(Image credit: Future / Mike Lowe)

Samsung could announce the long-awaited Galaxy Z TriFold this week, laying to rest months if not years of speculation and rumour about its next folding phone. Fans have been expecting Samsung to step-up to a new format at each event this year, but the reveal might not be what you expect.

According to The Korea Herald (via Android Authority), Samsung is going to unveil the Galaxy Z TriFold at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which is taking place in Gyeongju, Korea, this week.

According to the source, the phone will feature a 6.5-inch cover display paired with a 10-inch folding internal display. It'll be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite and feature a 200-megapixel camera with 100x zoom.

It's said that the production of the new Galaxy Z TriFold might be limited to between 50,000 and 200,000 units and there's bad news for many readers too – it might be limited in availability to Korea, China and UAE only, according to Evan Blass.

That wouldn't be unheard of for Samsung. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 Special Edition was only launched in Korea, offering a thinner design and acting as something of a precursor to the new, slimmer, Galaxy Z Fold 7 that launched in 2025.

It's rumoured that Apple will be entering the folding phone market with the iPhone 18, so for Samsung to have a tri-fold model in its portfolio – alongside established Z Fold and Z Flip models – will help solidify Samsung's position as a leader in the segment.

According to Counterpoint Research, foldable adoption in Europe continues to grow, with Samsung's market for book-type folding phones cut in 2024 by the offering from Honor. But folding phones still only make up a small percentage of smartphone sales.

What do we know about the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold?

First of all, we don't actually know that it's called the Z TriFold. It was initially thought to be called the G Fold, but later information suggested that it would slot into the Galaxy Z family and emphasise the fact it had three folding panels.

Leaks for the new device have been surprisingly scarce, mostly amounting to animated videos showing how you might use the camera for taking selfies, or how to find the NFC chip.

Those videos have also shown off multi-tasking features on the phone, including Samsung's DeX (desktop experience), which is likely to be a focus for the new device.

The mention of the Snapdragon 8 Elite might cause concern for some potential buyers, as Qualcomm has just released the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, a newer and more powerful version of the flagship hardware, and given the Galaxy Z TriFold's positioning, many would expect it to offer the latest chipset.

While we might see the phone released this week, previous rumours had suggested an official launch for the device in early November with availability soon after. That might help Samsung compete with the new wave of next-gen devices from Chinese brands being launched in the next couple of weeks.