I Tried Samsung's Galaxy Z TriFold and Z Fold 7. Here's How the Foldable Phones Differ

Samsung launched the Galaxy Z TriFold earlier this month in select international markets, and I got to go hands-on with the new foldable phone just before it hit stores. From the hinges to its three back panels, there are clear details and design choices that demonstrate how the TriFold builds upon Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7.

You might think the Galaxy Z TriFold would be a natural rival to Huawei’s own trifold, the Mate XT, yet they actually have diverging designs. The Mate XT can be folded into a phone, a mini-tablet and a wide-screen tablet. The Galaxy Z TriFold can be used folded up like a phone or fully unfolded like a tablet, but without a mini-tablet mode in between.

Samsung is facing a lot of pressure for success. Foldables are expected to grow 30% over the next year, in part due to the debut of the Galaxy Z TriFold and Apple’s rumored iPhone foldable, according to analysts at IDC. Many have become accustomed to book-style foldables like the Z Fold line, and Samsung is smart to retain that tried-and-true functionality on the new Z TriFold. 

If your aim is to fold a tablet down into a phone that fits in your pocket, both the Z Fold 7 and Z TriFold have the same core appeal. Here’s a detailed comparison of how they stack up against each other.

Z TriFold vs. Z Fold 7 price

The most obvious difference between Samsung’s foldables, other than size, is price. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 starts at $2,000. The Galaxy Z TriFold isn’t sold in the US yet, but it costs around 3.59 million won in South Korea, which converts to about $2,430. While device prices don’t often directly convert to local currency, it does show that an eventual US release could have a higher price tag than the Z Fold 7.

Z TriFold vs. Z Fold 7 design

Samsung took years of learning from the Galaxy Z lineup and applied it to its new folding phone. In a way, the Galaxy Z TriFold is an extension of the Fold 7. For example, the Fold 7 has two halves (or panels) and a single hinge. The TriFold has three back panels and two hinges. Through extensive fine-tuning of the hinge on its Z Fold series, Samsung has made it easy to open and position at various angles, similar to a laptop screen. The left hinge on the TriFold is similar to one on the Fold 7.
Still, there’s a fundamental difference in design between the two phones. For the TriFold, you need to unfold both side panels to use the inner screen. To close it, both sides fold flat onto each other. One hinge (the left one) is smaller than the other, whereas the other (the right one) is thicker to accommodate the extra panel. 

During my hands-on experience, I noticed that when I opened the wider hinge on the right side of the TriFold, it would pop open after reaching a certain angle. Unfolding the TriFold feels intuitive due to its springiness. And if you try to fold the TriFold wrong, Samsung includes an automatic on-screen warning and vibration alert to stop you. 

When both phones are folded closed side by side, the difference in thickness is immediately apparent. The Fold 7, with its 0.35-inch (8.9mm) thickness, stands out compared to the TriFold, which is 0.5 inches thick (12.9mm).

But when both phones are open, the slim design is equally impressive. Each panel on the Fold 7 measures 0.7 inches (4.3mm) thick. The TriFold’s three panels have a different thickness, ranging from 0.15 inches to 0.17 inches (3.9mm to 4.2mm) when unfolded. Both phones have a sizeable camera bump.

At 7.58 ounces (215 grams), the Fold 7 is the lightest book-style folding phone of 2025. In contrast, the TriFold weighs 10.89 ounces (309 grams). I only got to use the TriFold for 20 minutes, but I imagine its weight (and the added thickness) will be noticeable when using it for extended periods. If you’re more likely to use either of these foldables in “phone mode” instead of “tablet mode,” the Fold 7 should be easier to manage.

Both Samsung folding phones are rated IP48 for dust and water resistance and can survive 30 minutes of submersion up to 1.5 meters. Neither is dust-tight, however, so they’re vulnerable to small particles, less than 1mm, such as pocket lint, salt and sand. The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold remains the only foldable to be rated IP68 and have this level of dust resistance.

