours: Phantom Black, Phantom Silver and Phantom Green, and they all have a slightly different matte finish. There’s space for two nano SIM cards, with eSIM support too.
Price choices
Despite all these improvements, the Fold3 costs slightly less than its predecessor. I’m placing huge emphasis on the word “slightly”, since it’s still painfully expensive – but a £100 saving is still a saving.
The Fold3 starts at £1,599 for the 256GB model, and if you need more storage – it doesn’t have a microSD card slot – be prepared to pay £1,699 for the 512GB option.
At least Samsung bundles a year’s worth of Samsung Care+ coverage with every purchase, if you buy via its website. This is a no-fuss warranty service that covers accidental damage, including liquid ingress and screen breakages.
It’s worth pointing out that Samsung launched the dinky Flip3 at
“It costs slightly less than its predecessor. I’m placing huge emphasis on the word ‘slightly’, since it’s still painfully expensive”
the same time as the Fold3, and this foldable is much more affordable. With prices starting at £949 for the 128GB model, and £999 for 256GB, the Flip3 costs £650 less than the cheapest Fold3.
Armoured protection
Samsung describes the Fold3 as its “toughest foldable yet”, with an
IPX8 water resistance rating that means it should survive a dunk for up to 30 minutes up to a depth of 1.5m. To achieve this, Samsung has applied water-resistant coatings to internal components, as well as adding rubber seals and customising the wiring of the phone’s “Hideaway Hinge”.
Alongside the Flip3, this means that the Z Fold3 is the first foldable flagship capable of keeping liquids at bay. But both phones lack any official ingress protection against dust and small particles (denoted by the “X” in IPX8), so keep it off the beach.
A new, stronger, protective film has been applied to the Fold3’s main screen, as well as a redesigned layer structure that, Samsung claims, has improved its durability by 80%. It still feels worryingly delicate, however, and I recommend keeping the phone closed as much as possible to reduce the risk of scratches.
The metal frame and hinge are built with a new material, too – the Armour Aluminium – and it’s allegedly 10% tougher than last year’s model. The cover screen and rear glass panel also sit behind a protective layer of Gorilla Glass Victus (replacing the Gorilla Glass 5 on 2020’s phone).
Despite this added armour, the Fold3 is lighter and thinner than the previous model. At 271g and 6.4mm thin when unfolded, this year’s Fold is much more portable than the last.
Note this
The Fold3 supports Samsung’s S Pen stylus – a first for the range – which perhaps isn’t a coincidence because the Galaxy Note was sorely absent from Samsung’s launch. It seems the rumours were true, and Samsung has quietly discontinued (or at least paused) the Note line, with the Z Fold3 taking its place as Samsung’s main work/productivity handheld.
There are two S Pen options. The first is the S Pen Fold Edition (£44), which is made exclusively for the Fold3, supports Samsung’s Air Commands and can take pictures remotely with a click of the button at the top. Unlike the Note, this stylus doesn’t simply slot into a hole in the corner of the handset, and can only be attached via a specially designed cover case (also sold separately).
The S Pen Pro (£99) is a more general purpose pointer that can be used across Samsung’s other devices, including the Galaxy Book Go ( see p55) and Galaxy Tab lineup. The S Pen Pro is larger and thicker than the S Pen Fold, but it supports Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and can be location tracked via Samsung SmartThings.
Sadly, I didn’t receive either stylus with my review unit, but Samsung tells me that both S Pens come with a handful of new features, including the ability to write handwritten phrases in the web browser’s search bar (converting to typed text). You can also edit text in the notes app by crossing out individual letters and words, removing unwanted spaces with hand-drawn joining lines or adding extra chunks of text with simple arrows.
When you watch YouTube in flex mode (with the screen partially opened at a 90° angle), the video plays at the top, and you can take notes in the bottom portion. This is accessed with a double tap at the bottom of the screen while the S Pen button is pressed, and can also be used during video and conference calls.
“The Fold3’s front cover screen also supports 120Hz, and it’s the same size as before but with an ever-soslightly higher resolution”
Dual displays
The size and resolution of the Fold3’s internal display (7.6in, 2,208 x 1,768) hasn’t changed, but it now boasts a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz.
Just like Samsung’s other flagships, this is an adaptive setting rather than a toggle, which means that the screen refresh will vary depending on the app.
With two colour modes to choose from, I found that the Natural setting was the most colour accurate, with an average Delta E of 2.57, an sRGB colour gamut coverage of 91.7% and a total volume of 93.3%.
HDR video and games looked astonishing. The display’s brightness peaked at a dazzling 1,089cd/m²; it really is a treat for the eyes, although the square aspect ratio produces black borders at the top and bottom of the screen when viewing regular 16:9 or 21:9 content.
