Huawei P50 Pocket vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3: flipping out

Date:
Wed, 06 Apr 2022 18:00:58 +0000

Description:
Samsungs popular compact foldable gets an exotic rival, but has Huawei made one impractical concession too many?

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The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 was one of the revelations of 2021, combining a classy yet compact foldable design with an attainable price tag to produce
the first genuinely mass market foldable phone.

This makes the Galaxy Z Flip 3 the compact foldable phone to beat, and thats
a challenge the Huawei P50 Pocket swiftly took up.

So how does the P50 Pocket fare against its popular rival? Lets take a closer look at what Huaweis phone has to offer, and whether its good enough to take the foldable top spot. Huawei P50 Pocket vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 price and availability

The Huawei P50 Pocket was announced in China on December 23, while it commenced its global rollout on January 26.

The regular model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage is priced at 1,299, which works out to around $1,470 / 1,080 / AU$2,044. The P50 Pocket Premium Edition with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage is priced at 1,599, which equates to roughly $1,810 / 1,330 / AU$2,515.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 went on sale on August 27, 2021. The 128GB model costs $999 / 949 / AU$1,499, while the 256GB model sets you back $1,049 / 999 / AU$1,599.

Even taking just the cheapest model, the Huawei P50 Pocket is a more
expensive handset than the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 is the cheaper phone (Image credit: Future) Design

Both of these phones are distinguished by their clamshell designs, which sees them folding out from a compact square to a normally proportioned smartphone.

The Huawei P50 Pocket arguably does this better, at least in certain key respects. Its two screen components lie completely flat next to each other, with no sign of the gap that the Galaxy Z Flip 3 exhibits. Huaweis Multi-Dimensional hinge also serves to produce a slightly smaller crease than Samsungs effort once the phone is fully open.

Conversely, only the Galaxy Z Flip 3 can keep itself open at various angles. Samsungs phone manages to attain an IPX8 water-resistance rating too, which the Huawei phone cant match. The Huawei P50 Pocket has a flashy finish (Image credit: Huawei)

In terms of facts and figures, the Huawei P50 Pocket is the larger phone at 170 x 75.5 x 7.2mm and 190g. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 measures 166 x 72.2
x 6.9mm and 183g.

Huawei really goes out with the flashy design, particularly with the more expensive Premium Edition with its embossed gold finish. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3, for its part, represents a welcome refinement of the previous Flip phones, with a slicker and more appealing aesthetic. We particularly like the two-toned effect of the rear cover.

Both phones place their fingerprint sensors in their power buttons rather
than underneath their displays. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 has the smaller main screen (Image credit: Future) Display

Both phones feature larger fold-out displays and secondary external displays.

With the Huawei P50 Pocket , the main screen is a 6.9-inch OLED, with a 2790
x 1188 resolution. In the case of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3, that main screen is a 6.7-inch AMOLED with a 2640 x 1080 resolution.

Huaweis display is slightly larger and sharper, then, but there really isnt much in it. Both displays can hit 120Hz refresh rates, too. The Huawei P50 Pocket has a tiny circular secondary screen (Image credit: Huawei)

As for those external displays, the Huawei P50 Pocket gives you a circular 1.04-inch OLED with a 340 x 340 resolution, and the Galaxy Z Flip 3 supplies
a rectangular 1.9-inch AMOLED with a 512 x 260 resolution. The Samsung wins
in this regard, with a far larger and thus more practically useful external screen.

To be clear, both of these external screens are mainly used for showing the time and simplified notification details when closed. But the Samsung appears to marry function with form a little better. Camera

The Huawei P50 Pocket ostensibly gives you a triple-camera system, while the Galaxy Z Flip 3 makes do with a dual-camera setup. But in practice, theyre both dual-camera phones.

Huaweis system seems to be more impressive than Samsungs, led by a 40MP wide sensor and accompanied by a 13MP ultra-wide. But the unexpected provision is
a 32MP ultra-spectrum camera, which apparently captures invisible
wavelengths.

Why would you want to capture invisible wavelengths in your shots? Mainly for creative fluorescent shots of plants and foliage, it seems, though it also provides depth and color info to the other two sensors. The Huawei P50 Pocket has a triple-lens camera, including an ultra-spectrum camera (Image credit: Huawei)

For the Galaxy Z Flip 3s part, youre getting a pair of 12MP sensors one for wide, the other for ultra-wide. Its not massively compelling, though Samsungs camera know-how is still sufficient to produce shots that our reviewer found were nicely detailed and colorful.

We still need to spend some proper time with the Huawei to be sure, but it seems to have a superior camera system here. Specs and performance

Both of these phones run on Qualcomms Snapdragon 888 chip, which means were looking at two phones that can run just about as fast as any 2021 Android flagship.

Of course, were into 2022 now, and theres a new Snapdragon in town in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The Huawei P50 Pros recent global launch and
significantly higher pricing dont look too well in that context.

Youre getting 8GB of RAM as standard with both phones, though the Premium Edition of the Huawei P50 Pocket gives you 12GB.

Theres one notable spec difference here, and its seemingly related to Huaweis ongoing political troubles. The P50 Pro doesnt support 5G, unlike the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3. Both phones have the same chipset (Image credit: Future)

Whether you care about 5G connectivity or not, its undoubtedly reached a
point where the feature can be considered a given for all but the cheapest phones. We certainly expect it in our flagships by now.

On the storage front, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 gives you either 128GB or 256GB, while the Huawei P50 Pocket supplies either 256GB or 512GB.

Perhaps the biggest win for Samsung is the usual one when comparing it with a Huawei phone. Huaweis ongoing issues with western governments mean that you dont get access to Google Play Services, which means no Google apps and no Google Play Store.

Huawei has worked hard on work-arounds, but its undeniably a suboptimal situation. The Galaxy Z Flip 3 has no such worries, and Samsungs One UI is quite a pleasant and fully featured interface these days. Battery

Both of these phones sacrifice something in the way of their battery capacity in order to fit into those slender foldable profiles. However, the Huawei P50 Pocket just about comes out on top.

Huawei has managed to pack in a 4,000mAh battery, while the Galaxy Z Flip 3 gives you a 3,300mAh cell.

It remains to be seen how this will affect the Huawei P50 Pockets stamina,
but we already know about the Galaxy Z Flip 3, and its not too hot. Our reviewer struggled to get through a full day of more intensive usage on a single charge.

The Huawei P50 Pocket supports 40W wired charging to Samsung's 25W, which is an advantage for the newer phone. However, Huaweis foldable doesnt support wireless charging at all, while the Samsung supports up to 11W.

Like 5G, while you might not consider wireless charging essential, its certainly something you expect to see in a flagship phone. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 has the smaller battery (Image credit: Future) Takeaway

We havent quite readied our hands-on thoughts for the Huawei P50 Pocket, but its certainly got an uphill battle taking on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3.

Not only is it more expensive, but it doesnt feature 5G or wireless charging, and it isnt water-resistant to the same degree. Then theres the perpetual issue with modern Huawei phones in that they dont support key Google
services.

While the Huawei P50 Pocket does some promising things with its hinge design, and its camera system is almost certain to be superior to its rival, were steering towards the Galaxy Z Flip 3 on this one. Its simply a far safer bet. These are the best foldable phones



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/huawei-p50-pocket-vs-samsung-galaxy-z-flip-3/


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