The next big thing in foldables, so we’re told, is the so-called tri-folding phone. A foldable with two hinges that combines three different parts to form one large screen. Similar to modern book-like foldables, but with an extra third of display space. Samsung is reportedly developing such a phone, but it sounds like we won’t be seeing it next year.
According to display analyst Ross Young (via X), Samsung will likely launch their tri-folding phone in early 2026. Previously, we’d heard reports this device could arrive in late 2025, but Young doesn’t seem to believe that will happen — but he hasn’t elaborated on any additional details right now.
More like early 2026.December 3, 2024
Currently, there’s only one tri-fold phone actually on sale — the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design. It’s a very good-looking device, and expensive even by foldable phone standards, but you can’t buy one easily. Huawei isn’t very big on the international phone market, and is actually banned from selling phones in the U.S.
That gives Samsung a big advantage when it comes to launching its tri-fold phone, or whichever other company manages to release the first tri-folding phone outside of China. It might not be Samsung, but everything we’ve heard so far suggests that it will be. In fact, ZDNET Korea claims that all the components have been made and are ready to go, which is why they tipped the phone for a 2025 launch.
Clearly, Ross Young knows something that we don’t, and that could see the Galaxy tri-fold launch a little later than others have claimed. Sadly, we unsure of what might be causing that hold-up.
The one thing we have heard is that Samsung may not be adopting Huawei’s approach, which leaves part of the screen exposed to the elements when folded. Instead, Samsung is said to be utilizing an “infolding design” similar to the Z Fold 6, which will offer better protection to all the folding panels when not in use.
Beyond that, we sadly don’t know much about the phone. We’ll just have to wait and see what Samsung delivers — whenever it actually delivers it.
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