Samsung presented its new premium range smartphones belonging to its folding family; the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Z Flip 3. If you’re wondering, the Z Flip 2 never existed, however, there are 3 models of this device on the market, only the “Z Flip 2” is actually a 5G version of the original model, which is why today the leap in name was made to the third generation.
But these are not the only changes in the family. In fact, this generation seems that now it does seek to convince more users to jump from a normal smartphone to one with a flexible screen, because the good news is that this year neither of the 2 models increased in price, on the contrary, both reduced notably its cost compared to its predecessors.
The most important differences between one generation and another (leaving aside the obvious things such as better processor, screen technology, refresh rate or autonomy) are the following:
Price: it is now more affordable to buy a flexible phone
The most important change is in the price. Samsung seems determined to convince more premium-end users to swap their S21 for a flexible phone, especially considering that there will be no new Note family phones this year.
The Galaxy Z Fold 3 will start at $ 1,799, a price that’s still high, but it was down $ 200 from the $ 1,999 the Galaxy Z Fold 2 sold for when it went on sale.
Many probably consider that paying more than 35,000 pesos for a phone is ridiculous. However, the Z Fold includes many improvements compared to its previous generation for less money, making it the first step in getting more people to buy these types of phones.
But where there was a real surprise was with the Z Flip 3. This phone will start selling for $ 999, $ 500 less than the last generation. This means that for more or less the same price as an S21 or S21 + you could buy a Z Flip 3.
Goodbye to “paper” phones
One of the big drawbacks of all foldable or flexible screen phones is their low resistance to drops, bumps and water. Fortunately these problems are less painful with the Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3.
Both models are the world’s first folding models with IPX8 certification, which means that they are submersible for up to 30 minutes at a depth of just over 1 meter. A major advance considering the previous Fold and Flip weren’t even splash resistant.
Samsung also assured that they are the most resistant folding phones to accidental drops thanks to the fact that they are protected with Gorilla Glass Victus, in addition to that their folding mechanism is much more resistant.
There is still work to be done, as neither of these phones obtained a certification against dust, and until we put both teams to the test we will not know how resistant they are when trying to fold them to the opposite side.
Better user experience
It is clear that both phones are focused on different customers. However, both have notably improved the user experience, especially when comparing them directly with the previous generation.
In the case of the Z Fold 3, now Samsung will be responsible for optimizing the applications that are not worked for the tablet experience in the Z Fold, since this folding phone can be used in smartphone mode and tablet mode, and it is this change that many times it makes an app not work correctly when taking advantage of the type of screen and mode of use.
With the Z Flip 3 the main improvement is in the front screen, which is now much larger and serves to better see notifications, control music and even take selfies without problem.
Here I will talk exclusively about the Galaxy Z Fold 3, the most expensive and most innovative phone in the folding family. In past generations it was still difficult to justify such a high price considering that the Folds were not at the level of innovation that the Note or the S.
The Z Fold 3 is the first Samsung phone to feature exciting innovations. The first of these is the camera under the screen, a feature that seems to become fashionable in 2022, and that allows the user experience to be better when viewing multimedia content or drawing on the interior screen of the Fold 3.
On the other hand, there is the S-Pen, which despite not being a new technology, this generation integrates an improved S-Pen that is designed for this type of phone, since even the tip reacts much better to pressure so that the experience be more smooth and don’t scratch the screen when using it.
So far there is no specific information on prices and your arrival date in Mexico.