We reached peak smartphone somewhere around 2021, and since then, the industry has been playing the game of millimetres, megapixels, and the latest trend, and a buzzword I've grown to hate the most, AI. Samsung flipped the table once with its first foldable phone back in 2019, and amidst the declining innovative abilities of companies, the brand has dropped another foldable innovation. This time, it's bigger and unfolds into a 10-inch tablet in the form of the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold.
The Z TriFold is an engineering marvel, and above all, it can do things neither a foldable nor a slab phone can. Here's why the Galaxy Z TriFold is the most important phone of the decade, for all the right and wrong reasons.
Stretching the limits of tech, literally
One of the main differentiators between the Galaxy Z TriFold and other foldables is the massive 10-inch display. Samsung has managed to engineer a device with two hinges, three screen segments that all collapse into a chassis that is just shy of 13 mm thick. All that while fitting in a 5,600mAh battery is nothing short of an engineering marvel. But! The main highlight is definitely the display.
The Z TriFold essentially kills tablets with its ability to unfold into a 10-inch screen, and it sets a new benchmark for miniaturisation. It also ups the market's expectations because when a phone that unfolds into a razor-thin 3.9 mm device and can pack a Snapdragon 8 Elite with a triple-camera setup, there's no longer an excuse for a thick slab phone to pack mediocre specifications.
The upper ceiling: Why Galaxy Z TriFold is the final frontier for foldables
How big can a phone get before the laws of physics catch up to it? The answer could be "As big as the Galaxy Z TriFold". However, despite NVIDIA's Jensen Huang claiming Moore's Law is dead, we've still seen rapid advancements in semiconductors. The bottom line is, the TriFold has inadvertently defined the maximum viable density for a mobile device.
It teaches us that while we can fold a screen infinitely, human ergonomics don't scale with Moore's Law. We have found the limit where a pocketable device stops being comfortable, and future devices will likely retreat from this extreme rather than push past it.
It shows how Samsung has pushed the limits even further, and the entire industry is now witnessing an engineering spectacle, setting a new benchmark.
Galaxy Z TriFold is the best advertisement for regular slab phones
Paradoxically, the Galaxy Z TriFold is the best advertisement for slab phones or even today's foldable devices. Despite the hinge and the titanium housing, the Z TriFold is an even more delicate piece of technology than the latest Galaxy Z Fold 7 or Pixel 10 Pro Fold.
It has taken brands like Samsung, Huawei, and Google years to perfect the hinge and reduce the crease, and similarly, helped slab phones sell more because of their lower price point.
However, in a world where a sub-Rs 30,000 phone can survive a drop and a Rs 2,50,000 smartphone fears a linty pocket, it definitely doesn't feel right. Samsung expects to sell more foldables this year, and the TriFold reinforces Samsung's goal that it's better to shape the future of mobile computing than to merely perfect the rectangle.
Galaxy Z TriFold proves display tech has outpaced the physics of power
The TriFold exposes the industry's biggest bottleneck (still), the battery. While the 5,600mAh battery may look large, in practice, it's barely enough. You are powering a 10-inch 120 Hz display. The physics simply don't add up for an all-day productivity device that replaces a laptop.
The TriFold is important because it shows us that the display innovation has left battery tech behind. Therefore, unless we see any further improvements in battery technology, which is unlikely considering silicon carbon batteries have only recently started taking off, the TriFold will always mean wall-hugging.
Besides, it's worth noting that Samsung has severe battery trauma following the events of the Note 7 explosions, which is why the company hasn't even started using SiC batteries yet.
The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold shows us how marvellous engineering has no end, but is also a warning sign for practicality. It's at the very edge (pun intended) of what is possible, serving as a lighthouse for the industry. While it shows other brands the way it can be done, it merely acts as a flex.
Brands know the logistical bloodbath involved in challenging their own existing lineups, so most are expected to steer clear of the TriFold for now. However, some may follow the trend, if they ever release their first foldable first (if you know, you know.)
The Z Trifold shows us that foldable upscaling is possible, but it comes at a price, both literally and ergonomically. Although, it is easily one of the coolest technologies of this decade already.
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