Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold: Price, Specs, and US Release Window for Samsung’s First Triple‑Folding Phone

Samsung has officially pulled the wraps off the Galaxy Z TriFold, its first multi‑folding smartphone and one of the most ambitious mobile designs we’ve seen in years. Announced on December 2, 2025 in Korea, the device unfolds twice into a 10‑inch display, packs Samsung’s biggest foldable battery yet, and is headed to the US in early 2026. ^[1]

With a launch price of ₩3,590,400 in South Korea (around $2,440–$2,500) for the 16GB/512GB model, the Galaxy Z TriFold isn’t trying to be a mass‑market phone. Instead, Samsung is positioning it as a showcase for what’s next in foldables and AI‑powered productivity. ^[2]

A Phone That Unfolds Into a 10‑Inch Tablet

At its core, the Galaxy Z TriFold is a phone that becomes a tablet—literally.

When folded, you get a 6.5‑inch FHD+ cover display with a 21:9 aspect ratio, very similar in feel to a tall, narrow premium smartphone. ^[3]
Open it up twice and it expands into a 10.0‑inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X main screen with a 2160 × 1584 resolution, up to 120Hz adaptive refresh (1–120Hz), and peak brightness of 1,600 nits on the main panel and 2,600 nits on the cover. ^[4]

Samsung’s own description is that the open screen behaves like three 6.5‑inch phones side by side. You can run three portrait‑oriented apps at once, resize them freely, and keep them all visible without feeling cramped. ^[5]

Physically, the engineering is striking:

Unfolded thickness: as thin as 3.9 mm on the slimmest panel, 4.0 mm on the other side, and 4.2 mm in the center. ^[6]
Folded thickness: about 12.9 mm, thicker than a typical slab flagship but comparable to other large foldables. ^[7]
Weight: 309 g, similar to rival large foldables and not far off Huawei’s latest tri‑fold design. ^[8]

Unlike Huawei’s Z‑shaped tri‑fold, Samsung’s design folds inward on both sides to protect the main display. Two differently sized hinges, each with a dual‑rail structure, allow the panels to meet with minimal gaps while managing uneven weight distribution. ^[9]

For durability, Samsung is using:

Titanium hinge housing
An Advanced Armor Aluminum frame
A ceramic‑glass fiber‑reinforced polymer back to resist cracking
IP48 water resistance—good protection against water, but not dust‑tight. ^[10]

Samsung says the main screen has been tested to withstand 200,000 folds, roughly equivalent to opening and closing it 100 times a day for five years. ^[11]

Snapdragon 8 Elite Power and Samsung’s Biggest Foldable Battery

Under the hood, the Galaxy Z TriFold is every bit a 2025 ultra‑flagship:

Chipset: Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy (3 nm, custom‑tuned for Samsung) ^[12]
Memory: 16GB RAM
Storage options: 512GB or 1TB (no microSD slot) ^[13]

Battery is where the TriFold really pushes boundaries. Samsung has split the power pack across all three panels, for a combined 5,600 mAh capacity, the largest battery it has used in a foldable and one of the biggest in any flagship phone. ^[14]

Charging is equally high‑end:

45W wired fast charging, rated to reach about 50% in around 30 minutes with Samsung’s own charger
15W wireless charging and Wireless PowerShare for reverse wireless charging. ^[15]

This combination of a large battery and efficient 3 nm silicon is aimed squarely at people who will treat the TriFold as a mobile workstation—running multiple apps, streaming, editing and using AI features on that huge display for long stretches.

Galaxy AI and Standalone DeX Turn It Into a Portable Workstation

Samsung is framing the Galaxy Z TriFold as its most capable AI phone yet, built for the “mobile AI era” rather than just another display experiment. ^[16]

Multitasking on a 10‑Inch Canvas

On the 10‑inch screen, you can:

Run three apps at once in portrait columns
Resize and rearrange windows freely
Keep a persistent taskbar to jump back to recently used apps with a single tap. ^[17]

Samsung gives the example of an architect using three apps side by side to view blueprints, draft a proposal and compute measurements simultaneously—without disrupting the layout when a call comes in. ^[18]

Standalone Samsung DeX

For the first time on a phone, Samsung DeX runs standalone on the device—no monitor required. You can create up to four virtual desktops, each running up to five apps, and even add an external display in Extended Mode for a dual‑screen desk‑style setup. ^[19]

Add a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and the TriFold essentially becomes an ultra‑portable PC for productivity or creative work.

