Samsung’s big Unpacked event of the summer wasn’t for the faint of heart. Alongside two new smartwatches and all new collaborations with AI companies, chipmakers and Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), it revealed three new foldable phones: the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, a redesigned Galaxy Z Fold 8 and a more similar Galaxy Z Flip 8.
The base Z Fold 8 perhaps stands out, with a less square 7.6-inch main screen better designed for reading and web browsing. And yes, Google has been doing this for a few years.
But the Samsung phone I want most is the one I’ve been floundering over since the first week of 2026: the Galaxy Z TriFold. It was actually a tablet that folded into your pocket.
I’m not convinced by the square aspect ratio of most current foldables, which feel like technical compromises rather than a practical choice of screen size. The Z TriFold unfolded into an almost tablet-shaped 10-inch screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio, compared to the Fold 8 Ultra’s almost square 10:9 foldable screen. In this form, the only app that I found used space efficiently was Google Maps.
Unfolding a full-size screen from your pocket felt like a taste of the near future. I always you want to remove the device, pair a portable Bluetooth keyboard and write stories or send emails on the go. While I can pair peripherals with the current two-panel foldables, the screen is too small to make it a real work display. Without accessories, you can fold them into “laptop” mode (I’m thinking of Oppo’s Find N6), but that splits your screen between keyboard and screen, leaving you with a typing surface no bigger than a standard smartphone – and a screen of equal size. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.
I also want to see what new contextual shortcuts and workflows in Galaxy AI take advantage of this larger screen. Large-screen Android phones are getting closer to the multitasking flow and split-screen of an iPad, and Google’s AI leader is finally bringing practically useful shortcuts and tools to Android.
The downsides (and the reasons why the TriFold didn’t stay on sale long) remain. Samsung’s new foldable devices unveiled this week are more expensive overall. If Samsung brought back the TriFold, the retail price would be even more breathtaking. It cost $2,900 at launch – and that was before RAMaggedon.
If Samsung’s new foldable devices were priced at least $100 higher, how much would a TriFold 2 cost? And have we been shocked enough by all these price increases to make an extra few hundred dollars less egregious for early adopters and big-spending tech fans? (Hello, have we met?) The first two iterations of the Fold series cost just under $2,000, but dropped several hundred dollars in subsequent models. The TriFold, if it continues, could see similar discounts as technology and manufacturing evolve. Maybe. Expecting a new device to be the same price or cheaper in today’s climate is pretty far-fetched.
The Galaxy Z TriFold officially went on sale in the United States on January 30, 2026, after a limited release in South Korea last year. In March, Samsung ended production. Just months after its global launch, Samsung’s statement said it was more of a “flagship showcase” than a pitch for the world’s next best-selling foldable. In the background, RAM prices were already starting to take off and price increases were already seeping into consumer technologies. This was also Samsung’s first TriFold device and they are expensive phones to make, regardless of demand.
The window to buy the TriFold was tiny: it didn’t go on sale in many places (like here in the UK, where this week’s Unpacked event is being held). If I wanted the TriFold, I would have to go through importers, with markups and additional import costs. It was hard to buy, even if you wanted one. And I did it.
Then there are the sustainability issues. This is a new type of foldable display, where dust ingress is a possible threat and damaged displays are a costly concern. Some early adopters of the TriFold faced difficult and expensive screen repairs, with some facing a $700 bill to repair the screen – the price of a solid (used) foldable.
Sam Rutherford for Woozad
While Apple’s first foldable iPhone is on the horizon, there’s no word yet on a possible follow-up to the TriFold. For now, the Fold 8 is the closest and most practical choice. With the same 4:3 display ratio and the slimmer profile and weight of a single-fold phone, it’s the other half of my equation for my ideal foldable. I wonder if, using the same blockier form factor of the Fold 8, Samsung could design a later TriFold with a screen closer to the 16:10 aspect ratio of a laptop screen. Identifier Really I would like to see that.
