Samsung releases its first tri-fold smartphone

Samsung Electronics on Monday introduced its first tri-fold smartphone, expanding its foldable lineup as pressure rises from Chinese competitors and looming moves by Apple.

The Galaxy Z TriFold will debut in South Korea on Dec. 12. Samsung said launches will follow in China, Taiwan, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. A U.S. release is planned for the first quarter of 2026, with additional information to come.

The device will ship as a single black model with 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage. Samsung set the price at 3,594,000 South Korean won, or $2,449.

The phone uses two inward-folding hinges to open into a 10-inch display with a 2160-by-1584 resolution. The screen is slightly smaller than the 11-inch display on Apple’s 11th-generation iPad. When folded, the TriFold measures 12.9 millimeters thick, compared with 12.1 mm for the Galaxy Z Fold6 and 8.9 mm for the Galaxy Z Fold7.

Counterpoint Research associate director Liz Lee said the model will ship in limited volume and is designed to strengthen Samsung’s position ahead of an expected shift in the foldable market in 2026. She said the company aims to test durability, hinge engineering and software performance while collecting user feedback before broader deployment.

The three-panel design supports running three apps vertically at once and includes a desktop-like mode without an external monitor. Samsung said the phone carries the largest battery capacity in its foldable range and can reach 50% charge in 30 minutes through super-fast charging.

TM Roh, recently appointed Samsung co-CEO and head of the Device eXperience division, said the TriFold reflects years of development to combine portability, performance and productivity.

Samsung launched its first foldable phone in 2019, but the market has remained small even as new entrants emerge. Huawei released its second-generation tri-fold model for China in September, and Chinese brands such as Honor have expanded their foldable offerings overseas.