Poetic.
Samsung announced that the Galaxy Z Trifold will cease production and will also stop being sold, three months after it was announced last January during CES 2026. The phone was merely a proof-of-concept showcasing Samsung’s technology and was intended by the company to be sold in very limited numbers, approximately 20,000-30,000 units globally.
Samsung, at least in the United States, will continue to sell the device until its inventory dries out. The experimental device costs USD 2,899 (~PHP 173.6K) and comes with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. It runs on a modified version of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite. The foldable, when unfolded, has a display measuring 10 inches. It also has a triple camera setup consisting of a 200MP main with OIS, 10MP Telephoto with PDAF and 3x optical zoom, and a 12MP ultrawide camera. Both the selfie and cover cameras have 10MP resolution. The tablet, as it is in essence, comes with 5600mAh battery with 45W wired charging, 15W wireless charging, and 4.5W wireless reverse charging.
The concept device will first stop being sold in its home country, South Korea, followed by the US. This is noted by the fact that Samsung’s US website simply lists the Galaxy Z Trifold as “sold out”.
While Samsung did not make an official statement as to why they are stopping sales, the device is, despite its massive price tag, surprisingly not a failure, as Samsung was able to sell as many devices as they could produce to consumers. Tech enthusiasts loved the idea as it is a bold concept able to compete against the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate. However, as RAM prices rise due to the AI boom and the tablet’s production growing increasingly complicated, Samsung has little profit, and most likely also losing money, making the Galaxy Z Trifold. Samsung cannot raise the price even more as that might get them even lower sales.
Going back to last year, Huawei made a similar concept. They were first. It was called the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate as mentioned earlier. It was noble as it can fold three times. The Galaxy Z Trifold was Samsung’s answer to that concept. However, once the excitement calmed down, Huawei never referred to it again and the device was never updated a year later. It was never even sold in the Middle East and its Asian markets.
Despite this, unlike the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate, Samsung might be preparing a 2nd generation Trifold, as leaks appear online showing a successor, though currently unnamed. For now, we can call it the Trifold 2 to make things simple. Even more exciting, a slidable counterpart, akin to what TCL previewed five years ago. Samsung has patented the name “Galaxy Z Slide” so it’s more likely this sliding phone is what it’s going to be called once released or announced. Currently, there is no hint of how it might slide. It can either go sideways, upwards, or downwards.
Take the leaks with a pinch of salt as Samsung has not confirmed a sequel on the way. Although, it would be a big and surprising move once they proceed. The Galaxy Z Trifold showed how complex it is to manufacture and how expensive it is to sell. Even with its high price tag, Samsung is still taking losses.
Source: Bloomberg, Ars Technica
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