I have always believed that folding smartphones offer not just practicality but also a sense of wonder.
The Galaxy Z TriFold, announced by Samsung in Korea on Tuesday, December 2, 2025, local time, is a tri-fold product that further enlarges existing commercially available folding smartphones, allowing it to fold into three sections.
Eager to experience the device firsthand, I visited Seoul, Korea, on the day of the announcement to cover the media briefing.
Closed State Is Just a Normal Smartphone
About a year ago, when I visited Shenzhen, China, on the launch day of the "Mate XT Ultimate Design," the world's first tri-fold smartphone announced by Huawei in September 2024, and held the actual device, I felt a full-body thrill, thinking, "Has a smartphone like this really appeared?"
Since a year has passed since the Huawei product's launch, the Samsung product does not feel particularly novel.
However, it adopts a different folding structure than Huawei's model, and given the excellent design of the "Galaxy Z Fold7," the bi-fold model released this year, a high degree of completion can be expected from this Galaxy Z TriFold as well.
First, we examine the device in its closed state.
The front exterior is a smartphone with a tall (21:9) display, equivalent to the Galaxy Z Fold7.
Even in this state, it is perfectly adequate for daily use and can be freely used with one hand, such as when it is difficult to open the device.
The Thickness and Weight Are a Bit Concerning
The body size is 159.2 x 75.0 x 12.9 mm when closed.
As expected, it is thick.
However, because the width is a few millimeters narrower than a typical large smartphone, the thickness became unnoticeable as I held it.
What concerned me more was the weight.
The Galaxy Z TriFold is 309 g, which is about 1.4 times heavier than the Galaxy Z Fold7's 215 g or Samsung's flagship smartphone "Galaxy S25 Ultra" at 218 g.
However, considering the convenience of being able to unfold it into a horizontal tablet, I felt the weight was acceptable.
The Ingenuity to Make It Easy to Open Is Exquisite
To open the device, first open the back section to the right.
Then, the left section, which should be opened next, is slightly raised from the display surface.
This slight gap makes it easier to insert a fingertip, allowing for smooth opening.
This level of design is exactly what you would expect from Samsung, a company that has been producing folding smartphones for six years.
This folding type is called the G-shape.
In contrast, Huawei's Mate XT Ultimate Design is a Z-shape that folds the three panels one on top of the other.
For this reason, it does not have a mechanism like this.
Comfortable 10-Inch Display, Amazing Thinness
When fully opened, a 10-inch display appears.
The aspect ratio is 4:3, allowing all content to be displayed comfortably in full screen.
For example, with bi-fold smartphones, displaying videos results in large top and bottom margins (non-display areas), but the Galaxy Z TriFold avoids such poor visibility.
And when opened, the thickness is an astonishing 3.9 mm.
While it was quite thick for a smartphone when closed, it becomes an extremely thin size as tablet when opened.
There are no products thinner than this among tablets, with only the Mate XT Ultimate Design, another tri-fold, being 3.6 mm.
Being this thin, it will not be a hindrance at all, even if you carry it in a bag while open.
Freely Use Three Apps, Optimal for Creative Purposes
Considering it as a thin 10-inch tablet, the Galaxy Z TriFold can also be used comfortably as a gaming machine.
It is equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform for Galaxy, provided by Qualcomm for Galaxy devices.
While it falls short of the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, it boasts high performance even at this point.
The Galaxy Z TriFold makes it possible to “carry a 10-inch tablet in your pocket just for gaming.”
It also allows split-screen viewing, displaying up to three apps side-by-side.
In addition, you can display apps like a calculator as a pop-up, enabling flexible switching between multiple apps.
This split view is also possible in portrait orientation.
Furthermore, it is possible to use desktop mode, which Samsung calls "DeX mode."
While DeX mode was supported on Samsung tablets, it could only be used on smartphones (including bi-fold models) via an external display connected with a USB cable or Wi-Fi.
Since the Galaxy Z TriFold is a device that merges a smartphone and a tablet, it allows for a standalone desktop display.
Given all that it can do, one might say that the 309 g weight is not a concern, right?
However, the tri-fold smartphone is not suitable for people who are currently satisfied with a regular smartphone or those who use a bi-fold smartphone but find opening it to be bothersome.
This product is aimed at people who want to "always use the large screen of a tablet, but want to use it as a smartphone while on the move."
The price in Korea is more than 2400 USD.
If considered a forward-looking investment that signals a new evolution of the smartphone and tablet, perhaps this price is reasonable.
▼Photo & Written by Yasuhiro Yamane
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