News: 0179813508

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Samsung To Showcase Its First Ever Trifold Phone Later This Month (msn.com)

(Friday October 17, 2025 @05:20PM (msmash) from the your-scientists-were-so-preoccupied dept.)


An anonymous reader shares a report:

> Samsung Electronics will unveil its highly-anticipated trifold smartphone when world leaders and global dignitaries gather at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea later this month. It will be the company's [1]first device with two hinges -- allowing it to work as either a conventional smartphone or a significantly larger tablet when fully unfurled -- and will be displayed at an exhibition of cutting-edge Korean technology on the sidelines of the multilateral summit, according to a person familiar with the matter.

>

> For Samsung, the Gyeongju-hosted APEC event will provide a global spotlight for a product it hopes will burnish its reputation as an engineering pioneer. Alongside Huawei, Samsung has led the move to develop foldable phones, and Huawei introduced the world's first trifold device in China last year. The Korean company now has the opportunity to take the form factor global.



[1] https://www.msn.com/en-my/lifestyle/shopping/samsung-to-unveil-trifold-smartphone-at-apec-summit/ar-AA1ODG1M



Re: (Score:1)

by backslashdot ( 95548 )

I can tell you for sure your mom will stand in line to buy that candy bar..

This sounds familiar (Score:5, Funny)

by jacks smirking reven ( 909048 )

[1]Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades [theonion.com]

[1] https://theonion.com/fuck-everything-were-doing-five-blades-1819584036/

Re: (Score:2)

by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

There is at least one trifold on the market already... Xiaomi maybe, one of the Chinese brands.

Anyway, it sounds good in theory, you can have a nice big display but still fit it in your pocket. The main issue is that it's not got screens on both sides when folded, and they are the soft foldable type that can be scratched with your fingernail. Unless they do them all folding inwards, but then it gets even thicker and they will want another outer screen as well.

Re: (Score:2)

by jacks smirking reven ( 909048 )

When looking at it by itself it's actual sci-fi shit, it should be and is very cool but 20 years of busted displays and manufacturers making them nigh irreplaceable at times for most without a disposable amount of income are primed to discard this as fragile and unnecessary and it's hard to disagree.

Re: (Score:2)

by LordHighExecutioner ( 4245243 )

Well...Moore's law has been succesfully applied to CPUs and to [1]razor blades [markarayner.com]. The new Samsung trifold now opens new horizons...I just wonder if, when folded, it does explode. It is a Samsung, after all...

[1] https://markarayner.com/waiting-for-the-razor-blade-singularity/

Re: (Score:2)

by RUs1729 ( 10049396 )

> I just wonder if, when folded, it does explode. It is a Samsung, after all...

They come up with the hottest products. It really is a company on fire.

Now With Two Reasons To Avoid It (Score:2)

by SlashbotAgent ( 6477336 )

Now the screen has two future creases and failure points. Two reasons to avoid it.

Having said that, I clearly recall a time many years in the past, that I said I wanted a larger rolled up screen to go with a phone for remote/mobile working. This is getting very close to what I had hoped for. But the fragile folds don't fit my vision.

Re: (Score:2)

by rsilvergun ( 571051 )

It's tough to stand out with android. Back in the day I remember my kid wanting an Android but it helped that Samsung had somehow very briefly made them cool by putting out a expensive model. That was of course the model the kid wanted.

I have a OnePlus 13r and it's got some extra features to just to me get in the way and annoying me. It also has a custom version of Android so I've been waiting for a few months for the new version of Android while my old Motorola phone that I still use as a sort of mini

Re: (Score:3)

by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

Back about two decades ago when e-ink screens were all the rage, foldable e-ink screens were a thing. Tri-fold devices were common as a way to "roll up" the big e-paper screen in a small form factor.

Of course, the development units we had rapidly developed dead lines and such because the wires flexed too many times started developing breaks. Plus the bonding between the screen lines and the flex cables wasn't perfect -

Why? (Score:2)

by paul_engr ( 6280294 )

I gave a folder a try. I almost never unfold it. If you want more folds, make a phone that you can wad up like a piece of paper

Well, that's more-or-less what I was saying, though obviously addition
is a little more cosmic than the bitwise operators.
-- Larry Wall in <199709051808.LAA01780@wall.org>