Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 battery test results: can it last a full day?
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 might have finally gotten the pricing and the design styling right with a regular flagship price of $1,000 and an actually useful front cover screen for your notifications, but one thing that Samsung hasn't changed from the original Flip is the battery size.
The Z Flip 3 features a 3,300mAh battery, way smaller than the average for Android phones, and that battery would probably be the source of most concern for buyers. Or batteries, we should say, since there are two separate cells, one in the top and another one in the bottom half of the phone, interconnected so you get that total 3,300mAh capacity.
Even with all those fancy tricks, the 3,300mAh size doesn't compare favorably to other Samsung phones. The compact Galaxy S21 features a 4,000mAh battery (which barely lasts a day), and the Galaxy S21+ actually comes with a 4,800mAh battery, nearly 50% larger than the Z Flip 3.
Here at PhoneArena we take battery testing seriously and conduct three different types of test: the first one simulates browsing the web, the second one is focused around YouTube video streaming, and the last one is all about 3D gaming.
Before we dive in the results, we should say that in our review of the Z Flip 3 we had the following notes about real-world battery life:
Using the phone from the morning, I would notice the battery would usually drop to around 30% around 5pm with mostly texting and just the occasional video and a few glances at social media.
Take this as even slightly heavier use may drain the battery before the end of the day, quicker than on your average smartphone. Yours truly has also noticed an issue with the phone overheating, while doing simple tasks like using social media, and the battery draining much quicker when you reach those last few percentage points. Enough with the anecdotal evidence, though: let's jump to our battery test results.
Z Flip 3 battery test results
We run three different battery tests measuring slightly different things: our web browsing test is the lightest one and is a great measure for casual use, then we have our YouTube video streaming test for those of you who watch a lot of videos or stories on your phones, and finally, the 3D Gaming test is a specialized test that taxes the GPU rather than the CPU of the phone and is great for well... gamers.
Z Flip 3 battery test: Web browsing
The Z Flip 3 performed surprisingly well on the web browsing test, outlasting the compact S21 and almost reaching the score of the S21+, which does show that with casual use you can still get reasonable amounts of battery life on this phone and it will last you through the day.
Z Flip 3 battery test: YouTube video streaming
However, on the YouTube test, we noticed only a slight improvement from the original Z Flip and the new-gen foldable didn't last as long as even the compact Galaxy S21. Considering that so much of our modern smartphone use is video (or stories), that's an important metric for the heavier users.
Z Flip 3 battery test: 3D Gaming
Finally, in 3D gaming the phone again scored surprisingly well actually outlasting traditional phones.
We really have no good explanation for that, it just seems that the Flip is able to better handle gaming workloads and while it did get quite hot often while just scrolling through Instagram stories, it maintained a good temperature while playing games and also lasted quite a while.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: