Samsung’s $2,899 Trifold Phone Arrives in America

The iPhone X was the first mainstream phone to start at the four-figure mark. It was an outrageous, norm-shifting price — and Apple is expected to do it again when it launches a folding phone later this year, which will probably start at $2,000.But Samsung has aimed to beat that phone in every way it can, because the Galaxy Z TriFold is more advanced, bigger, and a lot more expensive. It retails at $2,899.What does $2,899 get you? A phone that unfolds into a 10-inch tablet, the largest screen Samsung has ever put on a mobile device. The trifold design uses two hinges to create three panels that fold inward, collapsing into something roughly the size of a thick smartphone with a 6.5-inch cover display. At its thinnest point when unfolded, it measures just 3.9mm — thinner than a pencil.The specs match the price. There is a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 16GB of RAM, and either 512GB or 1TB of storage. The camera system includes a 200MP main sensor, a 12MP ultrawide, and a 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom. The 5,600mAh battery — split across the three panels — supports 45W wired charging that Samsung says reaches 50 percent in 30 minutes. It’s also supposedly durable — the Armor FlexHinge has been tested for 200,000 folds and it carries an IP48 water resistance rating — but it’s the daring buyer who brings one to the beach.It’s technically impressive, but a somewhat flawed phone. You have to use it follow unfolded, or on the cover screen, and can’t just use it with one part unfolded. It also can’t prop up, and it’s just generally challenging to find a purpose that you can do on the TriFold that you can’t already do on the standard ZFold. Video will look better, but do you really watch so much YouTube that it’s beneficial to have a $3,000 fold up tablet in your pocket?It’s certainly impressive but it feels like the first test of a form-factor that will take years to be viable—years in which hinges will get stronger and thinner, able to support bigger pieces, and batteries will also get more capable. If you want the ultimate flex though, this is the only option available — until the iPhone foldable comes out, that is.

Samsung’s $2,899 Trifold Phone Arrives in America

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