The Fold3’s front cover screen also supports 120Hz, and it’s the same size as before (6.2in) but with an ever-so-slightly higher resolution of 832 x 2,268.
UI and software
So what’s it like to use? Samsung has vastly improved the Fold’s multitasking abilities, with a split-view overhaul (you can adjust the size of the windows within apps) and the option to enable a static taskbar that functions similarly to Windows and macOS.
Samsung has also partnered with Microsoft for a more fold-friendly Office suite of apps. Microsoft Word, for instance, can now be used in a two-page mode (like reading a book), which also allows you to open and edit two documents simultaneously.
Other quality of life improvements include an enhanced large-screenfriendly interface, which incorporates changes such as being able to display more thumbnails when scrolling through YouTube subscriptions. It’s also much easier to use with one hand, with app settings now accessible from the side of the screen, displayed as small icons. You can enable floating widgets, too, such as starting a timer in the clock app and placing it on top of a recipe you’re following in a web browser.
Turn of pace
All this runs slickly thanks th to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, which is as fast as ever, as the graphs on the previous page indicate. It boots and unlocks in the blink of an eye, and the smooth 120Hz refresh adds an extra layer of fluidity that f few phones can match. Social feeds, web pages and maps – anything that pans or scrolls – fly around with the smoothness of a curling stone whizzing across the ice.
Another benefit of a high refresh panel is that the Fold3 can output higher frame rates in games that support it. In the GFXBench Manhattan 3 test, the Fold’s inner screen reached an average frame rate of 72fps. I played a variety of games, including Asphalt 9: Legends, Alto’s Adventure and Genshin Impact, and they all ran flawlessly. You can also set it up so that the game (and any app) continues on the cover screen when you close the phone.
I’m very happy with the Fold3 5G’s battery life, too. The dual 2,200mAh batteries kept it going for 18hrs 23mins in our video-rundown test using the phone’s internal screen. With stamina like that, you should be able to binge both seasons of The Mandalorian on a single charge.
Picture not perfect
Of the myriad cameras Samsung supplies, the under-display selfie unit is the most interesting, but not the best quality. It doesn’t suffer as badly from washed-out images as other under-screen cameras I’ve seen, but the overall image quality isn’t going to make you gasp. Fear not: ot: you can also use the he 12MP (f/1.8) rear camera, which is partnered with both a 12MP (f/2.2) ultrawide camera and a 12MP (f/2.4) telephoto elephoto unit with 2x x optical zoom. The primary mary and zoom cameras as benefit from optical image stabilisation (OIS), and the cover camera uses a 10MP (f/2.2) sensor without OIS.
That’s an awful lot of cameras at your fingertips, but none of them do anything particularly special. The Z Fold3 5G is capable of taking lovely pictures, but it lacks the super zoom sensors commonly found on other high-priced flagships, such as the Galaxy S21 Ultra, and I found the photos it produced were overprocessed and lacked detail.
Images captured using the Fold3’s 2x zoom make up for this, though. There’s plenty of detail, a lot of contrast and zoomed images looked more colourful, vivid and true to life.
Samsung has done a superb job with the camera software. If you partially unfold the phone – at a 90° 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 when you press the shutter button.
Finally, the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G can record fully stabilised video at up to 4K resolution at 60fps. My test footage was crisp and judder-free, and it was quick to focus as well.
Bendable buy
“It boots and unlocks in the blink of an eye, and the smooth 120Hz refresh adds an extra layer of fluidity that few phones can match”
Clearly, the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G is a phone that’s overflowing with positives. It’s obvious that Samsung has taken on feedback from previous versions, and the end result is the most well-rounded foldable yet. Support for a stylus, improved ruggedness and the clever software adaptations lift the Galaxy Fold family from fragile curio to genuine contender.
The price remains a huge barrier, but if you can afford it and will take advantage of its features, the Fold3 is the bendable able phone you’ve been waiting for.
SPECIFICATIONS ATIONS
8-core 2.84GHz/2.42GHz/1.8GHz 4GHz/2.42GHz/1.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon on 888 12GB RAM Adreno 660 graphics 7.6in foldable 120Hz AMOLED screen, een, 1,768 x 2,208 resolution 6.2in 120Hz 20Hz AMOLED screen, 832 x 2,268 resolution esolution 256GB/512GB storage 3 x 12MP rear cameras 10MP/4MP front ont cameras Wi-Fi 6e Bluetooth 5.2 2 USB-C 4,400mAh battery Android droid 11, One UI 3.5 folded, 67 x 16 x 158mm 8mm (WDH) unfolded, 128 x 6.4 x 158mm mm (WDH) 270g 1yr warranty