Samsung’s $2,899 TriFold Phone Sells Out in Minutes

Samsung's Galaxy Z TriFold, a triple-folding smartphone with a $2,899 price tag, sold out across the United States within minutes of its launch on January 30. The device vanished from Samsung's online store and Samsung Experience Stores so quickly that it raised questions about whether the strong demand reflects genuine consumer interest or simply limited initial inventory.

The TriFold is Samsung's most ambitious phone yet. It features two hinges that allow the screen to fold twice, opening to a 10-inch display that blurs the line between a smartphone and a tablet. At its thinnest point, the device measures just 3.9 millimeters thick. The phone comes with 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, a 5,600mAh battery, and a triple-camera system with a 200-megapixel main sensor.

Background

Foldable phones have existed for several years, but they remain a niche product in the United States market. Samsung pioneered the category with its Galaxy Z Fold line, which typically sells for around $2,000. The company has also offered the Galaxy Z Flip, a clamshell-style foldable phone at a lower price point.

Apple has not released a foldable iPhone, leaving Samsung as the primary player pushing foldable technology in the premium U.S. smartphone market. This positioning has allowed Samsung to differentiate itself at a time when smartphone upgrades have slowed and consumers question whether new features justify higher prices.

The TriFold represents Samsung's next step in foldable innovation. By adding a second hinge and expanding the unfolded screen to 10 inches, Samsung is essentially asking buyers to pay more than many laptops cost for a device that serves as both a phone and a tablet.

Key Details

Samsung made the TriFold available on January 30 for $2,899 in a single configuration: 512GB of storage in Crafted Black. The device was sold exclusively through Samsung.com and Samsung Experience Stores across the country.

Tech outlets including Droid Life and CNET reported that the phone went out of stock within minutes of the sale beginning. By the time many interested buyers checked the Samsung website, the device showed as unavailable.

"Samsung has a long history of pioneering category defining devices." – Drew Blackard, senior vice president of mobile product management at Samsung Electronics America

What makes the sellout notable is that Samsung did not offer trade-in deals for the TriFold. This means buyers had to pay the full $2,899 price without the option to reduce the cost by trading in an older phone. Despite this barrier, demand appeared to exceed supply.

The Supply Question

Samsung has not disclosed how many units it made available for the initial U.S. launch. This lack of transparency has created uncertainty about what the quick sellout actually means. A rapid sellout could indicate strong consumer demand, or it could simply reflect that Samsung offered limited inventory as a test run to gauge market interest.

Industry analysts have noted this ambiguity. One technology analyst described the TriFold as "early adopter tech, not a mainstream phone" and expected shipment volumes to be low even before the sellout occurred. The fast depletion of stock could reflect either outcome.

Samsung's U.S. website is currently accepting sign-ups for restock notifications, but the company has not provided a timeline for when the next batch will be available. The product page only states that the device is "restocking soon," with some reports suggesting it could be at least a couple of weeks before more units arrive.

Interestingly, the TriFold has sold out quickly in other markets as well. Samsung has released the phone in South Korea and restocked it multiple times, only to see each batch sell out rapidly.

What This Means

The TriFold launch offers Samsung an early indicator of whether consumers will pay premium prices for new phone form factors. At nearly $3,000, the device costs significantly more than Samsung's own Galaxy Z Fold 7, which sells for about $2,000, and even exceeds the price of a high-end iPhone 17 Pro Max.

The quick sellout suggests that at least some segment of early adopters is willing to pay this premium for innovation. However, the lack of disclosed sales numbers means the true scale of demand remains unclear. Samsung may have produced only a few thousand units for the initial launch, which would sell out quickly even if interest is modest.

For Samsung, the TriFold represents a strategy to keep its premium phone lineup fresh at a time when traditional smartphone upgrades have become less compelling to consumers. By offering a genuinely different form factor, the company is betting that innovation can justify higher prices.

The success of the TriFold could influence Samsung's future product strategy and potentially pressure other manufacturers to explore foldable designs. Apple's continued absence from the foldable market leaves the door open for Samsung to establish itself as the leader in this emerging category.