Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 Dual

 

The idea of a dual and tri folding smartphone has been floating around for as long as there’s been foldables. In general we get to see slim devices with complex hinges and a beefy handset when it’s all folded up. Now leakster extraordinaire Pigtou is showing us brand new renders inspired by patents leaked for a potential Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, with dual and tri fold design.

There are actually two phones here, a Galaxy Z Fold 3 that can fold 2 times and a triple folding machine. The first one is the dual fold version, that looks pretty much like the Z Fold 2, but with an extra hinge and body part. The camera has an odd placement at the dead center of one of the segments. It includes 4 sensors and no periscope cam. It also seems to offer the external screen more space compared to the last gen model. The main appeal of having a dual fold approach is that you’re going to get a tablet diagonal once the device is all unfolded up.

You can even turn a Fold into a Galaxy Tab of sorts. Samsung is likely to use a 120 Hz panel to keep things smooth as silk. Then we have the the tri fold design, which sounds like overkill to me. This one has a wraparound display, instead of the two usual separate panels. It feels like a Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha, but with a much bigger screen and the ability to turn into a tablet. The hinges remain on both sides of the device, but they’re able to fold in opposite directions.

The result is a more phone-like shape, even though a bit thicker than a regular smartphone. A wraparound screen means that you get much more screen estate no matter the device format you adopt. Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 2 have been criticized for their big bezels and this may just fix it. Samsung could also place a physical keyboard on a third of the screen, letting you create a sort of laptop-like experience. It’s not very clear if we’ll see such devices in 2021, especially since Samsung’s portofolio has pretty much leaked.

It includes a Galaxy Z Fold 3, Z Fold Lite and a new Z Flip, maybe also a rollable phone. I’d rather see Oppo and Xiaomi launching tri folding machines…