After months of hypothesis, Samsung foldable fanatics lastly bought the information they’ve been craving.
And no, I’m not speaking concerning the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 7, Z Flip 7 and brand-new Z Flip 7 FE. Whereas undoubtedly thrilling, they don’t fairly push the boundaries in the identical method as this upcoming machine.
In the event you hadn’t guessed already, I’m referring to Samsung’s first-ever Galaxy tri-fold machine. Whereas the brand new foldable wasn’t revealed and even teased throughout the primary Galaxy Unpacked keynote on 9 July, Cellular Division Head TM Roh had one thing in retailer for journalists on the bottom in New York Metropolis.
Based on The Korea Instances, Roh confirmed that the corporate was “working arduous” by itself tri-fold smartphone, aiming to launch it “on the finish of this 12 months”. After all, that preliminary launch could also be restricted to Samsung’s native South Korea and the encircling areas, with a full, world launch extra possible in 2026.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
In a separate interview with Tech Advisor, Kadesh Beckford, Samsung UK’s Smartphone Specialist Product Supervisor, added: “We’re presently simply observing this house, and when all the things is prepared for our shoppers, we’ll be bringing one thing significant to the market”.
Nevertheless, Roh revealed that Samsung has but to determine on an official identify. The ‘Galaxy G Fold’ moniker has been talked about in rumours, however it appears that evidently there are different choices on the desk.
As a reminder, a ‘tri-fold’ telephone refers to a book-style machine with two folds as an alternative of the standard one, which means the identify is technically inaccurate. It permits the common smartphone expertise on the entrance, then opens twice to disclose a a lot bigger inner show that’s the same measurement to many tablets.
Presently, the one tri-fold machine in the marketplace is Huawei’s Mate XT Final Design. It has a 6.4-inch cowl show that turns into a 7.9-inch panel if you open it as soon as, or a ten.2-inch display screen if you open it twice.
Luke Baker
Nevertheless, whereas the machine obtained a world launch earlier this 12 months, that didn’t embrace the UK or the US, with Huawei nonetheless banned from promoting its gadgets within the latter.
Even when it had been accessible, Huawei’s ongoing points with software program (it runs the corporate’s personal HarmonyOS software program as an alternative of Android) make it very unappealing to most shoppers within the West.
It subsequently offers Samsung an enormous alternative to get forward of rivals and make the class its personal. Regardless of extra competitors than ever amongst flip- and book-style foldables, Samsung nonetheless had 41% of the European foldable market share in Q1 of 2025, based on analysis from Counterpoint.
With no reasonable competitors within the UK and Europe, that may very well be even greater amongst tri-fold gadgets.
Nevertheless, value is more likely to be a serious barrier. In Europe, the Mate XT has an eye-watering MSRP (producer’s recommended retail value) of €3499.
Samsung won’t go that top, however it’s more likely to be considerably costlier than even its top-of-the-line configuration of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 (£2,149/$2,419). Until you completely love being on the innovative of recent tech, it’ll be arduous to justify.