Next Samsung foldable could be a tri-folding smartphone

Five years ago in 2019, Samsung launched the world’s first commercially available foldable phone with the Galaxy Fold. Years later, several brands have launched their own foldable phones. Now, it seems like the next step in the ladder is a foldable phone with not two, but three displays.

Brands are beginning to develop tri-fold smartphones now, which will one-up the average foldable in design and engineering, intuitiveness and even multi-tasking use cases. A report now suggests Samsung may be the next brand to launch a tri-fold smartphone.

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We say next, because the South Korean phone maker is not the first company to launch a folding phone with three screens. That would be Huawei, and the Mate XT from earlier this year. With a Z-shaped design across two hinges, the Huawei Mate XT could be opened to three times its size, showing the user a lot more screen when opened.

Spearheading the competition is Samsung, as per ZDNet Korea. The tri-fold smartphone is also not very far off and could launch as early as 2025. This could very well be pointing at the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7, the successor to the Galaxy Z Fold 6.

The report also suggests that the tri-fold phone may launch alongside a clamshell phone, which means anyone waiting for the next clamshell Galaxy Flip phone should still be getting a new device next year.

How will this phone differ from the Huawei Mate XT?

The major change, as per reports, will be that the Samsung tri-fold device will fold twice, instead of the Z-shaped approach where both edge screens fold from either side onto the middle screen.

It isn’t clear what exact form this approach will take, and whether it will have clear advantages over the Z-shaped design. But with a little less than a year left ahead of us, there’s a lot of time for Samsung to refine the design, or even switch plans entirely.

For now, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 remains the brand’s most powerful smartphone, while a recently-launched Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 Special Edition makes some much-needed changes to the camera system.