The Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold's folding mechanism looks odd, but it's the right call on a crucial design decision

Picture the scene – it’s the first Samsung Galaxy Unpacked of 2025 is starting up, and as the tech world waits on the edge of its seat for news of the Galaxy S25 family, the keynote speaker drops two (and a half) crucial words: “multi-fold devices”.

Kaboom. Suddenly, months of speculation over a Samsung trifold phone – that’s a tablet-style folding phone with two hinges and a larger internal display – get a stamp of approval, however tacit. And now, nearly a full year later, we have proper confirmation.

Samsung announced the Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold, its first trifold phone with a 6.5-inch cover display and 10-inch inner display, pretty much out of nowhere on Cyber Monday 2025. What’s more, the phone has been officially confirmed to launch in the US (no luck here in the UK or over in Australia, though).

While Samsung shared a detailed spec sheet, we don't have any video showing the Trifold folding and unfolding, which would provide much-needed detail on how the hinge mechanism works.

As some rumors suggested, Samsung has opted for a pamphlet-style folding action, whereby the inner display folds in from each edge.

And while that means the Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold will be about 1.5x as thick as a standard Galaxy S25 when folded up, I think Samsung has absolutely made the right choice with the phone’s all-important hinge mechanism.

You see, the Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold is actually not the world’s first folding phone – that honor goes to the Huawei Mate XT, which was released as a China-exclusive at the end of 2024.

I’ve actually had a Huawei Mate XT handset in my possession for a few months, but it’s never graduated to the position of daily driver, despite the fundamental coolness of its display. A lot of that is to do with the fact that the phone doesn’t support Google Play Services, but even if it did, I’d be hesitant to use it as a proper everyday phone.

That’s because the Mate XT (ironically) uses a Z-shaped folding action, leaving a folded-over portion of the plastic screen exposed. That just makes me antsy about the possibility of scuffs and scratches.

Even though I’ve only briefly used the Mate XT outside of the office or home, it’s already picked up some abrasions on the ‘cover’ section of its plastic folding display. I’m pretty certain the Galaxy Z Trifold’s glass cover screen would offer more resilience.

And as mentioned, the Galaxy Z Trifold’s plastic-coated inner display is protected on all sides when the phone is folded, which means it shouldn’t be in any real danger of scuffs when pocketed or thrown into a backpack, so long as the gaps between the phone’s segments are tight enough.

It’s early days for the Galaxy Z Trifold – we don’t even have a US release date yet – but I’m happy to see Samsung push ahead with this thoughtful bit of design. Samsung's build quality is typically second-to-none, so I'm hopeful that the Galaxy Z Trifold could be one of the best folding phones at launch.

However, it does look like the end of the “multi-fold” moniker, which I was quite the fan of – unless Samsung intends to keep adding hinges to its folding phones, in which case I might save my money until the 35-inch Galaxy Z Octofold makes it to market.