Samsung just gave us a demo of what the future will look like if you’re willing to pay a correspondingly high amount. The new Galaxy Z TriFold takes the foldable phone concept, adds an extra fold, and turns the device into a proper tablet.
It’s surreal to see such a device come to life. At least on the global stage. Huawei has already done it a few times with the dual-folding pair Mate XT, but that device has an exposed screen edge, offers a non-Android experience and falls far short of Western markets, including the US.
Samsung took a different engineering approach, solving some critical usability issues with a bi-foldable device and, most importantly, giving a glimpse of what the Android computing experience will be like.
However, it is a first-generation device and is still quite thick at 12.9mm. That’s like holding two standard phones like a triple-deck sandwich. Plus, the 309 gram weight profile won’t do your hands any favors. Or your bag – figuratively and literally.
I was expecting a price that would immediately make it budget-friendly. In Korea, the device’s converted price is around $2,400, almost the same price as the 1TB storage variant of the Galaxy Z Fold 7. But it’s an extremely exciting device for more reasons than one.
A look into the future, with a twist
A few weeks ago, Google confirmed that it was replacing ChromeOS with a new basic Android-based stack. “We’re building the ChromeOS experience on top of the underlying Android technology,” a senior Google executive said at the time. Recently we heard rumors that the new operating system will be called AluminumOS.
Separately, the company also confirmed that it is working on Android-based PCs and that Qualcomm will be the project’s key partner. Lenovo accidentally revealed that it could be one of the first adopters. This Android-based operating system for PCs primarily focuses on seamless phone-PC connectivity and software-level familiarity, similar to iPadOS and macOS.
The Galaxy Z TriFold is a juicy taste of this hybrid future. Just look at the silicon situation. The Snapdragon processors
And considering that ChromeOS devices have historically run primarily on low-end processors to keep costs under control, there’s little doubt that a top-tier processor – like the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor in the Galaxy Z TriFold – will be technically capable of handling Aluminum OS.
You can also look at it another way. The Galaxy Z TriFold is a sign that replacing ChromeOS with an Android-based alternative (or just changing those basics) would be possible on more form factors than just regular laptops.
These could also be ultra-thin and portable machines. We could see more tablets. And of course also super-thin foldable devices. Look no further than the Huawei Matebook Fold, which offers a HarmonyOS desktop experience based on the same Kirin processor family as Huawei’s smartphones, which, by the way, is a variant of HarmonyOS.
I’m not sure if dual-boot is on the horizon, but the Galaxy Z TriFold almost certainly offers a glimpse into the different (read: exciting) form factors that Google’s upcoming operating system could technically run on.
Set the stage for new hardware innovations
Okay, at the cost of sounding like a late adult who hit his prime in the early 1960s, I’ll say this out loud. Smartphones became boring in the touchscreen age. The wild experiments of Nokia and LG are over. Foldable devices provided much-needed power at the expense of their fragility and expensive maintenance.
And no, foldable devices are not a gimmick. I spent weeks using nothing other than the Galaxy Z Flip 7’s square screen, retaining its seashell charm. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a whole different productivity beast, and once you get used to the convenience of split-screen multitasking on the interior display or on a table in Flex mode like a laptop, there’s no turning back.
However, the Galaxy Z TriFold takes the idea even further, albeit with a greater focus on hardware innovations. And later they’ll catch on and make your average foldable phone even better. Let’s start with the display.
Samsung says it has added a “reinforced jacket” to the inner panel, which increases its shock-absorbing ability. The flexible display and underlying hinge system are the most delicate parts of any foldable screen device, and it’s reassuring to see Samsung pushing the boundaries of the technology in a meaningful direction.
Speaking of the hinge, it features a dual-rail design that helps reduce thickness, while the titanium body makes it more resistant to natural wear and tear from prolonged use. There is also a ceramic glass fiber reinforced polymer back panel to keep cracks away.
At its thinnest point, the device measures just 3.9mm, making it the thinnest phone of its kind on the market. There is also a unique magnetic lifting system between the inward-folding parts. Overall, the Galaxy Z TriFold is not only the first mainstream device of its kind, but also a model for exciting innovations coming to regular (and cheaper) phones in the future.
The software experience
Let’s be honest. Tablets are not a true “computer” replacement. At least not at this point. Google has made a huge push with Android 12L to make the operating system more suitable for large screens, and Android brands continue to release tablets up to 15-inches in size, but the operating system hasn’t quite reached the point where I can confidently forego my laptop, even for fully web-based work.
The iPad comes pretty close, but despite the macOS-like features introduced with the iPadOS 26 update, it’s not quite up to the task. Samsung has productively deviated from this by offering DeX. This is a desktop-like environment that’s pretty close to the ChromeOS experience.
With the Galaxy Z TriFold, Samsung is pushing the feature even further natively on the device, rather than triggering it when the device is connected to a larger screen. This is actually the first device that can switch to DeX mode on its own. Users can run up to four workspaces simultaneously, each with up to five apps in split view in the foreground.
When connected to another display in enhanced mode, it continues to function as a standalone computing hub and supports drag-and-drop gestures. Once unfolded, the device can run three full-screen instances of mobile apps side by side, similar to the Open Canvas system you find on OnePlus’ foldable devices and tablets.
But the Galaxy Z TriFold comes at a pretty good time and brings a handful of innovations with it to boot. Samsung has already shown off features like seamless drag-and-drop across different app windows. The larger interior screen also allows for a wider and more natural aspect ratio for desktop-style productivity, at least for web-based software.
I can imagine using software like Adobe Express and Vibe coding tools for this. I really like the parallel image processing that the company demonstrated on the Galaxy Z TriFold. Thanks to extensive Gemini integration and on-screen recognition, it is also the perfect display format to leverage AI as a dedicated side panel.
The Galaxy Z TriFold’s software, especially with its in-house DeX innovations, could well lay the foundation for improving Android tablets. And even if you don’t enjoy the full Aluminum OS experience, there’s a lot for Google to take inspiration from.
