Samsung Galaxy Z Tri Fold Impressions: NOW It Makes Sense!

Summary

MKBHD presents his first impressions of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Trifold, a smartphone that folds twice to unfold into a massive 10-inch tablet. Unlike the Huawei Mate XT which folds in a Z-shape with the display on the outside, Samsung’s approach folds in a U-shape, keeping the main display protected on the inside. Despite skepticism about foldables being gimmicks, Marques argues this device finally makes the form factor compelling because of its widescreen rectangular aspect ratio (16:10) when fully opened.

The phone features a Snapdragon 8 Elite 4 Galaxy chip, 16GB RAM, 512GB storage, and the same triple camera system as the Z Fold 7 (200MP main, 10MP 3x zoom, 12MP ultrawide). At 12.9mm thick and over 300 grams when closed, it’s hefty but still thinner than earlier Z Fold generations. The 5600mAh battery is the largest in any Samsung foldable, though modest for a 10-inch display. Samsung includes 45-watt charging with charger in box, 15-watt wireless charging, and IP48 rating.

While MKBHD highlights thoughtful design details like the extended bottom panel for easy opening and strong magnets, he notes downsides including visible screen creases, lower inside display brightness (1,600 nits vs 2,600 nits outside), and an expected price of $2,500-$3,000. Despite calling it a first-generation device with durability concerns, he concludes that for the right user who wants a true tablet in their pocket, the Z Trifold finally makes foldables make sense.

Highlights

”Foldables finally make sense”

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“Now that I’ve used this phone, this is a device that’s actually starting to make foldables make sense to me.” — Marques Brownlee, 0:22

”Thinner than Z Fold 1 through 5”

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“For some perspective, this is actually thinner than the Z Fold 1 and the Z Fold 2 and the Z Fold 3 and the Z Fold 4 and the Z Fold 5.” — Marques Brownlee, 3:11

”The only Samsung phone that can run Dex standalone”

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“This just happens to be the only Samsung phone that they’ll let you run Samsung Dex on its own.” — Marques Brownlee, 6:47

”Don’t fold it wrong”

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“If you try to fold the right side first, it gives you this little message and vibrates and tells you, ‘No, don’t do that. That’s not how you fold this phone.’” — Marques Brownlee, 8:04

”Samsung’s wild experimentation”

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“It’s also just hilarious that this exists from Samsung, isn’t it? Like the same company that is ridiculously slow moving and chill and conservative on their Galaxy S phones.” — Marques Brownlee, 11:18

Key Points

• Trifold form factor advantage (00:43) - Opens twice to provide a 10-inch widescreen tablet with 16:10 aspect ratio, making videos and content consumption significantly better than square 8-inch foldables

• U-fold vs Z-fold design (01:25) - Samsung’s design protects the main display on the inside, unlike Huawei’s Z-fold approach that exposes the screen on the outside

• Specs overview (01:54) - Snapdragon 8 Elite 4 Galaxy, 16GB RAM, 512GB storage, 200MP main camera, 6.5-inch cover display at 120Hz/2600 nits

• Physical dimensions (02:47) - 12.9mm thick and 309g when closed, but only 3.9-4.2mm thin when fully open; actually thinner than Z Fold 1-5

• Battery compromise (04:07) - 5600mAh split into three columns is the largest Samsung foldable battery, but small for a 10-inch screen; silicon carbon batteries would be ideal for future generations

• Video comparison demonstration (05:14) - Full screen video on trifold shows dramatically more content than on regular foldables where the square format wastes pixels

• Samsung Dex standalone support (06:47) - Only Samsung phone that can run Dex mode without connecting to an external monitor

• Thoughtful design details (07:16) - Bottom panel slightly longer for easy grip opening, strong magnets, springs assist in opening, warning system prevents wrong folding direction

• Screen durability concerns (08:29) - Display folds twice in different directions with different radii, creating visible creases; inside brightness limited to 1,600 nits

• Pricing expectations (09:53) - Imported from Samsung Korea for ~$2,500 equivalent; expects US pricing in $2,500-$3,000 range

