Samsung’s large summer time Unpacked occasion wasn’t for the faint of heart. Alongside two new smartwatches and all the brand new collaborations with AI firms, chipmakers and Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), it unveiled three new foldable telephones: the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Extremely, a redesigned Galaxy Z Fold 8 and a more-of-the-same Galaxy Z Flip 8.
The bottom Z Fold 8 stands out as the standout, with a much less squarish 7.6-inch important display that is higher constructed for studying and internet looking. And sure, Google’s been doing it for a few years.
However the Samsung telephone I need essentially the most was the one I pawed at in the very first week of 2026: the Galaxy Z TriFold. It was successfully a pill that folds into your pocket.
I am not offered on the squarish side ratio of most present foldables, which really feel like technical compromises relatively than a sensible selection of display measurement. The Z TriFold unfurled into an nearly tablet-shaped, 10-inch show in a 4:3 side ratio, in comparison with the almost-square 10:9 foldable display of the Fold 8 Extremely. In that form, the one app I really feel successfully utilized the house was Google Maps.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget.
Unfolding a full-sized display out of your pocket felt like a style of the near-future. I nonetheless need to pull the system out, pair a conveyable Bluetooth keyboard, and write tales or ship emails on the go. Whereas I can pair peripherals with present two-pane foldables, the display is just too small to make it a real work show. With out equipment you’ll be able to fold them into “laptop computer” mode (I am considering of Oppo’s Find N6), however that splits your display between the keyboard and the show, leaving you with a typing floor no bigger than a typical smartphone — and an equally-sized show. It provides me a headache simply fascinated by it.
I additionally need to see what new contextual shortcuts and workflows inside Galaxy AI capitalize on that bigger display. Massive-screen Android telephones are approaching the multitasking and split-screen circulate of an iPad, and Google’s lead in AI is lastly providing some tangibly helpful shortcuts and instruments inside Android.
The drawbacks (and the explanation why the TriFold did not keep on sale lengthy) stay. Samsung’s new foldables unveiled this week are dearer throughout the board. If Samsung introduced again the TriFold, the retail worth could be much more jaw-dropping. It value $2,900 at launch — and that was earlier than RAMaggedon.
If the brand new Samsung foldables have been bumped up by a minimum of $100, how a lot would a TriFold 2 be priced? And have we been sufficiently shell-shocked by all these worth will increase to make one other few hundred {dollars} much less egregious to early adopters and spendy tech followers? (Hey, have we met?) The primary two iterations of the Fold collection had been priced just under $2,000, however dropped a number of hundred {dollars} in subsequent fashions. The TriFold, if continued, might choose up related reductions because the know-how and manufacturing scaled. Perhaps. Anticipating a brand new system to be the identical worth or cheaper within the present local weather is fairly far-fetched.
The Galaxy Z TriFold formally went on sale within the US on January 30, 2026, following a restricted launch in South Korea final 12 months. By March, Samsung ended production. Solely months after its world launch, Samsung’s assertion mentioned that it was extra of a “flagship showcase” than its pitch for the world’s subsequent best-selling foldable. Within the background, RAM costs had been already beginning to take off, and worth will increase had been already creeping into client tech. This was additionally Samsung’s first TriFold system and these are costly telephones to make, no matter demand.
The window to purchase the TriFold was a tiny one: It did not go on sale in lots of locations (like right here within the UK, the place this week’s Unpacked occasion is being hosted). If I needed the TriFold, I would should undergo importers, with additional markups and import prices. It was arduous to purchase, even in the event you needed one. And I did.
Then there are the sturdiness issues. It is a new sort of foldable display, the place mud ingress is a doable menace and broken screens are an costly fear. Among the TriFold’s early adopters confronted difficult and costly screen repairs, with some going through a $700 invoice to restore the show — the value of a strong (second-hand) foldable.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
With Apple’s first foldable iPhone looming over the horizon, there is no phrase but on a doable follow-up to the TriFold. For now, the Fold 8 is the closest, most sensible selection. With the identical 4:3 show ratio and the slimmer profile and weight of a single-fold telephone, it is the opposite half of my equation for my excellent foldable. I ponder if, utilizing the identical blockier kind issue of the Fold 8, Samsung might design a subsequent TriFold with a display nearer to the 16:10 side ratio of a laptop computer show. I would actually wish to see that.
