Samsung sneakily confirms its tri-fold phone for release this year – blink and you missed it

There was plenty to be excited about at Galaxy Unpacked 2025 – it saw the unveiling of the new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and sibling devices, as well as showing off the heavily-rumoured Galaxy S25 Edge, which could be on the cards for later in the year too. But there was another device hidden in Samsung’s presentation, too.

When Jay Kim, head of customer experience at Samsung, took to the stage during the presentation, an additional device was revealed. Kim was talking about Gemini Live, when he said: “Multimodal AI will transform how we interact with all our devices with smartphones and wearables to new form factors, like multi-fold and XR devices.”

On the screen behind him, as you can see above, we have a smartphone, a folding phone like the Galaxy Z Fold 6, then a tri-fold device, before getting to the Project Moohan XR headset and smart glasses.

This is the first glimpse we’ve had of Samsung’s move towards a new form factor and as the company currently makes the best folding phones, it makes perfect sense for it to move towards this exciting new format.

Samsung won’t be the first to market with this new device – we’ve previously seen (and quite enjoyed) Huawei’s tri-fold phone. But, with Huawei’s limited presence in Europe and the US, Samsung is likely to quickly gain popularity with any new device type.

What do we know about Samsung’s tri-fold phone?

Just a few days ago, a report from Korea pointed to Samsung’s expanded plans for folding phones. We’re expecting the Z Flip 7 and Z Fold 7, but it could be that the tri-fold phone is part of those plans.

It’s also said there will be a cheaper folding phone, the Z Flip SE.

It had previously been suggested that the tri-folding phone might see a limited run, but the most recent details suggest that Samsung may produce two million units of the multi-fold device. We’d expect most of those to be sold in Korea, which is often where Samsung trials new product designs before going global.

There’s going to be an argument over whether a tri-fold device is actually a phone or a tablet. Will this fall into the current Galaxy Z family, or will Samsung have to move towards Galaxy Z Tab naming, as when extended, the device is likely to have a 10-inch display?

The timeline for launch might see this new device appear in the middle of 2025 – but don’t be surprised if you can’t buy one – this year, at least.