Mentions

Companies

• Samsung (00:13) - Manufacturer of the Galaxy Z Trifold; noted for being conservative with Galaxy S phones but experimental with foldables
• Huawei (01:05) - Made the Mate XT trifold in 2024, which uses a Z-fold design with external display
• Qualcomm (01:54) - Maker of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip used in the phone
• Ridge (11:58) - Video sponsor selling wallets, power banks, and tracker cards
• Apple (12:31) - Mentioned for Find My compatibility with Ridge tracker card

Products & Technologies

• Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold (00:13) - Main subject of the review; Samsung’s first trifold smartphone
• Huawei Mate XT (01:05) - Competing trifold smartphone from 2024 with Z-fold external display design
• Snapdragon 8 Elite 4 Galaxy (01:56) - Processor powering the Z Trifold; slightly older than the 8 Elite Gen 5
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 (02:14) - Reference device; Z Trifold shares same cameras and cover display specs
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 1-5 (03:14) - Previous generation folds mentioned as being thicker than the Z Trifold
• Samsung Dex (06:50) - Samsung’s desktop mode; Z Trifold is the only phone that can run it standalone without external monitor
• Silicon carbon battery (04:32) - Next-generation battery technology MKBHD hopes for in future thin foldables
• USB Type-C (09:42) - Charging port on the device
• YouTube app (06:11) - Mentioned as looking great on the large tablet display
• Ridge 5-in-1 magnetic power bank (12:09) - Sponsor product with USB-C, Lightning, MagSafe charging
• Ridge tracker card (12:27) - Slim tracking card compatible with Apple Find My
• Ridge 2.0 wallet (12:36) - Updated wallet with MagSafe versions
• MagSafe (12:18) - Apple’s magnetic charging standard, supported by Ridge products
• AirTag (12:27) - Apple tracking device mentioned as alternative to Ridge tracker card

People

• Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) (00:01) - Host and reviewer of the video

Surprising Quotes

“Now that I’ve used this phone, this is a device that’s actually starting to make foldables make sense to me.” — 00:22

“For some perspective, this is actually thinner than the Z Fold 1 and the Z Fold 2 and the Z Fold 3 and the Z Fold 4 and the Z Fold 5.” — 03:11

“This just happens to be the only Samsung phone that they’ll let you run Samsung Dex on its own.” — 06:47

“If you try to fold the right side first, it gives you this little message and vibrates and tells you, ‘No, don’t do that. That’s not how you fold this phone.’” — 08:04

“It’s also just hilarious that this exists from Samsung, isn’t it? Like the same company that is ridiculously slow moving and chill and conservative on their Galaxy S phones.” — 11:18

Transcript

00:01 Okay, so this is it. Welcome to a hands-on and first impressions of a multifolding smartphone. This is the Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold. And it might sound crazy, like there’s already so many comments that I’ve seen about how this looks ridiculous and pointless and looks like a gimmick and all that, but now that I’ve used this phone, this is a device that’s actually starting to make foldables make sense to me. Hear me out.

00:30 So, this is the shape of most other foldables we’ve seen. Looks, you know, like a single phone when it’s closed and then you open it up to a larger maybe 8 in square, which is super cool. But this is the trifold. It opens not once but twice to give you a massive 10-in tablet basically that can fit in your pocket. And the difference between an 8 in screen and a 10-in screen might not sound like much. Hold your jokes. But it’s the shape of that screen, the rectangular aspect ratio that’s what’s making all the difference here.

01:00 Now, this is technically not the first trifold smartphone. This is the Huawei Mate XT that I made a video about back in 2024. This one, though, folded like a Z. So, what you have here is this super large display that’s folded over the outside. So, you could use either a single pane or a dual pane or all the way open as this trifold with a huge screen, and it’s always on the outside exposed to the elements.

01:25 So, this Samsung trifold is a little different. It folds a little more like the letter U. So, there’s a cover display on the outside or you can flip it over and fully unfold everything to reveal a second interior display, which is the one that folds twice. So, while you use that, the cover display is just kind of sitting unused on the back. So, this is really interesting. Clearly worse in some ways, but clearly better in some other ways. I have a lot of thoughts. But let’s just get the specs out of the way first.

01:54 So, it’s a Snapdragon 8 Elite 4 Galaxy inside. So, it’s technically not the absolute latest and greatest 8 Elite Gen 5, but it seems like they’ve been working on this phone for long enough that this is the most recent flagship chip they could use, and it’s obviously only a year old, so still a really great chip. 16 gigs of RAM and 512 gigs of storage. Then there’s the triple cameras on the back. They’re essentially the same ones as the Z Fold 7. So, a flagship grade 200 megapixel primary camera, but then some pretty mid other cameras, a 10 megapixel 3x zoom and a 12 megapixel ultrawide.

