I wasn’t too impressed by Samsung’s TriFold when it was first announced in late 2025. It looked more like a gimmick than a product I would ever see myself using.
Yet, at CES 2026, I got the chance to get my actual hands on the device, and after spending an hour with the futuristic foldable, something became immediately obvious – this form-factor makes so much more sense than the Galaxy Z Fold series ever has.
If this is the first time you’re hearing about the TriFold, let me run through the basics. Instead of folding out once, like the Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7, the Z TriFold folds out twice, turning a 6.5-inch phone into a 10-inch tablet.
Samsung has been churning out foldables that offer both a smaller phone display and a larger interior panel for years now, but I have always found that the inner display never managed to properly replace a tablet.
The square-ish aspect ratio of the Z Fold series isn’t as ideal for videos and games as a more traditional, wider display is. YouTube videos, for instance, don’t actually look much better on the inner display of the Fold 7 than they do a Galaxy S25 Ultra, even though the screen is larger.
But that issue is resolved with the TriFold. When opened up, the 10-inch display here has more in common with one of the brand’s Galaxy Tab tablets. It has a wider 4:3 aspect ratio, ideal for content, and I can really see this replacing a tablet for me.
The size makes it a more productive tablet, too. Apps open up in their tablet form, and there’s a DeX interface that lets you alter the size of app windows for multitasking like a laptop. Considering the TriFold isn’t much thicker than the Z Fold 6 when closed, the size of the internal screen is seriously impressive and far more than a gimmick.
While I will have to spend more time with the TriFold to form a full opinion, I do have some concerns.
For one, the unfolding method is a little cumbersome, and you have to fold it back in the correct way else you’ll be met with some seriously strong vibrations. I assume over time this will become more natural, but I was already getting frustrated with myself for how many times I was folding it incorrectly.
The hinges are supremely sturdy and smooth though, although I wouldn’t expect anything from a brand that has been refining these for years now.
There’s also the issue of the ‘crease’, something that has dogged foldable phones since their inception.
While Samsung has done an excellent job of reducing the visible point where the screen folds on the Fold 7, the two creases are far more obvious here.
The rest of the phone is very similar to that of the Z Fold 7. The camera arrangement looks similar, at least on the back, with a 200MP main sensor backed up with a 10MP telephoto and 12MP ultrawide.
Inside, there’s the same Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 16GB RAM, and 512GB or 1TB storage configurations.
Whether or not this version of the TriFold is a hit remains to be seen, especially with the $2500 price. However, what Samsung has done is show a far smarter, more productive way of making a foldable phone, and I hope this idea gets refined in the coming years, as it really makes a lot of sense.
