Samsung’s New Phone Looks Straight Out of Science Fiction

For a long time, science fiction has envisioned computers of the future that have screens that can bend, grow and change shape when requested. With the Galaxy Z TriFold, Samsung is making a very real push for this future, believing that flexible screens are the next step for smartphones.

The TriFold can form three different shapes, like a brochure - one shape fits in the pocket of your pants, while the other two fit in your bag and are approximately the same size as an Apple iPad.

At CES 2023 on Sunday, Samsung provided the media with a preview of the device after a small launch in South Korea, but prior to its release in the U.S. market. The concept is ambitious and intriguing, though as with most first-generation designs not without its trade-offs.

When fully opened, the TriFold is impressively slim and expansive. Folded shut, however, it feels bulky, more like two phones stacked together. And while pricing hasn’t been announced, it’s almost guaranteed to be expensive. For reference, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 which folds once rather than twice starts at $2,000, putting the TriFold well beyond impulse-buy territory for most shoppers.

Still, mass adoption may not be the point. As the world’s largest smartphone maker, Samsung is using the TriFold to demonstrate that the familiar rectangular slab phone hasn’t reached its final form. Liz Lee, associate director at Counterpoint Research, described the device in an email to CNN as a “strategic pilot” a way for Samsung to test how far consumers are willing to follow new hardware ideas.

And when Samsung experiments, the industry tends to pay attention. Nearly every major Android manufacturer followed Samsung’s lead into book-style foldables, meaning even niche products like the TriFold can influence the broader market.

A giant screen in your pocket
The core promise of the Galaxy Z TriFold is simple: a screen that grows when you need it and shrinks when you don’t. It builds on the company’s moderately successful Galaxy Z Fold line but pushes the concept further.

The TriFold features a 10-inch display that folds in two places, compared with the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s 8-inch screen that folds once. Samsung says the device is designed primarily for productivity-focused users, and the use case is clear.

The TriFold's display can also be used as a conventional PC desktop in conjunction with a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse. This allows the user to open applications in resizable and movable windows. In many situations, using the TriFold with a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse may provide the same functionality as using a lightweight laptop.

Samsung also mentioned the integration of Google Assistant Gemini with the TriFold. You can ask Gemini questions about different applications that you have open on your screen. This could alleviate some of the problems associated with multitasking with multiple documents, messages, and web browsers.

The TriFold will not replace the laptop at this time. It still has many limitations that would limit its ability to replace portable computers.

When fully extended, the TriFold looks near paper thin; however, when closed, it appears very thick. This results from the fact that you are folding three individual panels together.

Samsung seems to be starting from a stronger position with the TriFold than with the original foldable phones. Many issues with the original foldable phones included large visible creases, delicate displays, and poor camera quality compared to traditional flagship phones.

With respect to cameras, the TriFold's cameras are comparable to those used on the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, which should relieve many potential customers of the burden of having to settle for low-quality images. Creases on the display are relatively subtle and should not deter the average user from using the TriFold.

Where Samsung struggles is in clearly explaining why most consumers need a screen this large. Aside from displaying more content at once reading, watching videos, or juggling apps the TriFold doesn’t yet offer a killer feature that standard smartphones or even the Galaxy Z Fold 7 can’t already handle.

Foldable phones have faced a slow climb toward mainstream acceptance. Samsung’s own foldables took years to gain traction after debuting nearly seven years ago, and even now, foldables represent only a small slice of the overall smartphone market.

Price remains a major obstacle. Devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold already cost significantly more than the average phone. Consumer Intelligence Research Partners found that, for most U.S. consumers, a phone upgrade is only made when the current phone must be replaced, not to try out new designs.

But, whether people are ready to upgrade or not, foldable devices are likely to be a part of the future. Almost every big Android manufacturer has a foldable device on sale, and Apple is thought to be getting into foldable devices very soon.

That is the whole idea behind Samsung's success right now; they have created a whole marketing strategy based solely on this idea.The company is deliberately exploring multiple phone shapes and sizes to see what resonates.

“The exciting part is getting it out into the wild and seeing what different users are attracted to,” Drew Blackard, senior vice president of mobile product management at Samsung Electronics America, told CNN ahead of the device’s introduction. “From there, you’ll only see an evolution of what we can do.”