Samsung is preparing to axe its first three-panel foldable phone less than three months after launching the device in the US. Sales of the $2,899 Galaxy Z TriFold will first be wound down in Korea and then discontinued in the US once remaining inventory has been cleared, an unnamed Samsung spokesperson told Bloomberg.
This follows a report from Korean media outlet Dong-A Ilbo on Monday that says the TriFold will be getting a final domestic restock today, March 17th. Samsung’s website stopped providing future restock updates for the foldable earlier this month, with the TriFold currently listed as “sold out” in the US.
It was only available to purchase directly from Samsung, with Dong-A Ilbo reporting that just 6,000 units have been stocked and sold domestically since the phone launched in Korea on December 12th. Meanwhile, Huawei is already on the second generation of its own trifold phone, but while the original Mate XT Ultimate eventually launched in other regions, the Mate XTs is still limited to China.
Some buyers have managed to find stock of the foldable at Samsung Experience Stores in Texas and New York, according to Bloomberg, but it seems like the online inventory is already drying up in the US. Once that’s entirely depleted, third-party resellers or those flogging used handsets will be among the only ways to purchase the short-lived Galaxy Z TriFold, but proceed with caution — our attempts to obtain one via eBay went about as well as you’d expect.
High production costs are reportedly behind the decision, with component prices having risen significantly enough to make it almost impossible for Samsung to turn a profit even if sales continued. In an interview with Bloomberg last month, Samsung’s mobile business chief Won-Joon Choi said the company hasn’t committed to releasing a successor to the TriFold, but suggested elements of it — such as the larger display and wider aspect ratio — may trickle down to Samsung’s other foldable phones in time.
