Ryan Haines / Android Authority
It’s exciting to want the cutting-edge latest and greatest — believe me, I know. I’m in a fortunate position where I get to try a lot of new form factors pretty quickly after they’re announced. And, when Samsung finally announced its Galaxy Z TriFold, you can bet it perked up my ears — after all, who doesn’t want an alternative to the HUAWEI Mate XT that’s actually available in the US?
But now that I’ve had a few days to think about it, I think I’m ready to exercise caution. I’ll still allow myself to be excited about Samsung testing out a new form factor, but I’m not about to tell you to rush out and buy one. Instead, I think you should bank on what’s already working and pick up the Galaxy Z Fold 7 instead, and here’s why.
There’s always something tricky about a Samsung debut
Alright, so the first thing that gives me pause about picking up the Galaxy Z TriFold (and recommending that you do the same) is that it’s a Samsung debut. As you and the entire internet probably already know, that’s where Samsung tends to struggle most. Its first crack at, well, almost everything tends to go just-okay before rounding into form on the second or third try.
So, for Samsung to add another hinge, another display crease, and slim down its form factor even further when unfolded is more than enough to make me nervous. The first time it dove into the foldables market with the original Galaxy Fold went down in historic — I mean historically bad — fashion, plagued by durability and display issues that delayed its launch by several months.
Do you think it's a good sign Samsung is already offering repair discounts? Because I don't.
Of course, that major stumble was nearly six years ago at this point, so it’s fair to say the Galaxy Z TriFold shouldn’t have the same problems. Samsung has addressed many of its previous foldable flaws, doing so at an impressive rate, slimming its Galaxy Z Fold from one year to the next while packing it with better specs and more power each time. So, it’s pretty fair to say that Samsung has its hardware figured out.
This time around, though, the reason I think you should be careful about picking up the Galaxy Z TriFold is that I’m just not sure how the recipe is going to come together under the hood. Yes, I think the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy — not the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the older one — will be just fine as a powerhouse, and the 5,600mAh battery is a nice upgrade over the 4,400mAh cell in the Galaxy Z Fold 7, but it has the unenviable duty of powering an even larger internal display.
There’s also the little matter of durability, which is still a work in progress even on current foldables. Currently, the best Samsung can offer in terms of protection against water and dust is an IP48 rating, which is good but not exceptional, and lags behind the robust IP68 rating of Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold. Add an extra crease and an extra hinge, and there are more spots for the Galaxy Z TriFold to break down.
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