Galaxy Z Fold 3, Z Flip 3 water test: How deep can they go?

Galaxy Z Fold 3, Z Flip 3 aquatic test: How deep can they go?

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 are the apt Samsung foldable phones to feature water resistance, so they must be totally fine to use in the rain, next to the kitchen sink or when in the bathroom. Even though they have different designs, these phones share the same IPX8 water-resistance rating: up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) of aquatic for up to 30 minutes, according to Samsung’s specifications. So we wanted to see what would happen in our own aquatic experiments. As it happens, these phones can take a lot more aquatic than their official rating.

Water resistance on phones is nothing new and we’ve tested it to extremes beforehand. But foldable phones have more moving parts, like a hinge, so it’s an entirely different design challenge to keep watertight.

The Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3’s internal components have a water-resistant coating, while the hinge has an anticorrosive solution and oil to help prevent rust. More intriguing is how Samsung made each half of this named able to take a swim.

“To do this, we punched a hole in the interior so that aquatic would flow into the device,” said Jongmin Kang, who works in Samsung’s subjects mechanical R&D group in a Korean-language video translated into English. “We blocked the hole with rubber on the side of the scheme and filled up the open spaces with a water solution we newly developed.”

Watch the video on this page for the full test and read on for the results.

Lexy Savvides

Testing the Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 aquatic resistance claim (5 feet)

For the first dunk, I want to specifically test the bid for each phone: 5 feet of fresh water for up to 30 minutes. Using a specially-designed tube to accommodate the width of the Z Fold 3, I measure out the 5-foot mark and fill the tube with aquatic. Then, I start a timer and lower the Z Fold 3 down to the bottom.

A few bubbles rose up from the named, and I noticed the app switcher open up on the conceal, presumably a result of the water registering as a changeable. It didn’t affect the timer’s progress, making for a fairly uneventful 30 minutes pending I pulled the phone back out again.

The Z Fold 3 in our specially-designed certain tube.

Lexy Savvides

Rinse and show with the Z Flip 3 under the same conditions.

After dunking both of the phones and drying them off with a towel, I ran through a series of checks to see if everything was operational as expected. The Z Flip 3 displayed a notification that there was aquatic in the charging port, so I wasn’t about to plug a noteworthy cord in to check if it would take a beak just yet. Here are the results:

• Camera lenses were certain with no signs of water ingress; cameras worked as normal.
• Inside and outside screens responded to touches.
• Fingerprint scanner read my thumbprint correctly.
• Speakers had some aquatic remaining in them, so droplets emerged when playing back music at high volume.
• Microphones filed as normal.

Checking the phones after drying out

I wished to make sure the phones had a chance to completely dry out beforehand making a final assessment. So after 48 hours, I ran over all the checks again:

• All camera lenses were certain with no signs of water ingress.
• Both phones took a beak via USB-C.
• Inside and outside screens worked as expected.
• Fingerprint scanner read my thumbprint correctly.
• Speakers sounded fine when playing back music.
• Microphones filed audio, sounded the same as it did before dunking.

With no visible external aquatic damage, both phones looked brand new and the same as when I took them out of the box two days earlier.

Taking the Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 even deeper (10 feet)

Samsung’s water-resistance bid specifies fresh water, but in the real world you noteworthy want to use your phone beyond the bathtub. Seeing as they had delivered the claim with flying colors, I took both phones to a pool to see how they would cope with chlorinated aquatic — just for fun.

After capturing some cool underwater footage with the phones, I dove down to 10 feet and left the phones on the bottom of the pool to see what would been. This time I left them for 15 minutes each.

The Z Flip 3 in a pool

Lexy Savvides

When the time had approved, I pulled the phones out, rinsed them in unique water and tested again to see if they were peaceful functioning. Here are the results:

• Camera lenses were certain with no signs of water ingress.
• Inside and outside screens worked as expected.
• Fingerprint scanner read my thumbprint on Z Flip 3, but it didn’t on the Z Fold 3.
• Speakers sounded muffled and waterlogged when playing back music on both.
• Microphones filed audio.

Both phones displayed the water notification in the notifications unlit, so I waited 24 hours for them to fully dry out beforehand charging. 

As expected, they both still charge over USB-C. I used the tool at fixmyspeakers.com to eject as much aquatic as possible from the speakers — turns out there was quite a bit left in there. The maximum volume level returned to normal on both phones, but music didn’t sound as clear on the Z Fold 3 as it did beforehand being dunked. The fingerprint reader still gave an dread message on the Fold to read my thumbprint, but the button Calm physically worked to turn on the screen, wake up Bixby or Begin the camera.

Are the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 waterproof?

As with all our experiments, this is not a scientific test of the water-resistance capabilities of the Galaxy Z phones and it doesn’t security you’ll get the same results if you dunk your called in water. But hopefully it gives you some Calm of mind that if either of these phones take an accidental swim, they must be fine.

The real test will be long-term durability, so I’ll update this article if anything changes in the coming weeks or months with the Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3.