Galaxy AI + Gemini Live

On the AI side, the TriFold supports Samsung’s Galaxy AI features, including:

Photo Assist with tools such as Generative Edit and Sketch to Image for transforming photos and drawings
Browsing Assist to summarize or translate webpages
Gemini Live integration for multimodal AI that understands what you see, say and do on the device. ^[20]

For example, you can show Gemini Live a photo of a room, a shopping page, and paint swatches, and ask for décor suggestions—all on the TriFold’s large screen. ^[21]

To sweeten the deal, buyers get a six‑month Google AI Pro trial, including Veo3‑powered video generation and 2TB of cloud storage. ^[22]

Cameras: Flagship Hardware, No S Pen

Despite the space‑hungry hinge and battery system, Samsung still fits a full flagship camera setup into the TriFold: ^[23]

Rear cameras
- 200MP wide camera (OIS, f/1.7)
- 12MP ultra‑wide camera (f/2.2, 120° field of view)
- 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom and up to 30x “Space Zoom”
Front cameras
- 10MP selfie camera on the cover screen
- 10MP camera on the main inner display

Galaxy AI’s editing tools are designed to take advantage of this hardware, enabling more advanced edits directly on the device without sending images to the cloud (where supported by Samsung’s implementation). ^[24]

One notable omission: no S Pen support. Samsung confirmed to The Verge that the TriFold does not work with its Bluetooth stylus, a capability the company previously offered on parts of the Galaxy Z Fold line. ^[25]

That decision may disappoint digital artists and note‑takers who had hoped the tri‑fold design would double as a full‑blown drawing tablet.

Price and Availability: Korea Now, US in Q1 2026

Here’s how the rollout looks as of December 2, 2025:

South Korea
- First market to get the Galaxy Z TriFold
- On sale from December 12, 2025
- Price: ₩3,590,400 for the 16GB/512GB model (roughly $2,440–$2,500). ^[26]
Other early markets (2025)
- Samsung lists China, Taiwan, Singapore and the UAE among the first wave of international launches planned before the end of 2025. ^[27]
United States
- Launch window: Q1 2026 (January–March)
- Samsung has not yet confirmed US pricing; analysts and early coverage expect something close to the Korean pricing in dollar terms. ^[28]

Availability in markets like India remains unclear as of today, with some regional reports noting that Samsung has yet to confirm whether the device will officially ship there. ^[29]

In all launch regions, Samsung plans to offer the phone initially at select retail locations so potential buyers can actually handle the unconventional design before committing. ^[30]

At launch, the device comes in at least one confirmed finish: Crafted Black. ^[31]

How the Galaxy Z TriFold Fits Into the Foldable Market

The Galaxy Z TriFold is debuting into a foldable market that remains small but strategically important.

According to estimates cited by Samsung and analysts speaking to Reuters:

Foldables are expected to account for less than 2% of smartphone shipments in 2025, rising to under 3% by 2027. ^[32]
Samsung’s share of foldable shipments recently swung back up to around 64% in Q3 after earlier declines, underscoring how timing of launches can drastically shift market share. ^[33]

Competition is heating up:

Huawei has already shipped its own three‑way folding phone, launched in September last year. ^[34]
Apple is widely expected to enter the foldable arena—possibly in 2026—with its first device, likely targeting the high end of the market. ^[35]

Analysts quoted by Reuters describe the TriFold as a first‑generation showcase, not a high‑volume model. The complex hinge and display system, coupled with rising component costs (especially memory), make it expensive to build and sell. ^[36]

In other words, the Galaxy Z TriFold looks less like “the new normal” for smartphones and more like a halo productdesigned to:

Test real‑world demand for a tri‑fold form factor
Demonstrate Samsung’s engineering lead in foldables
Anchor Samsung’s narrative around AI‑driven mobile productivity

If it resonates with creators, power users and early adopters, it could lay the groundwork for more affordable tri‑fold models down the line.

Early Takeaways: A Niche Device With Big Ambitions

Early coverage from outlets like The Verge and Android‑focused sites highlights a clear theme: the Galaxy Z TriFold is impressively engineered but unapologetically niche. ^[37]

Strengths:

Huge, bright 10‑inch display that genuinely blurs the line between phone and tablet
Big 5,600 mAh battery with fast charging
Flagship‑tier camera hardware
Standalone DeX and robust multitasking on a large canvas
Extensive Galaxy AI and Gemini integration

Trade‑offs and open questions:

Very high price, even by foldable standards
No S Pen support, despite the tablet‑like screen
Added thickness and weight compared to standard phones
Long‑term durability of a triple‑folding hinge in daily life
How many third‑party apps will be meaningfully optimized for the ultra‑wide layout

For buyers in Korea and the first wave of markets, the Galaxy Z TriFold is essentially a preview of Samsung’s long‑term foldable vision. For everyone else—especially in the US—it’s a device to watch closely as it approaches its Q1 2026release window.

Key Questions About the Galaxy Z TriFold

When does the Galaxy Z TriFold go on sale?

Samsung says the Galaxy Z TriFold will be available in South Korea from December 12, 2025, with China, Taiwan, Singapore and the UAE following before the end of 2025. The US launch is slated for Q1 2026, with exact dates to be announced. ^[38]

How much does the Galaxy Z TriFold cost?

In Korea, the 16GB/512GB model is priced at ₩3,590,400 (roughly $2,440–$2,500). Global and US pricing haven’t been officially confirmed but are expected to be in a similar range. ^[39]