Galaxy Z TriFold is NOT What I Expected! Hands On

Tom's Guide

This probably isn't the first video you're watching about the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold, but it is the one that's answering the questions that matter.  Mark goes hands-on with Samsung’s trifold phone to figure out how usable it really is, what the fold and creases are like, how it feels in daily use and who this phone is actually for.  When the hype wears off, is this actually a smartphone you'll want to buy?

Transcript

00:00This is the Galaxy Z Fold 7. This is the Galaxy Z Tri-Fold, which is actually officially coming

00:05to the U.S. And we want to answer all of your biggest questions about the biggest

00:10phone slash tablet on the market at about 10 inches. Let's get into it.

00:16So one big difference between the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the Galaxy Z Tri-Fold

00:21is the main display. So 8 inches over here, 10 inches here. But the reason why it seems so much

00:27bigger is because of the aspect ratio. This is more square. So no matter how you hold it,

00:31you're going to have black bars above and below the display. On the right-hand side here, you could

00:36see that the Galaxy Z Tri-Fold is almost all screen. So it's a huge difference in terms of just the

00:42sheer immersive factor when watching content. Another big difference with the Galaxy Z Tri-Fold

00:48versus the regular Galaxy Z Fold 7 is multitasking. The fact that you have such a large canvas gives

00:54you the ability to run basically three apps at the same time. And you could make the case that

00:59this is like having three candy bar phones in one when you're running those three apps. And you can

01:04save this as a shortcut so you can just pull them all up just with a tap. So if you're back on your

01:08desktop and you want to go right back into the apps that you had open before, you just swipe up

01:13and then you see it over here, saved. And then you're right back in running the three apps

01:20all together. For me, it's just like not having to worry about like running out of real estate

01:25because like sometimes you do with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 because you can run like two apps side by

01:29side and then maybe like having a floating window above it. In this case, you just don't have to

01:33worry. One of the questions that you might have is, okay, so how much better is the multitasking?

01:38Is it just about having like three apps instead of two? Actually, you can have a lot more,

01:43especially when you have Dex mode enabled. So this basically gives you a desktop-like environment

01:47on the tablet portion of the Galaxy Z Trifold. So I could start opening apps like Chrome

01:54and then I can bring in photos. I can then have YouTube. And what's great about this is that you

01:59can also just easily resize apps as well as you bring them in. So it gives you like really the

02:04ultimate in terms of flexibility. And I could just, I could keep going if I wanted to. So if I

02:08wanted to bring in like the phone app, I could do that too. This is basically the closest that you

02:13can get to a desktop experience right on your phone. If you're worried about folding and unfolding

02:18this phone the wrong way, Samsung actually guides you as you're doing it. So you don't make any

02:22mistakes. So for example, if I try to fold this way, I not only get this notification saying that

02:28you're doing a bad thing, but the phone starts to vibrate as if, hey, you might not want to break

02:32this really expensive foldable phone. The right way to do it is this way. So you fold it over here

02:37and then once over again. And that brings us to the design and why it actually folds the way it

02:43does. The reason why you don't have access to, let's say two displays and then three, and it's

02:47just one in three is because Samsung was more concerned about making sure that they delivered

02:52something that was more durable when it came to the design. So a display is not always exposed on the

02:59outside when the phone is closed. So the only one that you have access to is this, which is the 6.5 inch.

03:05So when closed, the Galaxy Z Tri-Fold and the Z Fold 7 both have a 6.5 inch display. So you can use

03:11this as your main phone if you don't want the big screen. Speaking of size, let's talk about thickness

03:16because that's one of the trade-offs of having the Galaxy Z Tri-Fold. And what you see here is that

03:20this is 12.9 millimeters and this is 8.9 over here. So when closed, you could definitely see and

03:26notice the difference and feel it in your hand and in your pocket. And it's heavier too. So in terms of

03:32like where I would put this and pocketability, I would say I would put the Galaxy Z Tri-Fold in a

03:36breast pocket and still be fairly comfortable, but I can still feel it like weighing me down a little

03:40bit or maybe in my back pocket without sitting down. Whereas this, I could put in my front pocket

03:45without a worry. So that's one of the things that you have to keep in mind when it comes to this

03:50foldable phone. But let's give Samsung credit where it's due because when open, the Galaxy Z Tri-Fold

03:55is actually a little bit thinner than the Galaxy Z Fold 7 at about 4 millimeters versus 4.2.

03:59And it's just barely large enough to fit that USB-C port. So that's the design. Are there any

04:05other compromises when it comes to the form factor? Not when it comes to the cameras because you're

04:09getting the same exact camera system as the Galaxy Z Fold 7. So that means a 200 megapixel wide,

04:1412 megapixel ultra wide, and 10 megapixel telephoto with 3x optical zoom. Although with the canvas this

04:20big, I wish that you could zoom in a little bit more. That carries over to the selfie cameras too,

04:24because you get a 10 megapixel selfie camera for the front display, as well as a 10 megapixel shooter

04:29for the inside. So you're probably wondering, how long is this thing going to last on a charge? The good

04:34news is that there's a 5,600 milliamp hour battery on the inside, which is the largest in any Samsung

04:39phone. That includes the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which has a 5,000 milliamp hour battery. And the Galaxy Z Fold 7

04:45has a 4,400 milliamp hour battery. There's actually a battery in each of these panels to give you

04:50even longer endurance than hopefully any Samsung phone on the market, and maybe any phone period.

04:55But it really depends on what screen that you're using. If you're using the main display, you should

04:59be able to go all day. We'll have to see what happens with the 10 inch panel. And when you are

05:03running low on juice, there's more good news, because the Galaxy Z Trifold has 45 watt charging,

05:09which is an upgrade on the 25 watts for the Z Fold 7. Let's talk about durability. While the displays

05:14themselves are just as durable as a Galaxy Z Fold 7, there is a trade-off in terms of the IP rating.

05:19So this is rated IP48, as opposed to IP68 for the Galaxy Z Fold 7. And what that means is that while

05:26the water resistance is just as strong on this particular foldable, the dust resistance is not

05:31as good. So particles could get in here when it comes to folding this device. So now to the burning

05:37question that a lot of people are going to have about the Galaxy Z Trifold. What's the price,

05:41and when can I get my hands on one? Samsung is not giving anything official yet, but they have told us

05:45that it's coming to the US this year. And then when you look at like foreign markets, it's about

05:49$2,400. So about $400 more than the Galaxy Z Fold 7. So I think it really comes down to, are you

05:55willing to pay extra for that extra real estate? And in terms of the more power and flexibility when

06:01it comes to multitasking, this might sound glib, but I think if you're willing to spend two grand on a

06:05phone, I think you're willing to spend a little bit more to get something that's going to give you

06:09the equivalent of a laptop in your pocket. So that's everything that we know so far about the Galaxy Z

06:14Trifold, and stay tuned for our full review to see if it's worth the premium and carrying around

06:19something this big. And for more tech content, follow us at Tom's Guide on YouTube, TikTok, and more.

06:24For Tom's Guide, this is Mark Spoonhour.

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