Samsung seeks to roll out tri-fold phone by year-end, smartphone head says

Roh Tae-moon, acting head of Samsung Electronics' Device Experience Division, speaks during a press conference on the sidelines of the Galaxy Unpacked July 2025 event at Duggal Greenhouse in Brooklyn, N.Y., Wednesday (local time). Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

NEW YORK — Samsung Electronics seeks to roll out a tri-fold smartphone by the end of this year, the company’s smartphone business head said Wednesday (local time), noting the tech giant plans to introduce various device form factors down the road to enhance users’ artificial intelligence (AI) experience.

“As we dive deeper into AI, the role of smartphones is becoming more important,” said Roh Tae-moon, acting head of Samsung Electronics' Device Experience Division.

“Through hardware innovation optimized for AI services, we will fundamentally change the user experience. The smartphone is no longer just a tool. It is becoming an AI partner that sees, understands and responds to what users are seeing in real time. Samsung is working on more innovative form factors to lead the AI era.”

Roh Tae-moon, acting head of Samsung Electronics' Device Experience Division, delivers a presentation during the Galaxy Unpacked July 2025 event at Duggal Greenhouse in Brooklyn, N.Y., Wednesday (local time). Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7, both with reduced thickness to improve users’ hands-on experience. The Fold 7 is being marketed as a next-generation form by achieving a thickness of 8.9 millimeters when folded and 4.2 millimeters when unfolded.

The most likely form factor to be next is a tri-fold smartphone. During the previous unpack event in January, the company hinted at a future product road map that includes a tri-fold model.

Amid rumors that the phone will be called the Galaxy G Fold, Roh said, “I expect we will be able to launch the tri-fold phone within this year.”

“We are working hard on a tri-fold smartphone with the goal of launching it at the end of this year,” Roh said. “We are now focusing on perfecting the product and its usability, but we have not decided its name. As the product nears completion, we are planning to make a final decision soon.”

He noted that when the company first introduced foldable phones in 2019, the smartphone industry was skeptical, but they have now become a major segment. He stressed the need for more companies to enter the foldables market, saying that increased competition will spur innovation and ultimately benefit both the industry and consumers.

The new Galaxy Z Flip 7 is displayed during a Samsung preview event in New York, Monday (local time). AP-Yonhap

Exynos 2500 AP

During the press conference, Roh also addressed consumers’ lingering questions about the company’s decision to its use in-house Exynos 2500 as the main processor for the new Flip 7 because the application processor (AP) was “confirmed to have sufficient performance and quality for a consistent global rollout.”

Though Samsung did not openly promote the AP of the new Flip 7 during the unpack presentation, the device will run on Exynos 2500 APs across all markets.

Use of the Exynos 2500 has been questioned, as Samsung’s mobile division used Qualcomm’s Snapdragon for its flagship Galaxy S25, which was released in January.

Samsung has used its in-house Exynos chipsets in previous Galaxy S series models, at least for some regions. However, after excluding the chip from the Galaxy S23, reportedly due to development delays, the company skipped Exynos again for the S25, fueling speculation about the chipset’s yields.

Tech-savvy consumers voiced skepticism about the Flip 7 even before its release, arguing that Samsung should at least freeze the price for the new device, while experts have raised concerns over Samsung’s strength as a total solution provider spanning from semiconductors to finished devices.

“Since Galaxy S1, we have always been using the most competitive APs available at that time,” Roh said.

“This time was no different. The decision is not based solely on the AP's benchmark performance. It is made after comprehensive validation with our team and partners on how well the Galaxy intellectual property and the chipset work together.”

During the conference, Roh stressed that Samsung believes in the philosophy of AI for all, and will embed Galaxy AI functions on the 400 million Galaxy devices currently in the world by the end of this year.

“From flagship products to the Galaxy A series, we are expanding Galaxy AI features as long as there are no hardware limitations,” he said. “Our vision for Galaxy AI is to make mobile AI accessible to as many consumers as possible. That’s why we are not limiting Galaxy AI to new models only. We are also bringing it to previously released devices, as long as their hardware specs allow it.”