- The Samsung Galaxy tri-fold phone may launch in China and Korea only, if a new rumor is anything to go by
- Also, a new patent filing suggests Samsung has created a design for a quad-fold phone with three hinges
- Samsung has not acknowledged either the rumor or the patent
At this year’s first Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung hinted that it’s working on a multi-fold phone – also referred to as a tri-fold phone – which has since come to be known on the rumor mill as the Samsung Galaxy G Fold.
However, a new rumor suggests that keen Samsung fans in many parts of the world could be left disappointed by the Galaxy G Fold’s availability at launch.
As GSMArena reports, listings were discovered in the GSM Association’s database for two new Samsung model numbers, SM-F968N and SM-F9680. It’s suspected that these refer to the supposed multi-fold phone.
The report adds that Samsung typically uses the N suffix for phones destined for its home market of South Korea, while a code ending in 0 denotes a Chinese release.
There are no other listings for the SM-F968 at the moment, which suggests the phone will be coming to China and Korea first and foremost.
It’s also possible that Samsung isn’t planning a wider release for the Galaxy G Fold – we previously saw a similar release for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold SE in October 2024, and that phone has yet to appear on store shelves outside of China and Korea.
However, this would seem like an odd choice considering the company previously teased multi-fold devices at the globally-streamed Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event in January.
A fourth fold?
Though we haven’t even had official confirmation of a specific tri-fold device from Samsung, another rumor suggests that the company could be pushing ahead with the next stage of folding phone evolution.
A patent uncovered by SamMobile shows that Samsung has patented a new design that would allow for a three-hinged, four-panelled folding phone.
The design features a hinge right in the middle of the inner display, with the phone folding inwards on either side.
We don’t know whether Samsung intends to make this design a reality any time soon – it could just be an example of them sitting on intellectual property.
In any case, if Samsung does skip over the West with the Galaxy G Fold, I hope we’re at least considered for any quad-fold phones that crop up in years to come.
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jamie.richards@futurenet.com (Jamie Richards)
