This week, CGM paid a visit to Samsung’s Canadian headquarters to get a special look at the company’s latest smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold, a phone that folds out twice to become a 10-inch tablet that is incredibly thin. While the Galaxy Z TriFold doesn’t have a Canadian release date as of yet, it gave us a lot to be excited about.
The specs for the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold are largely similar to the company’s recent release, the Galaxy Z Fold7, sporting the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite For Galaxy Chipset and the same cameras, offering the 200MP wide-angle lens with the 12MP ultra-wide and 10MP telephoto lens on the rear camera, with 10MP cover screen and unfolded screen selfie-cam lenses. They also both have the same 6.5” Dynamic AMOLED cover screen.
There are more limited options when it comes to the storage/RAM options for the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold, which is a good thing, as they’ve only eliminated the smallest options. The Galaxy Z TriFold comes only with 16GB of RAM in 512GB or 1TB storage options. The RAM will definitely come in handy with all the multitasking you are able to do on this phone with the massive screen.
The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold is built with a Gorilla Glass Victus Ceramic 2 cover and a new ceramic-glass fibre-reinforced back and titanium hinge. The main screen is plastic, but quite durable for what it is. If the outside of the Galaxy Z TriFold is going to be a victim of anything, it’s going to be your fingerprints. Fingerprints show up quite a bit both on the screens and the back of the phone, so have a microfibre cloth handy if you are the kind of person who doesn’t like that.
The phone case that I got to try with the phone actually helps with the fingerprints, as nothing picks up on the case, and the good news is that the case is included with the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold. Not only that, you’ll find a charging block and USB-C cable in the box as well. After so many phone models not coming with these accessories, it is so refreshing to see them here. The Galaxy Z TriFold will have other cases available, including one with a stand for when the phone is unfolded, but those will be sold separately.
The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold, when folded, is 12.9mm, compared to the Z Fold7’s 8.9mm thickness and weighs in at 309g (The Z Fold7 is 215g). When unfolded, the phone is as thin as 3.9mm and as thick as 4.2mm. There are slight differences in thickness depending on which third of the phone you are looking at, depending on what that section needs to accommodate. The 0.3mm difference is visually negligible and doesn’t create any issues with the phone’s use. I’d argue that, if you weren’t told the dimensions, you wouldn’t notice.
“The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold, when folded, is 12.9mm, compared to the Z Fold7’s 8.9mm thickness and weighs in at 309g…”
The battery on the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold is particularly interesting as it is the largest battery offered in any Samsung Smartphone at 5,600mAh, a massive jump from the Galaxy Z Fold7’s 4,400mAh battery. The battery is actually an array of batteries spread over each third of the device, which makes sense given the phone’s thickness. Charging speeds have also jumped from the Fold7 and are more in line with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, with 45W of wired charging instead of 25W. Wireless charging remains consistent at 15W.
The most consistent challenge with any foldable phone is the crease, and the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold (obviously) has two. They are still greatly improved over last year’s generation of phones, but are still more noticeable than some brands. I would say that they are not a showstopper in the way that some older generations may have been. I would have no issues watching videos or surfing the web. The creases wouldn’t be any kind of distraction.
Does the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold offer you more than the Z Fold7 if you are looking to make the move to a foldable? For sure. The Z TriFold is about 30% thicker and heavier than the Z Fold7, but unfolded, you have so much real estate, and if you are gaming or watching video, you’re making the most of that real estate with an aspect ratio that is closer to 16:9. Sure, it’s not EXACTLY 16:9 and you are still going to get some letterboxing, but it’s not nearly as much as the 8” Z Fold7.
The battery life is also a huge selling point. The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold needs the extra juice with more pixels to light up on the unfolded phone, but even if it were so much that the Z TriFold’s battery lasted the same as the Z Fold7 (which isn’t the case), the faster charging gets you back into the game more quickly, which is another huge advantage.
The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold is not available in North America yet, and it looks like it will be a limited-release phone, more of a proof-of-concept released as a premium phone. It launched in South Korea for around $2450 USD, which supports the idea that this phone is more of a company statement than something intended to make it to the masses (at least for now). But if it were only meant to be a proof of concept, consider the concept proved. The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold proved quite the user experience, and frankly, it was really cool to see something that very few other companies offer.
