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Samsung has finally unveiled the Galaxy Z Flip 3, the latest small-size foldable in the company’s growing line-up, and it’s had a pretty radical redesign from the first-gen.
Flip fans have been treated to a whole new design, loads of new colours, a much larger outer cover display, and top-of-the-line specs – and despite all that, the phone’s somehow had a major price cut too, making it far more affordable than last time around.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Galaxy Z Flip 3.
When will the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 2 be released?
Samsung revealed the Z Flip 3 at a 10 August Galaxy Unpacked event, alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 3, the new Galaxy Watch 4 series, and the Galaxy Buds 2 headphones.
There’s a little longer to wait before you can get your hands on one though. The phones don’t go on sale until 27 August, though pre-orders start from today if you’re already sold on it.
We discussed the Z Flip 3 – along with all the other new products announced alongside it – in an episode of our weekly podcast Fast Charge, which you can watch right here:
We’d previously expected to see the Galaxy S21 FE launch alongside the Z Flip 3, but it’s been delayed – so may instead appear later, together with the Galaxy Tab S8. The Note 21, on the other hand, won’t turn up at all, with Samsung putting that flagship line on pause for now at least.
How much does the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 cost?
Samsung has managed to squeeze an impressive price cut out of the new Flip foldable, so that it now costs less than a grand. It’s available in two models, with varying storage:
128GB: £949/$999/€1,049
256GB: £999/$1,049/€1,099
That’s substantially cheaper than either of the previous models – the original Galaxy Z Flip cost £1,300/$1,380 and the Galaxy Z Flip 5G moved up to £1,399/$1,449.
In the UK, anyone who pre-orders the phone will also get one year of free Samsung Care+, and until 30 September Samsung and other retailers will also offer an extra £250 to the trade-in value of eligible older phones.
Check out our full guide to the best Galaxy Z Flip 3 deals for more savings in the UK and elsewhere.
Why isn’t it called the Z Flip 2?
Well, technically this is the third Z Flip phone, as the Z Flip was followed by the Z Flip 5G, a minor revision that mostly only tweaked the phone’s chipset to enable 5G support.
More importantly though, skipping ‘Z Flip 2’ brings the Flip numbering in line with the Galaxy Fold line, so that it doesn’t appear to be older tech – and now Samsung can keep the two foldable phone lines updated together.
What are the Galaxy Z Flip 3 specs?
The Z Flip 3 is a pretty impressive phone, offering some modest enhancements on the original’s internal specs along with more substantial changes to its design and build.
Design
The look of the phone is the most obvious change.
The mirror finishes of the first-gen are gone, replaced with more muted black, lavender, cream, and green colours. If you’re lucky you might also be able to snap up one of the online-exclusive finishes – light pink, white, and grey – which have a two-tone frame, but are only available from Samsung’s own site.
While these limited edition models have a two-tone frame, every Z Flip 3 has a partly two-tone design, with a large black element on the front of the phone. This contains both the two main camera lenses and the larger cover display, thus masking this screen a little when it’s not in use.
The Flip 3 doesn’t just look different though – it’s much more durable too. The new ‘Armour Aluminium’ frame is supposedly 10% more durable than on the previous phone, and the exterior is also now coated in Gorilla Glass Victus – the toughest grade out there. Even the camera lenses are protected, with the new Gorilla Glass DX treatment that’s specifically designed for lenses.
Perhaps more excitingly, this and the Fold 3 are the first foldable phones to have a waterproof rating. The IPX8 rating signifies that it hasn’t been tested for dust-resistance (the ‘X’) but has a strong level of water-resistance (the ‘8’).
Display
As with the previous Flips, there are two displays to consider here.
The first is the main, interior, folding AMOLED display. This is the same size and resolution as before – 6.7in and FHD+ – but has had a welcome bump up to a 120Hz refresh rate.
There are bigger changes to the exterior AMOLED screen – officially called the Cover Display. It’s now 1.9in, up from a dinky 1.1in, with a resolution of 512 x 260.
The larger size means it’s now capable of displaying full notifications and messages, along with supported widgets and animated backgrounds and images.
Specs
The Z Flip 3 uses the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset – making a change from the previous models, which relied on slightly older chips to keep the handsets more affordable.
Samsung has combined it with 8GB of RAM and the choice of either 128GB or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
The Snapdragon 888 has integrated 5G, so of course the Z Flip 3 includes 5G support. Unfortunately it isn’t true dual-SIM, but will support one physical SIM and an eSIM simultaneously.
Battery and charging
While there was speculation ahead of launch that the Z Flip 3 would support faster 25W charging, in fact speeds remain the same: 15W wired charging and 10W wireless.
The battery is also unchanged, with a two-cell battery setup with the same total capacity – 3300mAh – as the two previous models. Hopefully, power optimisations elsewhere will help that battery last a bit longer instead.
Camera
Surprisingly little has changed about the camera setup in the Z Flip 3, which uses the same lenses as last year’s handsets.
That means you can expect a 12Mp, f/1.8 main lens paired with a 12Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide, along with a 10Mp, f/2.4 selfie camera.
Those specs may disappoint some hoping for more photographic prowess, but this is presumably a key part of how Samsung has hit a more affordable price point with the new phone.
Galaxy Z Flip 3 specs
Here are the full specs of the phone:
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8GB DDR5 RAM
128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
6.7in (2640 x 1080), 120Hz AMOLED display
1.9in (260 x 512) AMOLED cover display
Rear camera:
12Mp, f/1.8 main camera
12Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide
10Mp, f/2.4 selfie camera
Gorilla Glass Victus
IPX8
Stereo speakers
5G
3300mAh battery
15W wired charging
10W wireless charging
166 x 72.2 x 6.9 mm (unfolded) or 86.4 x 72.2 x 15.9-17.1mm (folded)
183g
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