Samsung’s most audacious phone to date — the Galaxy Z TriFold — arrived with a mix of admiration and eyebrow-raising caveats. Fans cheered a 10‑inch unfolding canvas; repair shops and cautious buyers winced at repair bills that could rival a flagship replacement.
A headline figure you’ll remember
Reports from South Korea put the cost to replace the TriFold’s inner tri‑folding display at roughly KRW 1,657,500–1,834,500 (about $1,120–$1,240). That’s not a typo. The outer cover screen looks relatively affordable by comparison — between KRW 137,000 and KRW 226,000 (about $90–$150) — but the main panel is the expensive, fragile heart of the machine.
To put it bluntly: Samsung’s own Galaxy S25 Ultra retails in Korea for around KRW 1,673,100. In some scenarios the TriFold’s repair could cost as much as buying a whole S25 Ultra.
Demand outstripped supply — intentionally
Samsung launched pre‑orders in its home market at KRW 3,590,400 (roughly $2,400), and stores saw long lines; the new device reportedly sold out in minutes. But that rush may be as much about scarcity as it is about hunger: insiders say Samsung only made 15–30 units available per major store and around 700 units nationwide at first, with conservative targets of 2,500–5,000 units by early next year. That feels like a controlled, experimental rollout rather than a full launch.
It’s powerful and inventive — but not free of tradeoffs
The TriFold does more than fold: Samsung treats the unfolded 10‑inch panel like a tablet, includes standalone DeX, and even supports the Second Screen feature so your Windows PC can wirelessly extend its desktop to the phone using Miracast. If you travel with minimal kit, that 10‑inch panel can double as a legitimate secondary monitor in a pinch.
Still, reviewers have flagged practical missteps. Some wish Samsung had adopted a three‑way usable configuration (where you can close just one segment) like the Huawei Mate XT; others grumble that DeX shouldn’t be an afterthought when the device becomes a tablet-sized workspace. Larger displays expose the limits of Android’s app optimization, which is precisely the kind of software friction people notice when a phone tries to be a pocket tablet — something that connects to broader conversations about how Android behaves on big screens (and why system updates and UI polish matter) in ways developers and users both feel, as with recent platform security and update debates.Android 17's Motion Cues also shows how Android’s features and platform-level changes can ripple into user experience on new form factors.
Price and positioning: niche by design
At about $2,400 in Korea for the base TriFold, Samsung seems to be positioning the device as a premium experiment — more expensive than the Fold 7 but not astronomical to the point of certifying it as a limited‑edition curiosity. Still, when you add the risk of a thousand‑dollar repair and limited parts availability, ownership becomes a strategic decision: do you want cutting‑edge convenience or something more practical and cheaper to live with?
There’s also a chip‑and‑parts angle: some critics noted the TriFold uses a high‑end but not bleeding‑edge chipset, a tradeoff that keeps costs from ballooning further. Whether that matters depends on whether you care about raw spec bragging rights or the novelty of a tri‑fold experience.
A few caveats about the numbers
It’s worth repeating: the display replacement figures and early sales counts stem from local reports and have not been confirmed officially by Samsung in public pricing sheets. Repair prices can vary by region, warranty status, and whether Samsung offers third‑party repair programs later. And of course, a more widespread release could change availability and service logistics.
Why this matters beyond one phone
The TriFold is a snapshot of where foldables are heading: daring hardware that pushes what a phone can be, paired with the persistent headaches of repairability, software scaling and supply strategy. If you’re tempted, think like a practical early adopter: budget for that stunning display, and factor in the likelihood that keeping one pristine could be pricey.
If nothing else, the TriFold is a reminder that innovation often arrives with strings attached — sometimes literal ones, in the form of hinges and fragile panels — and that the smartest buyers will weigh novelty against cost, support and real‑world usefulness. For those tracking the platform side of things, recent security and update conversations remain relevant too: how quickly and reliably a device receives fixes makes a real difference for advanced hardware that blurs the line between phone and tablet (recent WebKit and ANGLE fixes illustrate the stakes).
Whether Samsung’s gamble on the tri‑fold pays off will depend on supply, software polish and whether repairability becomes less punitive over time. For now, it’s a captivating device with a decidedly expensive Achilles’ heel.