If Samsung hasn't yet convinced you to buy a phone that folds in two, don't fret — the phone maker is now going to try to sell you a phone that folds in multiple places. That would be the Galaxy Z TriFold, where two front panels open up to reveal a tablet-sized main display.
The just-announced Galaxy Z TriFold debuts in South Korea next week, with Samsung planning to bring the phone yo the U.S. at some point during the first three months of 2026. And while I can acknowledge the engineering know-how that went into developing a triple-folding phone, I still have to wonder if the Galaxy Z TriFold is the device people have been clamoring for.
Still, while Samsung may offer some of the best foldable phones around, it's still a small part of the larger phone market. That same report has Samsung expecting to sell 35 million Galaxy S26 models — seven times the number of expected foldable sales. And when I'm out and about in the world, I see plenty of people using conventional Samsung phones, but not too many foldables regardless of who makes them.
I don't see how a tri-folding phone — arguably an even bigger flyer to take than a standard folding phone — changes the niche status for this type of device. And even with Samsung disclosing some of the Galaxy Z TriFold's specs, I'm going to need some answers to a few key questions before I can really assess if this is the phone that's going to convince more people to embrace foldable phones.
How are apps going to look on the Galaxy Z TriFold's main display?
The Galaxy Z TriFold will sport a 10-inch main display, the kind of panel that will rival the best tablets. And that's encouraging since the bigger the screen, the easier it is to get work done.
Certainly, that's the kind of scenario Samsung envisions, talking about how you'll be able to hold the TriFold vertically when you really want to dive into a document. You're also going to be able to multitask with ease, as all that screen real estate allowing you to run three apps side-by-side as if you had a trio of 6.5-inch smartphones lined up next to each other.
But even though we're several generations into foldable phones, not every app looks good on an expanded display. While the issue isn't as prominent as it was several versions ago, you can still run into apps that leave a lot of unused space on the Galaxy Z Fold 7's 8-inch display. Is that issue going to be exacerbated by the TriFold's 10-inch-screen?
Will there be features tied to the TriFold's unique design?
I've been hoping to see foldable phones make more use of their flexible screens as phone makers have fine-tuned the devices' designs. To be fair, Samsung foldable phones certainly offer some of that, like the ability to show YouTube videos alongside comments on the phones' expansive screen. Of course, this would be a lot more exciting if YouTube comments weren't a cesspool best kept out of view, though that's hardly Samsung's fault.
In its Galaxy Z TriFold announcement, Samsung does hint at some form-specific features that take advantage of the phone's expanded display. Samsung says you'll be able to show Gemini Live a room and paint swatches with the phone's cameras and then head to a design site for AI-generated recommendations using the 10-inch screen.
That's a very specific use case, and one I'd have to see in action to see how worthwhile it is. And I'm eager to see if there are other tricks up the Galaxy Z TriFold's sleeve that exploit the unique things about the phone?
Will the crease(s) be noticeable?
Samsung deserves a lot of credit for refining the design of each version of its foldable phones to make the crease that appears on the folding part of the display less prominent. Reviewing the Galaxy Z Fold 7 earlier this year, my colleague Mark Spoonauer noted that the crease is "much less noticeable" than on prior versions of the phone.
Still, let's not confuse "mush less noticeable" with "gone entirely." Samsung's foldables still have a crease that you can spot under certain conditions, and the only change with the TriFold is that you'll have two creases instead of one.
For its part, Samsung is promising "minimized creasing" with the Galaxy Z TriFold that "keeps content seamless and uninterrupted." So it sounds like this is something we'll have to see for ourselves once the phone becomes available?
How long will the battery last?
Foldable phones tend not to last as long on a charge as their more conventional counterparts — understandable, since there's a larger display to keep powered up. But Samsung's foldables have really struggled in this area. The Galaxy Z Fold 7, for example fell just shy of 11 hours on our battery test, as it struggled to keep pace with the average smartphone.
Samsung seems to recognize the need to do better with power management as the Galaxy Z TriFold will use a 5,600 mAh battery, the largest ever in one of its foldable phones. The three-cell setup distributes a cell to each panel of the phone for more balanced power, but we'll have to see what difference this all makes once we get a chance to test the TriFold.
How much will the Galaxy Z TriFold cost?
Samsung left out the price of the Galaxy Z TriFold when it announced U.S. release plans, but in Korea, the phone will cost 3,594,000 won. That works out to around $2,450 based on conversion rates, but Samsung is likely to set a different price depending on each market. Some have estimated that the U.S price for the TriFold could be as much as $2,800.
Whether that estimate is accurate or if the price winds up closer to what Samsung plans to charge in Korea, the fact of the matter is, if you thought paying $1,999 for a Galaxy Z Fold 7 was a lot, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Galaxy Z TriFold outlook
And that's why the answers to those other questions about features and battery life are so important. They can provide more of a justification to buy the Galaxy Z TriFold.
Because right now, the biggest argument for the foldable phones is that you can get a larger screen in a more portable device than a tablet. That's especially true of the Galaxy Z TriFold and its 10-inch main display that can fold into a more pocketable 6.3 x 3.0 x 0.51-size.
But for $1,000, you can buy an 11-inch iPad Pro M5 if you want a tablet sized work space for something that's more than half the likely cost of the Galaxy Z TriFold. Yes, there's still, that portability issue, but if it means an extra $1500-plus in my wallet, I'll figure out how to tote that tablet around. Ultimately, that's the problem that Samsung's going yo have to solve with its foldables, triple-folding or otherwise.
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