After months of teasing a triple-display foldable phone, Samsung is gearing up to launch what it’s calling the Galaxy Z TriFold — because foldables with just one hinge are so last year. 

The phone is slated to become available first in Korea on Dec. 12, and will then launch in other locations including China, Taiwan, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. It’ll arrive in the US in the first quarter of 2026. Samsung hasn’t shared a US price for the trifold, but Reuters notes it’ll cost 3.59 million won in Korea, which converts to around $2,440.

To get this caveat out of the way: A trifold phone doesn’t actually fold three times. Rather, devices like the Z TriFold have a main screen with two hinges, allowing the phone to fold into three sections. They appear to be more of a hybrid between a phone and, when unfolded, a tablet. The Z TriFold boasts a 10-inch display when unfurled and a 6.5-inch cover display. 

«The company’s decade-long experience in foldable category innovation inspired Galaxy Z TriFold’s uniquemulti-folding form factor, which uses an inward-folding design to protect the main display,» Samsung said in a blog post. «The foldingmechanism has been precisely engineered for easy opening and closing, with an auto-alarm alerting the userof incorrect folding through a series of on-screen alerts and vibrations.» 

A Galaxy of features comes together

The Galaxy Z TriFold appears to borrow elements from two of its siblings: the Galaxy S25 Edge and the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Both phones are impressively thin, with the Edge measuring 5.8mm and the Z Fold 7 measuring 4.2mm thick when unfolded. 

The Z TriFold goes one step further. It’s just 3.9mm thick «at its thinnest point,» Samsung says. Reading the fine print reveals that measurement excludes «the camera and the preinstalled protective film.» The thickest panel is the center one, which measures 4.2mm. The panel with the side button is 4mm thick. Still, that should all help to reduce bulk when the three screens are stacked shut on top of one another. 

The rear triple-camera system includes a 200-megapixel wide-angle camera, similar to the Galaxy S25 Ultra, S25 Edge and Z Fold 7. There’s also a 12-megapixel ultrawide and 10-megapixel telephoto camera. For selfies, you’ll find 10-megapixel front-facing cameras on both the cover and main screens. 

Like Samsung’s other premium phones released this year, the Z TriFold is powered by a custom Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. It also has a 5,600-mAh three-cell battery — a nice upgrade over the 4,400-mAh battery on the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Samsung notes this system «has been placed ineach of the three panels of the device for balanced power delivery and all-day endurance.» The phone supports 45-watt super-fast charging. 

Unlike Huawei’s Mate XTs trifold, which unfurls into a Z shape, Samsung’s trifold has panels that fold inward, more like a pamphlet. 

The Z TriFold has two different-sized hinges, «creating a smoother, more stable fold despitevarying weight and components across the device,» Samsung notes. This also helps to reduce the gap between the screens. The titanium hinge housing «resists wear over time,» and the phone’s Advanced Armor Aluminum frame should also help with durability, while preventing the screens from touching when folded shut. 

The Z TriFold borrows another trait from the Z Fold 7: an IP48 rating. That means the phone can be submerged under 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes and is protected against solid particles larger than 1 millimeter, but not against dust. Meanwhile, Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold boasts an impressive IP68 rating for water and dust resistance. 

Samsung’s triple-display foldable has Corning’s Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the front, while the back is made of ceramic-glass fiber-reinforced polymer. 

Why would someone buy the Galaxy Z TriFold?

So what’s the point of a phone that unfolds into a giant 10-inch display? Samsung says the Z TriFold is ideal for multitasking.

«Users can use the screen with endless versatility — they can create across three different portrait-sized apps side-by-side without interruption, resize apps inmulti-window to view the most important information clearly, or hold it vertically when reviewing documents forimproved focus,» the company notes.

Samsung also says a wider screen can be good for watching movies and TV shows. And if you’re watching a YouTube video, you can simultaneously read the comments on the neighboring display. Samsung notes that «minimized creasing on the device keeps content seamless anduninterrupted.» That’ll be a crucial element. 

The phone’s AMOLED cover and main screens have a refresh rate up to 120Hz. The cover display boasts a peak brightness of 2,600 nits, while the main screen features a peak brightness of 1,600 nits. 

The Galaxy Z TriFold will arrive with Android 16 and One UI 8. It’s not yet clear how much the phone will cost in the US, but given the Z Fold 7’s $2,000 starting price, it’ll probably be a pretty penny.