02:26 The cover display up front is also essentially the same as the Z Fold 7, 6 1/2 in, 21x9, 120 Hz, and 2600 nits. The biggest difference, of course, is how much phone you’re holding when you use it in single screen mode because you can see all of that metal and those hinges.

02:47 This phone is a heftier 12.9 mm thick and it’s also over 300 gram. So, it feels like it’s about 50% more phone you’re holding than the regular Fold. Now, looks crazy on camera and looks crazy on paper. Those are big numbers, but holding this phone and using it, it’s not sleek by any means, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t feel that ridiculous.

03:11 For some perspective, this is actually thinner than the Z Fold 1 and the Z Fold 2 and the Z Fold 3 and the Z Fold 4 and the Z Fold 5. Something to think about. Either way, it does mean, you know, while using this phone closed, it is a little bit clunky. The bezels are pretty thin and all, but this is obviously not why you’re getting this phone. You’re getting this phone because you can unfold everything and you end up with this massive tablet-sized 10-in display.

03:42 So now when it’s open, this tablet is 3.9 mm thin at its thinnest point, which is over here on the left, and 4.2 mm at its thickest point. So it feels really thin and easy to hold. And suddenly 309 g is not so heavy after all. And I think context again helps so much with this. Most like 10-in tablets are around 500 g, so they’re heavier than this.

04:03 But also, most roughly 10-inch tablets, including Samsung’s own, have like 8,000 milliamp hour batteries. Not this one. This battery has to be squashed into this super ridiculously thin form factor. And it’s also split into three separate columns. So, this one totals 5600 mAh, which technically, yes, is the largest ever in any Samsung folding phone, but it’s also definitely on the small side for something with a 10-in tablet size screen, if that makes sense.

04:29 I feel like I’ve hammered this home so many times this year, but silicon carbon battery, maybe maybe the next gen. It just feels like the perfect phone for that. Obviously, being super thin like this, but it is also still it’s actually the fastest charging foldable Samsung’s ever made is 45 watt charging now with a charger included in the box. So, that’s pretty nice. And they also kept 15 watt wireless charging along with the IP48 rating from the Z Fold 7. So, the specs are pretty solid.

05:00 Sure. But the reason I’m saying that this phone is making foldables make sense now is because the screen that you get when you unfold it, this widescreen 10-in tablet is a massive difference from all the regular folds here. I think this really says it all. This is a full screen video on a regular slab phone. And we’re all used to this right now. This is the same full screen video on the inside screen of a fold. You know, it’s a big screen technically. It’s an 8 in square, but the video frame that you’re watching is not that much bigger. There’s just a bunch of blank pixels around it. So, this is the same video on the trifold. And you see how much better that is.

05:42 That’s the main theme here for why this is worth exploring this widescreen aspect ratio thing. In this case, it’s 16 by 10 and it just really makes for a way more expansive canvas. Full screen videos. Also, full screen games feel really nice. There’s a ton more real estate for them.

05:58 And while we’re at it, here’s a few more nicely optimized things I noticed while playing with this large horizontal display. The files app lets you see multiple columns at once, so you can fit a whole three layers of the file system deep and see it all. The YouTube app also looks really nice, basically, because it’s just the tablet YouTube app, so you can scroll related videos or read comments while the video still plays in a pretty big window. Web browsing is also just better from having a sheer ton of real estate.

06:27 I keep using that phrase, but I actually enjoyed a lot of regular apps, just like the web browser or social media apps in portrait mode and landscape mode just because they feel huge. Also, side-by-side apps, whether you split them top, bottom, or left, right, you can do three apps side by side, they all just have way more room to breathe instead of being compressed and tiny.

06:47 Oh, and this just happens to be the only Samsung phone that they’ll let you run Samsung Dex on its own. So, without being connected to a monitor, it will do the multi-window and multiple spaces with different setups with a connected mouse and keyboard. And if you do connect it to a monitor, you can have it act as a second screen, which is smart.

