Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G review

Android 11 with One UI 3.1(.1)

The Galaxy Z Flip3 5G runs on Android 11 with Samsung's One UI on top, a proprietary layer that most people seem to be okay with or even like, which you can't say of Samsung's efforts of olden days. The version that our review unit boots is 3.1.1, and that's .1 more than we have on the Galaxy S21s, a difference that's as minute numerically as it is in look and feel.

Starting off with the one unique bit about the Flip3, the upgraded cover display now offers more functionality thanks to the increase in size. We'll talk about the camera viewfinder implementation a bit later on, but here we need to mention a few words on notifications and widgets.

You can have an always-on display feature active on the cover screen in the same way you can have it on the main display - there is, in fact, no separate setting for the two. The cover screen does get its own specific clock designs, though, and you can match what's displayed there with the watch face on your, say, Galaxy Watch4.

Swipes in all four directions on the cover screen do different things. Swiping up launches Samsung Pay, while swiping down brings up a brightness setting for the cover screen as well as a tri-position alert toggle to switch between silent, vibrate, and sound on.

Swiping to the right accesses the notifications through which you can then scroll up and down as well as expand. Swiping to the left brings up a selection of up to seven widgets - music player, weather, schedule, alarm, Samsung Health, voice recorder, and timer.

Cover screen settings

When partially unfolded (between 75 and 115 degrees), the Flip3's Flex mode feature will split an app's interface by placing the 'consumption' portion in the top half and the 'interaction' part in the bottom half.

Some apps support it natively, like YouTube or Samsung's own Gallery and Calendar. For others, you can force a generic Flex mode control panel. We reckon that's a solution in search of a problem, though for video call apps like Google Duo, it can be sort of useful.

Flex mode

Once unflipped to a flat state, the phone is essentially no different than any other Samsung of late. There's a standard lockscreen with dialer and camera shortcuts and the usual widget options. You can have an always-on display here as well.

Lockscreen • Lockscreen settings • Shortcuts • Widgets • Always on display

It's at this point that you get to interact with the fingerprint reader, and all in itself, the capacitive sensor is very fast and reliable. The thing is, actually using the sensor, placed there, on a device of this form factor, is less than ideal, as we talked about in the Design section. The options for Face unlock (the one we favor on this device in particular), as well as the usual PIN, pattern and password are available too.

Biometrics and security

Starting with v3.1 and now in 3.1.1, pulling the notification shade covers the entire screen underneath, even if there's just one notification card or none at all. That's in contrast to a previous implementation where the unused portion of the screen below the notifications still remained visible if darkened. The quick toggles can now be edited directly from the plus button at the end of the list instead of going into the menu.

Android 11 finally includes Notification history, and that's been implemented in One UI as well. It's accessed from the Settings menu, so it's not within immediate reach, but it's there for those occasions when you dismissed a notification too quickly and didn't really see what it was about. Just make sure to enable it because it's Off by default.

Notification shade • Notifications expanded • Quick toggles • Quick toggles settings

All of the standard layout adjustments and toggles for the quick panel and taskbar are accounted for. Android 11 has a new way of handling notifications for instant messenger apps called Bubbles, and One UI 3 adopts it, too. That's in addition to a previously available similar feature offered by Samsung by the name of Smart pop-up view. You'll find these settings under the 'Floating notifications' submenu, where you can alternatively turn both of them off and opt for the old-school cards-only interface.

Notification settings • Notification history • Floating notifications

Android 11's refined multimedia controls have made their way on to One UI. You get a stack of the active audio playback apps right below the quick toggles and swiping to the side switches between the apps.

The Media screen was already available on One UI pre-Android 11, and it offers similar functionality for picking the output device or using Samsung's Music share feature. The volume control panel has gotten a makeover too, and now the four sliders are vertical instead of the horizontal ones of One UI's past.

Samsung's Music Share is just one example of a fairly advanced software feature that originally launched as a flagship one and is now bringing a lot of added value to the mid-range. The feature allows you to play music through Bluetooth accessories connected to a friend's Samsung phone. It is pretty nifty.

Media controls

Yet another of the native Android 11 improvements that Samsung also includes in One UI 3 is the ability to pin apps to the top of the sheet with Share options. We'd like to be able to remove some of the options, too, because that list could sure use some decluttering, but that's not possible yet.

One more thing that Google tweaked in this year's release is the permission handling, and Samsung's implemented it in One UI 3. With this version, you will see a new prompt for permissions every time an app requests it, letting you deny permission, allow it only while using the app, or just for this one time. If an app requires constant access to permission, you also get a fourth option that takes you to a setting page where you can provide it. This is done to prevent the user from accidentally selecting this option while blazing through the permission dialogs.

The settings menu has seen a subtle but meaningful makeover. Subcategories are made more legible by using a dot separator and extra intervals, while recent searches are now shown as bubbles instead of a list. Additionally, there's a newly added feature to search settings by hashtags - for conceptually related things found in different places in the menu.

