Considering that the rest of the hardware hasn't changed, I went into this review expecting to be regularly disappointed with the camera experience on the Galaxy Z Fold 3, given that the Fold 2 isn't exactly a star player in the camera field. Instead, what I came away with was a level of trust in Samsung's camera software smarts that I simply hadn't expected. The Fold 3 delivers a genuinely impressive experience every time you use the camera, and that's a great thing considering the doubts that seem to be harbored over its camera. 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.

It's clear Samsung's goal was to make a more mainstream-friendly product that will begin to set the stage for Folds to come. Water-resistance is likely the single most important feature they could have added to ensure that everyday life doesn't ruin the Fold 3, and seemingly small hardware improvements like the new PET screen protector make a huge difference in everyday usage of the phone. It's a solid improvement that makes it more realistic for more people to own a Fold, and in that respect, Samsung achieved its goal for 2021. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 wasn’t as far behind the iPhone 12 Pro Max on the 3DMark Wild Life graphics test. The Samsung mustered 33 frames per second, compared to 39 fps on the iPhone. We've detailed everything that's coming to the Fold 3 in the One UI 4.1 update. The foldable is getting access to Samsung's ExpertRAW app, letting you take RAW photos that you can tweak to your heart's content.

Samsung’s tablet-like 7.6-inch screen, with a 120Hz refresh rate, continues to be the key selling point of its foldable smartphone. On Geekbench 5, which measures overall performance, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 notched 3,418 on the multi-core portion of the test and 1,107 on single core. That’s on par with the the Galaxy S21 Ultra (3,400/1,123) but well behind the iPhone 12 Pro Max (4,100/1,600). As it stands, a lot of what Google built into that OS update was already pioneered by Samsung, anyway. In many ways, the Android 12 One UI 4 update for the Z Fold 3 was a bit of a disappointment since many of the new theming features Google added in Android either didn't make their way to the first One UI 4.0 release.

As far as the main camera is concerned, everything remains the same as on the predecessor phone. All three built-in lenses have a resolution of 12 MP. The main module is a 26 mm wide-angle lens with a large, image-stabilised 1/1.76-inch sensor. The non-stabilised super wide-angle lens covers a 123° angle of view. The telephoto lens provides 2x optical zoom with OIS. The inner selfie camera, on the other hand, is much more innovative. For the first time, it is positioned invisibly under the folding display. This allows you to use the full display area without any disturbing elements. However, the selfie camera's resolution is only 4 MP. For this reason, the outer camera is recommended for good selfies. New Processor, Slightly Larger Battery 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. The Galaxy Fold 3 runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset no matter what part of the world you’re located in (there’s no Samsung-made Exynos processor here, where previous Samsung flagships have featured a mix of own-brand and Qualcomm chips), and it’s plenty fast enough to handle the true app multitasking that a device like this needs to be capable of pulling off. Samsung has made improvements to the hinge, and the materials used are more durable than those employed in all previous foldable phones we've tested. In fact, Samsung is claiming the Z Fold 3 is 80% stronger than its prior foldables; and sure enough, there’s a noticeable difference when you unfold the device, especially if you’re upgrading from Gen 1. If you can believe it, the new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) screen protectors that ship with the phone make an even bigger impact on quality than the improved outer screen. Unlike the Galaxy Z Fold 2, these protectors feel like glass and won't scratch easily. They're part of what allows the Z Fold 3 to support the S Pen, which we'll talk about in the section below.Under the hood, Samsung folded in several different types of digitizers to complete the experience. Believe it or not, the WACOM digitizer that enables S Pen support doesn't fold. There are two separate WACOM digitizers on each side, and some software magic makes it impossible to tell that there isn't anything in the crease that the pen touches. A 120Hz refresh rate only further helps drive the illusion that you're writing with a pen and not some old-school stylus. The under-display camera on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 impresses with its ability to disappear when you're viewing content. However, the 4MP resolution is not great for selfies. Despite all of these improvements, the Z Fold 3 somehow costs slightly less than its predecessor. There’s a huge emphasis on the word “slightly”, in this instance, since it’s still the priciest handheld you can currently buy. But a saving is still a saving, no matter how small it might be.