Samsung's tri-fold phone revealed in patent find

The folding phone market isn’t standing still, with moves beyond the current fold and flip models that dominate the best folding phone options so far. We’ve previously seen Huawei announce a tri-folding phone, but it’s soon to be joined by Samsung.

Samsung is in a great position with its folding phones, dominating sales and preparing to launch 7th-gen handsets in 2025. But details about a tri-folding phone have been eking out, providing a tantalising look at what might be to come.

We’ve already heard that Samsung’s tri-folding phone will be arriving at some point in 2025, perhaps as soon as July, and that it could be called the Samsung Galaxy G Fold, but now a Samsung patent have been unearthed (via 91mobiles), giving us a closer look at how the device might function.

From the details published on WIPO – the World Intellectual Property Organization – we see that the Samsung phone could feature two hinges, with the volume and power buttons on the top of the device.

The display has previously been suggested as 9.96-inch, with this phone folding out to create a tablet-like experience. Intriguingly, the illustrations suggest that there could be space for the S Pen, suggesting compatibility with Samsung’s stylus and the advanced features that it brings. The external display could be a 6.49-inches.

Back to the folding mechanism and it suggests that one leaf of the phone will fold inside, so that might mean that it’s either open or closed. This is an important point, because Huawei’s device allows to have either one, two or three sections of the display open, where Samsung’s device appears to only offer one or three.

That might mean that it’s slightly less versatile, but as this is a patent, there’s no guarantee that this is what’s actually going to make it to market. Indeed, this patent could be for a future folding phone and not Samsung’s initial launch device as it steps into a larger format.

Samsung is planning to announce the Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 in 2025 and it looks like it could be joined by an exciting third option, although rumours suggest it might be limited to Korea in its initial launch phase.