The iPhone 17 models are Apple’s latest and greatest phones. A naked iPhone looks beautiful, but getting a case to protect it is probably a smart idea, especially with the phone’s price tag ranging from $799 to $1,199. Although there are tons of cases available, if you want one from Apple, you’re in luck. 

Apple’s iPhone 17 cases are marked with a discount of almost 50% at Amazon for a limited time. This current discount applies to a wide range of colors for the iPhone 17 andprice down to $25. We don’t expect this to last too long, so hurry if you’re interested. If you know someone who just got the iPhone 17, this makes for a great holiday gift. 

Apple’s discounted cases typically sell for $49, so this record-low price of $25 is a steal. There are several colors to pick from, including midnight, neon yellow, black and more. But many colors are already selling out fast for both the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro. 

This sleek case is made from recycled silicone, yet it is surprisingly durable. It’s got raised edges that help protect the phone from scratches and drops. The case features a sapphire crystal coupled to a conductive layer, allowing for finger movements to control the camera. And my favorite part is that it’s MagSafe-compatible.

Haven’t gotten your hands on the iPhone 17 yet? Take a look at the top iPhone 17 deals you can take advantage of right now. 

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Why this deal matters

The iPhone 17 series is Apple’s latest. Like other Apple devices, these phones don’t come cheap, so it’s a good idea to make sure they’re protected against drops, mishaps and potential scratches. These Apple cases are MagSafe compatible and come in a variety of colors and styles. With Amazon’s limited-time 49% discount, now is an excellent time to shop if you want to keep your phone case within the Apple ecosystem. 

In October, Kohler launched Dekoda, a camera that attaches to a toilet and uses AI to examine your poop. Some say you can’t put a price on good gut health, but the Dekoda costs $599 for the device, plus a subscription fee that ranges from $70 to $156 per year.

But after a blog post published this week raised questions about Kohler’s data practices for its new toilet gadget, the company was forced to explained what it means by «encrypted» data for customers, and what its policy is for training its algorithms on their… uh… waste information. And it’s not as straightforward as it initially appeared to be.

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On its website, Kohler says Dekoda «analyzes gut health and hydration and detects the presence of blood in the toilet bowl, providing data for building healthy habits.»

On the same webpage, Kohler touts privacy features for the gadget. It says that the camera only ever points down into the toilet bowl, that it offers fingerprint authentication optionally via the Dekoda remote and that, «our technology is designed to keep your personal data personal. It is end-to-end encrypted.»

The blog post published by security researcher Simon Fondrie-Teitler raised questions about what that encryption entails and pointed out that Kohler would likely have access to the data and images collected by Dekoda. 

«Responses from the company make it clear that — contrary to common understanding of the term — Kohler is able to access data collected by the device and associated application,» he wrote.

Kohler responds to privacy concerns

Kohler itself appeared to confirm this notion in a statement it shared with CNET. It wrote: «The term end-to-end encryption is often used in the context of products that enable a user (sender) to communicate with another user (recipient), such as a messaging application. Kohler Health is not a messaging application. In this case, we used the term with respect to the encryption of data between our users (sender) and Kohler Health (recipient).»

The company went on to say: «We encrypt data end-to-end in transit, as it travels between users’ devices and our systems, where it is decrypted and processed to provide and improve our service. We also encrypt sensitive user data at rest, when it’s stored on a user’s mobile phone, toilet attachment and on our systems.»

In other words, the data Dekoda collects is encrypted in transit, but can be decrypted by the company on its end.

In regards to how the company uses the data for AI systems learning, Kohler said in the same statement: «If a user consents (which is optional), Kohler Health may de-identify the data and use the de-identified data to train the AI that drives our product. This consent check-box is displayed in the Kohler Health app, is optional and is not pre-checked.»

Based on Kohler’s statement, it will remove information that pairs a user’s identity with the data before it’s used for optional AI model training.

The meaning of ‘encrypted’

This may cause confusion for people who are familiar with the kind of end-to-end encryption offered by services such as Signal or even Apple. Here, the expectation that companies wouldn’t have access, or even a technological way, to decrypt data that people are transmitting through their services.

What Kohler is doing sounds different from that expectation, as Fondrie-Teitler points out in his post: «What Kohler is referring to as E2EE here is simply HTTPS encryption between the app and the server, something that has been basic security practice for two decades now, plus encryption at rest.»

Kohler did not respond directly to questions about Fondrie-Teitler’s post to CNET beyond the statement it shared.