Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 announced with S Pen support and water resistance

It’s August and today is Samsung’s last big Unpacked event. Normally that would mean the time is right for a new Galaxy Note. But in the company’s own words, not “this time”. There is no new Note announced this year, and so the Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra will remain where they are in Samsung’s lineup. Instead, this summer the focus is on what Samsung sees as the future of phones: foldable devices. The company just introduced the new Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3, a pair of devices that showcase the potential of folding screens in different ways.

The Z Fold 3 is a productivity powerhouse that now has 120Hz displays inside and out. And it takes part of the DNA of the Galaxy Note by adding support for the S Pen. But what’s even more important than the usual specification upgrades is the message Samsung sends about durability: the Fold 3 is tougher than its predecessors.

Remember: this is technically the Fourth Galaxy Fold if you count the flawed and abandoned first attempt, and the company recognizes that there are still lingering durability issues it needs to overcome. Samsung has made progress with the Galaxy Z Fold 2, but some people have still experienced cracked screens and other shutdown issues due to normal use that just shouldn’t happen, even though Samsung customer service did the right thing for them.

So, for the Fold 3, Samsung made a lot of changes to the materials and internal design of the device, which should give the $ 1,799 foldable smartphone a better chance of lasting years into the future. It looks like the Fold 2, but the refinements are everywhere. The protective film on the screen is now 80% more resistant; Samsung uses Gorilla Glass Victus on the cover screen for better drop protection; the aluminum of the Fold 3 hinge is now 10% stronger. And the entire device is now rated IPX8 for water resistance, which means you can submerge it for up to 30 minutes and it should come out unscathed.

The Z Fold 3 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888, has 12GB of RAM, and is available in 256GB or 512GB storage configurations. Its three rear cameras are close to those of the Fold 2: f / 1.8 telephoto lenses. wide, ultra-wide f / 2.0 and f / 2.4 still use 12-megapixel sensors and the apertures are unchanged. But the telephoto lens now has optical image stabilization. The 10MP camera on the cover screen is also the same.

But there’s quite a shift in the camera that sits on the Fold 3’s main screen. Samsung has gone from a punch-hole selfie camera to a sub-screen camera. This is not the first time that we have seen such an approach; Xiaomi yesterday announced a phone with a sub-screen camera.

Samsung has a 4 megapixel sensor below the pixels of the screen. It sounds miserable for photos, but the purpose of this camera is really for video chats. The company says it’s perfectly adequate for Zoom calls and other video conferencing, and 4MP is good enough for outputting HD video.

But let’s be blunt about it: you can totally tell there’s a camera in there. Samsung says there are “a minimum number of pixels applied above the camera hole,” and they are extremely noticeable when you look directly at the circle. (It’s even more evident in the photos, so don’t be too much put off by the image below.) The goal is not to completely hide the camera; this is so that the display looks like an “unbroken canvas” when you are using the phone. Focus on any other part of the screen and the camera below the screen sort of disappears from view in a way that a hole-punch camera wouldn’t. It always seems like a lot of work for little gain, but sometimes Samsung just likes to flex. Also, yes, the crease in the middle of the screen is still present. I barely notice it when the screen is on, but it’s very present.

As for the S Pen, the stylus works on the Fold 3’s 7.6-inch main screen – but oddly not on the cover screen, Samsung told me. The company has developed a special “Fold Edition” S Pen that covers all the basics, and the more expensive S Pen Pro is also supported and adds aerial gestures and some Bluetooth tricks. (Both are sold separately from Fold 3.) The S Pen Pro has a nifty rocker switch that you can toggle when using the stylus with other Samsung devices; they apparently use a different frequency than the Fold 3.

Both compatible S Pens have a “specially designed retractable tip” that limits the amount of force you can apply to the Fold 3’s screen. The screen protector may be 80% stronger, but it’s still hard. ‘a delicate ultra-thin glass underneath. Despite this, I pressed quite hard during my time working with the phone, and none of the S Pen left a permanent mark on the protective film. But I realize that this is not useful in determining how the Fold 3 will hold up for up to a year or more for taking notes, drawing, editing PDFs, etc.

Samsung seems determined to help Z Fold 3 owners do more with its spacious display, even in cases where app developers aren’t on board yet. A new Labs feature in Settings lets you put any app in split screen or pop-up view when multitasking. You can also customize the aspect ratio of an application. The company claims to have tweaked multitasking gestures and promises a more consistent and intuitive experience. You can now permanently pin your Edge Panel to the side of the screen like a dock.

Pre-orders for Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 begin today and are available in three colors: black, green, and silver. The foldable flagship will go on sale on August 27 alongside the Galaxy Z Flip 3, Galaxy Buds 2, and two new smartwatches that Samsung also introduced today. Stay tuned for our full review soon.

Photograph by Chris Welch / The Verge