Share options pinning • Share options pinning • Permissions handling • Permissions handling • Settings UI

There are plenty of other smaller visual changes scattered all throughout One UI 3.1. Samsung's excellent theme support and rich online selection are present, as well. The same goes for the system navigation options, with a few tweaks and layouts available for gestures, as well as old-school button controls, even the really-old original style, with the back button on the right side.

Homescreen • Folder view • App drawer • Themes • Navigation options

There is also the Edge panels interface, Bixby and full integration of the SmartThings platform. The Game launcher is the hub for all your games, along with options for limiting distraction while playing.

Additional software features

One notable omission from the Flip3's feature set is Samsung Dex. While that's understandable on lesser models in the A-series, the Flip probably deserves to have it, though maybe this particular phone's target audience will happily live without it. Even in its absence, though, you can still get a lot of its functionality through the Link to Windows feature that has been implemented in cooperation with Microsoft.

Synthetic benchmarks

The Galaxy Z Flip3 5G features the top-tier Snapdragon 888 chipset. Unlike plain flat high-end Galaxies and similarly to previous Samsung foldables, there is no regional divide and no Exynos version. The Flip3 comes with 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage - we have the base version.

In GeekBench, the Galaxy Z Flip3 5G posted average numbers for an SD888 in the multi-core test and a relatively low result in the single-core test. The other Galaxy we've seen in Snapdragon trim, the S21 Ultra, is more in line with competitors under single-core load.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• vivo X60 Pro+
  3749
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  3636
• Asus Zenfone 8
  3604
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  3549
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  3489
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  3476
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  3441
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  3316
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  3244
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  3239

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• vivo X60 Pro+
  1143
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  1126
• Asus Zenfone 8
  1118
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  1117
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  1109
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  1095
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  1091
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  1085
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  979
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  926

Antutu doesn't make the Flip3 look good either, and in v9 of the popular benchmark, this Galaxy is posting fairly low scores for a handset with the latest high-end Snapdragon. It's a similar story in Antutu 8 as well.

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• vivo X60 Pro+
  836826
• Asus Zenfone 8
  799738
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  752218
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  708394
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  682223

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• vivo X60 Pro+
  734811
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  691055
• Asus Zenfone 8
  676001
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  668722
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  657273
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  656467
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  635918
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  622276
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  596866

In graphics benchmarks, the Flip's results are, again, uncharacteristically low for the hardware. In the offscreen tests, it consistently ranks around the bottom of the pack, though the 1080p resolution allows it to pull ahead of 1440p competitors in the onscreen tests. It's looking like Samsung deliberately tuned the Flip a couple of notches below the chipset's full potential.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9 Pro
  174
• vivo X60 Pro+
  170
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  164
• Asus Zenfone 8
  164
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  155
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  155
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  154
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  142
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  142
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  100

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• vivo X60 Pro+
  119
• Asus Zenfone 8
  119
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  118
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  117
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  107
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  88
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  86
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  64
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  60
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  60

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9 Pro
  119
• vivo X60 Pro+
  119
• Asus Zenfone 8
  117
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  113
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  113
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  111
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  111
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  109
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  86
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  71

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• vivo X60 Pro+
  105
• Asus Zenfone 8
  105
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  100
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  92
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  71
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  58
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  57
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  57
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  55
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  40

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• vivo X60 Pro+
  71
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  70
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  70
• Asus Zenfone 8
  69
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  69
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  67
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  66
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  66
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  55
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  50

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• vivo X60 Pro+
  62
• Asus Zenfone 8
  61
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  54
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  53
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  40
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  38
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  36
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  33
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  33
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  33

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 8
  45
• vivo X60 Pro+
  44
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  37
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  29
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  29
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  27
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  25
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  24
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  18

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• vivo X60 Pro+
  43
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  43
• Asus Zenfone 8
  41
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  37
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  33
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  25
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  24
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  23
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  22

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  5757
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  5742
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  5701
• vivo X60 Pro+
  5695
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  5673
• Asus Zenfone 8
  5666
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  5653
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  5635
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  5547
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  5261

The Flip3 did throttle under repeated benchmark runs, but the drop in performance wasn't as rapid as we've seen from other devices recently, at least not in the CPU department. We gather that with the fairly conservative initial baseline, it takes the phone longer to build up heat. In the CPU throttling test, the Flip could sustain up to 80% of its maximum performance for about 20 minutes, at which point it dropped to less than 50% and a few minutes later settled at a little under 60% for the remainder of the 1-hour test.

In the 3DMark Wild Life stress test, the second loop was already at 72% of the first one, dropping to 63% on the 6th loop and maintaining that for the rest of the test.

CPU throttling test • 3DMark Wild Life stress test

Ultimately, the Flip3 is a strong performer, though it is bested by other handsets with similar internals. None of them foldables, of course, unless you count the Fold3, which we don't think you should.