The only slight smudge on the Z Flip3’s otherwise sparklingly clean bill of health is that colour accuracy isn’t quite up with the best. Testing the Natural profile, which I found to be the most colour accurate, the average Delta E hit only 2.37; the best smartphone displays approach a score of 1 or below.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G review: Performance and battery lifeQualcomm’s new Snapdragon 888 processor powers the phone and is accompanied by 8GB of RAM and a choice of either 128GB or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The Flip3 5G supports just one nano-SIM and an eSIM, and it has dual 1,650mAh batteries with a total capacity of 3,300mAh.
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Overall performance is expectedly rapid. Not only does the Geekbench 5 graph below show that the Flip3 5G’s speeds are among the very best in the business but, in everyday use, everything from opening apps to navigating menus feels super-fluid and blisteringly responsive, with the high-refresh 120Hz display adding a sprinkling of extra gloss.
The same can be said about the Flip3 5G’s gaming capabilities. It scored an average frame rate of 105fps in the GFXBench Manhattan 3 onscreen test – no easy feat – and using it to play a variety of games, from Call of Duty: Mobile to Genshin Impact and Arlo’s Adventure, they all looked and played smoothly.
Sadly, unlike its bigger brother, the Z Flip3 5G failed to hit the high notes when it came to battery life. In our video rundown test (with the display calibrated to a preset brightness and flight mode engaged while playing a looped video until the battery gauge hits zero), the Z Flip3 5G lasted 15hrs 54mins before kicking the bucket. The Fold3 5G lasted for two-and-a-half hours more, and even the iPhone 12 Pro has it beat.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G review: CamerasThere aren’t any changes at all when it comes to the Z Flip3 5G’s camera offering. It still incorporates a pair of 12MP cameras on the front cover, with one being an ultrawide unit with a 123-degree field of view. Unfold the Flip and the selfie camera is a simple 10MP affair, embedded in a central hole-punch notch.
Those are fairly humdrum-looking specifications, but the Z Flip3 5G’s cameras turn out to be not bad at all. All the shots I’ve taken with the main camera have been great, for the most part, with an abundance of detail, subdued saturation and a good amount of contrast in both good light and bad. It even manages to beat the iPhone 12 Pro in some cases, particularly when it comes to landscapes captured as the sun is setting.
The ultrawide camera is a bit less impressive, with a noticeable drop in detail and a touch of pesky lens flare in some instances. I would have much preferred a 2x telephoto camera instead, since wide-angle cameras are a bit too niche for my tastes, especially when the results don’t look anywhere near as good as if you used the main camera instead.
The phone’s selfie camera is fine but facial features looked a bit too soft to my eyes, even when the beautification effects slider was set to its lowest point. You’ll get better portraits if you just use the main 12MP rear camera instead. All you’ve got to do is pop the Flip3 on a table (or just hold it), fold it at a right angle and you can then enable a live preview on the cover screen, raise your hand, and the phone will take a picture after a three-second timer. Easy.
As for video, you have the option to record in 4K at 60fps fully stabilised, with regular 1080p and 30fps shooting modes available as well. The footage looked nice and smooth in my tests, there was plenty of detail, and objects were brought into focus in the blink of an eye.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G review: VerdictAfter a few too many stumbles along the way, we’re finally in a position where buying a folding phone isn’t a daft, money-wasting decision. The Galaxy Z Flip3 5G is precisely what we’ve been waiting for, ever since we first caught a glimpse of Samsung’s flexible displays all those years ago. It’s a top-end foldable flagship with very few compromises and a price that’s attainable instead of unreachable. What more could you possibly want?