07:04 I also got to say, I’ve only spent a little bit of time with this phone, but I do feel like you can see that it is very well considered. Like I can almost feel like the different variations and versions that they went through to get to this point.

07:16 Like for example, opening the phone, you always pull from the same spot. They made the bottom leaf of this trifold just a little bit longer than the other two. So it actually sticks out a little bit. And that is super convenient to just grab that little lip to open it up. And then the strength of the magnets that hold it together are really nice and solid. Then you pull the lip, it opens. Then the leftmost hinge also springs nicely open because there’s a lot of nice force to it. It all just feels very solid to open and close.

07:44 Then the nice smooth fiberglass composite on the back. You know, this is the only color available for this phone, but I also think it makes a lot of sense because it’s touching screen on the back here. It’s also a huge finger magnet, so that’s too bad. But then, you know, you can only fold it a certain way. Left side first, then right side, which wraps around it. So, if you try to fold the right side first, it gives you this little message and vibrates and tells you, “No, don’t do that. That’s not how you fold this phone.”

08:11 Also, without a case, I noticed that just like the Fold 7, this is one of the biggest rockers on a table the world has ever seen. But alongside that charger, this phone also comes with a case that basically fixes that.

08:21 So, what’s the catch? There’s got to be a reason why not everyone’s doing this. There has to be downsides, right? Well, yes, but there’s not that many. Like, the middle screen is the obvious one. This is going to be the most delicate part of the phone having a display that not only folds twice, but also folds in two different directions and with two different radii.

08:42 Like you can obviously see these creases if you’re looking for them, but you can also see that the crease on the left is a little bit smaller than the crease on the right because it is a tighter curve radius when you fold it up versus folding the right side around the left side.

08:57 I also obviously don’t have any long-term data on using this phone, but I would consider this a first-gen device when thinking about durability and how that might go. I mean, it’s nice that it is fully protected on the inside, but it’s just going to be a delicate screen.

09:10 It’s also not the brightest in the world. So, the outside screen is full 2600 nits. The inside is only 1,600, so kind of limits like the outdoor use and super high brightness stuff. Stuff that I guess I expect with first-gen.

09:24 You could also totally say that the thickness and weight while using it closed is a con because obviously it’s worse than normal folds today. But then again, I really just don’t know how much thinner this thing can actually get. I mean, they still have to get a decent battery in there and decent speakers and still a USB type-C port. This is starting to feel pretty close to the dimensional limit of a trifold setup. So, it will be interesting to see, you know, how they evolve it from here and what a second generation actually looks like.

09:53 But then, of course, the elephant in the room, price, obviously. I mean, this is two screens, so twice as many screens as a normal phone. It’s twice as many parts. Obviously, twice as many hinges as a regular Fold. It’s like 50% more screen and then also 50% more thickness and 50% more weight. So, 50% more price.

10:15 Now, Samsung in the US has not given me an official cost for what this is going to retail for here, but I bought this one and I imported it from Samsung Korea. And this cost the equivalent of about $2,500 US there. So, I’m just doing the math. I expect it to probably be in the same range, $2,500 to $3,000 here, which is a lot. It’s pricey. It’s the top of the range, but also maybe not insane.

10:43 You know, I think my take is for the right person who knows what they’re getting into, this can be worth it. I really think this would be a nice fun phone to use and daily for having a legit 10-in display, a tablet in your pocket wherever you go. Like, that’s such a game.

10:58 And it’s interesting now to see different approaches to the trifold thing with the Z that folds to the outside. And sometimes the ability to use half open is kind of interesting, but again it’s just the square when I just feel like the rectangle huge thing is way more interesting.

11:15 So yeah, I don’t know. This is really cool. And it’s also just hilarious that this exists from Samsung, isn’t it? Like the same company that is ridiculously slow moving and chill and conservative on their Galaxy S phones. Like they don’t want to change too much. They don’t want to rock the boat or do anything crazy. But they’ll also try this completely insane trifold thing and just throw stuff at the wall to see if it sticks and maybe it’ll stick.

11:39 I think people are going to get this phone and are going to really like it. Obviously the asterisk still is durability. We’ll see. But yeah, it makes sense now.

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12:52 Thanks for watching. Let me know what you think of the Trifold in the comments below. I think it’s a pretty polarizing phone, but I’m curious to see what you think.