The Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold only just became available for U.S. customers at the end of January, but you may want to wait on picking one up beyond the ultra-premium price tag. It's not quite ready for a spot on the list of the best foldable phones.
Early adopters were able to pick up the Trifold in Korea and China as early as December 2025. Unfortunately, there were also early reports that the triple inner display had issues.
Now, as the premium phone makes its way into more hands, we're seeing even more reports of owners with broken displays — one person claimed theirs died after only 5 days.
Earlier this week, Reddit user Odd-Drawer 6410 reported that their inner screen had become non-responsive. They had said they had the phone for about a month and a half, having bought it in China.
A reboot appeared to fix the issue, but only temporarily.
"The issue just reappeared and hasn't gone away yet, and I'm getting worried! What could be causing the issue?" Odd-Drawer asked. It could be hardware ,but a couple of signs are pointing towards a software problem.
If it is a software issue, one commenter suggested that there was a similar bug with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, where changing the display minimum width to unsupported values could cause unresponsive screens. It does not appear that Odd-Drawer tried this test yet.
Dead after only 5 days
Another user, ThoughtIll3676, claimed that the inner display on their Trifold died after only 5 days of use.
"The following morning when I woke up the screen was pure white with no response. i can hear a strange popping sound when I fold the device and there appears to be an air bubble under the screen not sure how why or when it appeared," they said.
Both users reported that they haven't done anything damaging to the device, like dropping it or excessive folding.
It does sound like it may be a hardware issue.
To be fair to Samsung, these devices and the one from early January could just be lemons that slipped through the production line. The company does offer a one time 50% discount. However, that's still about $900.
I have seen comments that Samsung is only offering refunds for broken Trifolds, not out-and-out replacements. That may be because the company is making the Trifold a limited run, so it may not have replacements immediately available.
The risk you take
As with any relatively new tech, early adopters suffer the issue of potentially faulty devices. When the original Galaxy Fold launched, it came with a slew of issues, including broken screens.
The company even postponed the launch because reviewers were experiencing broken displays. Some early reports found that the display broke after 120,000 folds, far fewer than the 200,000 Samsung claimed.
This may be a case of Samsung needing to work out the bugs. Perhaps the Trifold 2 will be the phone to wait for.
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