The Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold is pretty exclusive and will likely remain so — it’s on sale in South Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates, and is expected to come stateside soon.
But we managed to spend some time with one at this year’s CES and we have some early thoughts to share.
Compared to modern phones, especially recent ones, it feels like a brick when folded. There’s no way around it – having two folding sides and a middle one means the Galaxy Z Trifold will be a chunky gadget when fully closed.
However, it’s not unbearably thick, and those who buy the Trifold will accept its thickness for the benefits they get when opening the device. After all, the Galaxy Z Trifold is thinner than the Galaxy Z Fold5 and that was perfectly acceptable two years ago. It is also going to showcase the engineering masterclass that Samsung engineers prepared with the Trifold.
Using a trifold when folded
When unfolded, the Galaxy Z Trifold turns into a 10-inch tablet. Here, its three equal parts are impressively thin. The hinges feel very sturdy. But this shouldn’t be a surprise in 2026.
One obvious advantage of the Galaxy Z Trifold over other trifolds, the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate, is that the entire folding screen sticks to itself and is not exposed when the phone is fully folded.
You get a finger-enabled power button and a volume rocker on the right side.
When you fully open the Galaxy Z Trifold, the cover screen and two rear panels are on the back. The panels have a carbon fiber texture under the surface, so they’re still shiny.
One thing you will have to get used to is the proper way to close the trifold. You open it from the left side and close it from the right side first. However, the phone will sound an alarm as soon as you start turning it left, so you’ll learn quickly.
Now don’t turn it the wrong way
The Galaxy Z Trifold is not comfortable to use with one hand due to its size and weight balance. Weighing in at a little over 300g, it is significantly heavier than the Galaxy Z Fold7 (215g).
When you are using the Trifold you must have both hands on it, unless you are placing it on a table. And we would expect most people to type on the split keyboard on the Galaxy Z Trifold.
Difficult to hold with one hand and use with the other
But as soon as you watch a video on its 10-inch canvas, all the limitations of the Galaxy Z Trifold start disappearing from your mind. You get to use almost the entire screen this way, unlike the Galaxy Z Fold7, where the square aspect leads to larger bars.
So while 10 inches may seem close to the Fold7’s 8 inches, there’s a noticeable difference in usable screen estate.
You can do Use the Galaxy Z Trifold even in portrait orientation. So it becomes like a magazine. Thus, it is great for reading long pages.
This is absolutely a first look. We didn’t have much time with the Galaxy Z Trifold, and it was bound during our hands-on. We’d love to bring this thing to the office and see what it’s capable of through our review.
But as far as flexibility of engineering strength goes, we prefer the Galaxy Z Trifold. In many ways, it feels exactly like the larger Galaxy Z Fold7, which is a good thing! And there’s nothing wrong with lively competition in any mobile arena!
