I just tested the Galaxy Z Fold 3's under-display camera — and it's not great

I just tested the Galaxy Z Fold iii'due south under-display photographic camera — and information technology's not great

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 under display camera

(Image credit: Hereafter)

I'g here to tell you that under-display cameras are the future of phones, but that futurity is non quite here notwithstanding. At least based on my fourth dimension in our Galaxy Z Fold 3 review in progress thus far.

The seven.six-inch brandish on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 uses under brandish camera technology that applies a minimum amount of pixels on top of the camera hole. The goal? To increase the viewable surface area and (nearly) banish the punch hole so you get a make clean sheet when watching Netflix, playing games or enjoying other apps.

When y'all're using the under-display camera or UDC for taking selfies, it will appear equally a pocket-size hole toward the right tiptop part of the screen and and so disappear when you exit the photographic camera app. It's almost similar magic. But merely how good is this 4MP camera? Based on my testing, I'd say its decent — merely not every bit practiced equally I'd hoped.

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First, let's take these two selfies taken side-by-side outdoors, 1 shot with the 4MP under-display photographic camera and the other the 10MP front camera on the Z Fold 3's cover screen. With the under-brandish photographic camera, my face and looks a chip blurry and the overall image has a haze to it. Information technology looks and feels like a photograph from a much older photographic camera phone.

Meanwhile, the shot from the 10MP camera isn't perfect, but my skin tone looks more accurate and you can make more than detail out in my shirt and pilus. And the groundwork and grass look sharper besides, from the grass to the argue.

Things expect even worse for the Galaxy Z Fold 3's nether-display camera when I moved indoors. The UDC produced an epitome I'd await from a laptop webcam, with smoothed over features and a fuzzy overall look. Information technology's not terrible, merely it's close.

The 10MP front camera produced much amend results in that it looks more like a photo than a painting. Seriously, the detail in and around my eyes and my teeth just looks and so much better. I would much rather trust this photographic camera with selfies.

So how about video? I called upwardly senior writer Kate Kozuch on Google Run across via the nether-display cam and she didn't love what she saw. She said overall the paradigm quality was only "dull." While it wasn't fuzzy, she expected better in terms of photographic camera quality.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 video call UDC — (Image credit: Future)

Kate captured a screenshot of our chat and as you tin meet I come okay, but there'southward merely not much definition. And this was with a ring low-cal turned on in front of me.

Bottom line: The under-display camera on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is a very intriguing innovation, merely the image quality does non match up to the wow factor that having a disappearing camera provides.

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Mark Spoonauer is the global editor in principal of Tom'southward Guide and has covered engineering for near 20 years. In addition to overseeing the management of Tom's Guide, Mark specializes in covering all things mobile, having reviewed dozens of smartphones and other gadgets. He has spoken at central industry events and appears regularly on Boob tube to discuss the latest trends. Marking was previously editor in chief of Laptop Magazine, and his work has appeared in Wired, Pop Science and Inc. Follow him on Twitter at @mspoonauer.