Approach Higher Than I Anticipated

I had issues that Samsung’s Galaxy Z Trifold could be too cumbersome of a “phone.” Too thick and too heavy simply to realize a 10-inch tablet-sized show when unfolded. The dual-hinge foldable is chunky, however, oh man, it could be value it.

At CES 2026, I bought some temporary hands-on time with the Z Trifold, which went on sale in South Korea in December for round $2,400, and I mainly needed to chorus from slipping by myself pool of drool. If you want a refresher, the Z Trifold is Samsung’s largest foldable cellphone so far. Closed up, it has a 6.5-inch exterior “cover” display screen, which works identical to a daily touchscreen cellphone. However, if you unfold it, the machine turns into a 10-inch pill, giving you extra space to view motion pictures and play video games on or open a number of apps.

It’s actually a sight to behold. This machine feels just like the holy grail foldable that we’ve been ready for. A real pill (not a mini one) that matches into your goddamn pocket.

Unlike book-style foldables just like the Z Fold 7 or the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, the Z Trifold’s 10-inch folding display screen really feels considerably bigger than a daily glass slab. I watched just a few YouTube movies and it felt like I used to be utilizing an iPad. Reading articles (like our nice web site) in portrait orientation was extra pleasant due to the extra spacious display screen actual property, too. With DeX mode turned on, I might comfortably open a number of apps and resize their home windows as if I had been utilizing a desktop working system. There wasn’t a wi-fi keyboard or mouse available to pair to the demo items, however it’s not onerous to think about how the mixture might really change the necessity for a laptop computer or pill and keyboard accent.

While the Z Trifold is a tank when it’s closed up, it’s tremendous skinny in pill mode. It didn’t appear fragile, although. I did some gentle flexes, and the machine appeared sturdy and sturdy sufficient. Even higher was the truth that the 2 creases on the hinges appeared noticeably much less seen than on earlier Samsung foldables. I don’t know if that is simply because these are demo items that haven’t been folded sufficient occasions, however the lowered crease is promising, to say the least. The carbon fiber-like end additionally has a pleasant little bit of grippiness to it, which I appreciated.

The Z Trifold is certainly not good, although. When totally unfolded, your fingers will inevitably depart fingerprints all around the exterior display screen. You’ll positively want to hold a microfiber material if greasy prints hassle you. There’s additionally the matter of battery life. The Z Trifold has a 5,600mAh battery, which appears like so much, however it’s really smaller than the greater than 7,000mAh silicon carbide batteries that telephones just like the OnePlus 15 at the moment are transport with.

And the massive query mark continues to be pricing. Samsung hasn’t introduced how a lot the Z Trifold will price within the U.S. or supplied a concrete launch date. Going off the $2,400-ish pricing after Korean received foreign money conversion, you can count on the foldable to price not less than as a lot. $2,000 is already some huge cash to swallow for the Z Fold 7. Will customers be keen to pay extra for the Z Trifold to get that bigger 10-inch display screen? I don’t know. What I do know is that Samsung’s first trifold cellphone feels much more polished than I anticipated. It’s clearly utilizing the entire learnings from six generations of Z Fold and Z Flip foldables.

I now desperately wish to each day carry the Z Trifold simply to see what sort of leisure immersion and productiveness it could unlock.

Gizmodo is on the bottom in Las Vegas all week bringing you all the pieces that you must know concerning the tech unveiled at CES 2026. You can comply with our CES reside weblog right here and discover all our protection right here.