Z TriFold vs. Z Fold 7 display

Both the Galaxy Z TriFold and Fold 7 have a 6.5-inch AMOLED cover screen with a 21:9 aspect ratio. The cover display has a 2,520×1,080-pixel resolution and a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. The inner screen is where we see the most differences.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7’s main screen has an 8-inch AMOLED display with a 2,184×1,968-pixel resolution and a 368-pixel-per-inch (ppi) density. The Galaxy Z TriFold has a 10-inch screen with a lower resolution of 2,160×1,584 pixels and a density of 269ppi. Both have minimal creases (one on the Fold 7 and two on the TriFold) and a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate.

The Fold 7’s main screen has a squarish aspect ratio, which is ideal for reading and browsing, but not for video consumption. Noticeable letterboxing (black bars on top and bottom of the video) appears when watching movies and TV shows. On my Fold 7, I prop it up by folding it open to about 90 degrees and watch videos on the other half of the display.

In comparison, the Galaxy Z TriFold has a slightly wider aspect ratio when fully unfolded. It’s better than the Fold 7 in video consumption, but not as good as Huawei’s 16:11 screen, which has less letterboxing.

Samsung is promoting its TriFold as a productivity-centric device. In my brief hands-on time, I tried running three apps side by side with two more pop-up windows on my screen. The TriFold ran smoothly, and I didn’t have any issues resizing the windows. You can also run a standalone Samsung DeX for a more intuitive work setup. 

Z TriFold vs. Z Fold 7 performance and battery

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 was launched in July with the latest Qualcomm chip at that time, the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy. Comparatively, the Galaxy Z TriFold was released two months after Qualcomm’s launch of the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, but it also uses the same processor as the Fold 7. That “for Galaxy” branding reflects Samsung-specific optimizations that Qualcomm made specifically for the Fold 7 and TriFold.

Based on my experience with the Fold 7, you can expect day-to-day tasks to run smoothly. You’ll have numerous customization options to further personalize either phone. Both run Samsung’s One UI 8 (built on Android 16) and come with seven years of OS and security updates.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 and its 4,400-mAh battery fared better than I expected, often lasting almost a day. The Z TriFold has a larger 5,600-mAh cell, which I still need to test. Although the TriFold has a 27% larger battery than the Fold 7, it also has a larger screen, which may consume more power. I assume that having a lower-resolution screen, even one that’s 10 inches, will impact how Samsung tunes the power management on the TriFold.

At 45 watts, the Galaxy Z TriFold charges at the same speed as the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The Fold 7 supports up to 25-watt fast charging, which, on paper, seems slow compared to the TriFold or Ultra. Both phones support Qi wireless charging and wireless connectivity options, including NFC, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.

Z TriFold vs. Z Fold 7 camera

The two Samsung folding phones feature an identical camera setup.

You get a 200-megapixel main camera with optical image stabilization (OIS) and a wide-angle lens with an f/1.7 aperture. Both feature a 12-megapixel ultrawide sensor with a 120-degree field of view and a 10-megapixel telephoto camera with OIS, 3x optical zoom, and support for 30x digital zoom. Plus, there are two 10-megapixel front-facing cameras — one inside the cover display and the other within the folding screen.

Based on my experience with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, you can expect vibrant colors, good dynamic range and balanced processing in low-light photos from the TriFold. However, the Fold 7’s aging telephoto camera is just OK, and photos from it are filled with image noise when taken in anything less than bright daylight. I’d rather use the hi-res mode on the Fold’s main camera and crop it later than zoom in using the 10-megapixel f/2.4 sensor. I look forward to putting the TriFold’s cameras through their pace once I can spend more time with the device.

Both the Z TriFold and Z Fold 7 are unique

The Galaxy Z TriFold is a promising device. Its larger screen might be better for a video consumption experience and allow for a level of multitasking that hasn’t been supported on a Samsung folding phone.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 remains a strong contender for browsing, reading and using the Google productivity apps. In comparison, Samsung’s Galaxy Z TriFold appears to be for those who want a full-size tablet but need it to be more pocketable and portable.