Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 will cope well with water – report
“Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 3, Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Buds 2 at the August 2021 Unpacked event. We’ve got all the details you need to know about with our hands on reviews“
For years, water damage was a threat to mobile phone usage, with even a little rain having the potential to break devices. Over time, more expensive handsets have almost always offered an IP-rated water resistance to reassure buyers that their phones will not only survive the rain, but a drop in the bath too.
A notable exception to this rule was the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 and Galaxy Z Flip 5G, and it doesn’t take a genius to work out why. With a phone that physically bends, sealing off all possible areas from water ingress becomes significantly harder and, as a result, Samsung’s previous foldables offered no guaranteed water resistance.
But, according to leaker Max Weinbach, Samsung has managed to fix the problem with its upcoming foldables. Both the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Galaxy Z Fold 3 will apparently offer IPX8 levels of water resistance, which is a significant step up. If true, it means both handsets could be submerged in depths greater than one metre and live to tell the tale.
Notably, however, the ‘X’ in IPX8 means that a device is not guaranteed to protect against dust and other small particles. In a way, that’s worse than protection against water, given the first batch of review original Samsung Galaxy Fold units suffered from issues where dust could get into the hinge mechanism breaking the device.
Samsung’s more recent foldables have used a dust-resistant hinge that uses bristles to push dust particles back out again, however, and this seemed to work well enough. Certainly reliability has been much less of an issue with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, and you’d imagine it will only be getting better with the third generation.
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We’ll find out for sure if the handsets have the promised water resistance soon enough. Samsung has officially announced that its upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event will take place on Wednesday August 11, and we’re not just expecting foldables. Rumour has it that Samsung will also debut Galaxy Buds 2, the Galaxy S21 FE and two flavours of Galaxy Watch 4.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
