Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G vs Google Pixel 8a
55
out of 100
VS
66
out of 100
Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G) that was released on August 11, 2021, against the Google Pixel 8a, which is powered by Google Tensor G3 and came out 2 years and 10 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G
- Has a 0.6 inch larger screen size
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Reverse charging feature
- Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 8a
- Waterproof body (IP67 classification)
- Comes with 1192 mAh larger battery capacity: 4492 vs 3300 mAh
- Shows 39% longer battery life (19:43 vs 14:13 hours)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Delivers 62% higher peak brightness (1501 against 929 nits)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 15
- 30% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1433K versus 1102K)
- The phone is 2 years and 10 months newer
- CPU with a higher amount of cores (+1)
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.7 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2640 pixels | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 21.9:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 426 ppi | 430 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes | Yes (60-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 850 nits | 2000 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1200 nits | 1400 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10 |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 85% | 81.3% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 95.3% | 99.1% |
| PWM | 242 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Response time | 6.5 ms | 2 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G
6.7″ (21.9:9 ratio) = 15.8 in2
Pixel 8a
6.1″ (20:9 ratio) = 13.9 in2
~13% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 166 mm (6.54 inches) | 152.1 mm (5.99 inches) |
| Width | 72.2 mm (2.84 inches) | 72.7 mm (2.86 inches) |
| Thickness | 6.9 mm (0.27 inches) | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) |
| Weight | 183 g (6.46 oz) | 188 g (6.63 oz) |
| Waterproof | IPX8 | IP67 |
| Rear material | Glass | Plastic |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Gray, Green, Pink | White, Black, Blue, Green |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-button | Yes, in-display |
| Repairability | - | Good (3.52/5) |
| Drop resistance | - | Excellent (A) · 270 drops |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G | Google Tensor G3 |
| Max clock | 2840 MHz | 3000 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 9 (1 + 4 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 680 Silver (Cortex-A55) - 3 cores at 2.42 GHz: Kryo 680 Gold (Cortex-A78) - 1 core at 2.84 GHz: Kryo 680 Prime (Cortex-X1) |
- 4 cores at 1.7 GHz: Cortex-A510 - 4 cores at 2.37 GHz: Cortex-A715 - 1 core at 2.91 GHz: Cortex-X3 |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | Samsung |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 4 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon 780 | Yes |
| Graphics | Adreno 660 | Immortalis-G715s MC10 |
| GPU shading units | 768 | 896 |
| GPU clock | 840 MHz | 890 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1290.2 GFLOPS | ~1594.8 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | - | 8490 |
| Single-core score | 1473 | 1491 |
| Multi-core score | 3767 | 3584 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 387259 | 546093 |
| GPU | 163836 | 391230 |
| Memory | 208561 | 195569 |
| UX | 342686 | 300801 |
| Total score | 1102342 | 1433693 |
| Samples | [7 tests] | [6 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 72% | 67% |
| Graphics test | 3 FPS | 7 FPS |
| Graphics score | 435 | 990 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 73% | - |
| Graphics test | 7 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 1224 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 13317 | - |
| Video editing | 7710 | - |
| Photo editing | 29882 | - |
| Data manipulation | 10323 | - |
| Writing score | 15410 | - |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-12 (Zha) | AnTuTu 12 | 976692 |
| 📘 2026-03-14 (Mitu) | AnTuTu 11 | 1102342 |
| 📘 2026-02-21 -> nanamond | AnTuTu 11 | 1205113 |
| 📘 2026-02-01 (nanamond) | AnTuTu 11 | 1128111 |
| 📘 2025-12-08 (Carlos Domino) | AnTuTu 11 | 987766 |
Google Pixel 8a
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2025-12-28 (adismsha) | AnTuTu 11 | 1471866 |
| 📘 2025-12-22 -> jpara_dise | Geekbench 6 GPU | 8490 |
| 📘 2025-12-22 -> jpara_dise | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1491 / 3584 |
| 📘 2025-12-22 -> jpara_dise | AnTuTu 11 | 1397797 |
| 📘 2025-12-17 (jpara_dise) | AnTuTu 11 | 1397797 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 2750 MHz | 3200 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 4 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | UFS 3.1 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) | Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 17) |
| ROM | One UI 7.0 | Stock Android |
| OS size | 29 GB | 18.4 GB |
| OS updates | 2 years | 7 years |
| Security updates | 4 years | 7 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 3300 mAh | 4492 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 18 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (10 W) | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (40% in 30 min) | Yes (33% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:30 hr | 2:09 hr |
| Battery cycles | - | 1000 cycles |
| Web browsing | 05:34 hr | 08:15 hr |
| Watching video | 09:17 hr | 13:00 hr |
| Gaming | 03:55 hr | 04:54 hr |
| Standby | 65 hr | 86 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 64 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 9000 x 7000 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 123° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 64 MP 2) Ultrawide: 13 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 64 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 27 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX563 | Sony IMX787 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | 1/1.73" (≈ 0.58 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.4 micron | 0.8 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 13 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 22 mm | - |
| Sensor | Sony IMX258 | Sony IMX712 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) | 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1.12 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 55 | 60 |
| Preview | 69 | 71 |
| Zoom | 72 | 126 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G from DxOMark | Photo samples of Google Pixel 8a from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 10 megapixels | 13 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3648 x 2736 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | - |
| Focal length | 26 mm | - |
| Sensor | Sony IMX374 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.22 micron | - |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | - |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5.1 | 5.3 |
| Bluetooth features | LE, A2DP | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 2 | 3.2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | - | Yes |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 20 | 20 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | No |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Mid-range |
| Announced | August 2021 | May 2024 |
| Release date | August 2021 | May 2024 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1000 | $499 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 | - Google Pixel 10a |
| SAR (head) | 0.86 W/kg | - |
| SAR (body) | 1.58 W/kg | - |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
| Bundled charger | Not included | Not included |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Google Pixel 8a is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 2