Galaxy Z TriFold Benchmarks: A Stunning Tri-Fold Design With Surprisingly Soft Performance

Samsung’s first tri-folding smartphone, the Galaxy Z TriFold, was supposed to be the kind of gadget you buy to flex – a futuristic slab of glass that folds twice, shouts “early adopter” from across the room, and quietly justifies its price with rock-solid specs. With retail sales in South Korea scheduled to start on December 12, expectations were sky-high. But the first leaked Geekbench 6 scores have landed, and they tell a much less flattering story about the phone’s Snapdragon 8 Elite performance.

According to early benchmark data, the Galaxy Z TriFold significantly underperforms the official reference numbers for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite.

That sort of gap between lab results and shipping hardware is normal – phones throttle, manufacturers tune for battery life, and thermals are brutal in thin bodies. Still, the magnitude here is hard to ignore. The TriFold’s single-core Geekbench 6 score trails Qualcomm’s own numbers by about 9.6%, while its multi-core result is roughly 12.6% lower. For a device positioning itself as a halo product, those figures raise eyebrows.

The controversy isn’t just about the raw scores; it’s about context. Samsung has been openly using a last-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite platform in the TriFold instead of the newest silicon tier. One executive tried to spin this choice by saying the company wanted to deliver a “perfect and highly finished” product rather than chasing the absolute latest chip revision. In theory that sounds noble: prioritize stability over bragging rights. In practice, when a phone costs around $2,447, many enthusiasts expect both refinement and cutting-edge performance – not a compromise dressed up as philosophy.

The leaked benchmarks make that corporate narrative even harder to swallow

. If the whole point of sticking with a matured, last-generation chipset is predictable, polished performance, you’d at least expect the phone to land close to the reference scores. Instead, the TriFold appears to be leaving a noticeable chunk of its Snapdragon 8 Elite potential on the table. Thermal constraints from the triple-folding design, aggressive power-saving profiles, or firmware that still needs tuning could all be part of the story, but the end result is the same: on paper, the CPU performance feels more conservative than its price tag suggests.

That said, there’s another side to this debate: the Galaxy Z TriFold was never going to be the weapon of choice for competitive mobile gamers hunting every extra frame in Fortnite. This is a prestige device first and a performance champ second. Buyers drawn to a tri-fold phone are usually chasing the wow factor – the feel of unfolding a 10-inch canvas from their pocket, the ability to juggle multiple apps, sketch, read, and work on a near-tablet display, then fold it back into something that still fits in a jacket. For that crowd, smoothness, stability, and overall experience matter more than squeezing out another 5% in synthetic benchmarks.

On the hardware front, Samsung has certainly built something striking. When unfolded, the Galaxy Z TriFold measures 159.2 x 214.1 x 3.9–4.2 mm, turning into a slim, tablet-like slate. Fold it up and thickness jumps to 12.9 mm – chunky for a phone, but understandable once you remember there are three panels stacked together. Inside, you get a 10-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED display with a resolution of 2,160 x 1,584 and peak brightness of 1,600 nits. On the outside, a 6.5-inch FHD+ Dynamic LTPO AMOLED screen offers 2,520 x 1,080 resolution and a brighter 2,600 nits peak. Both panels support a variable refresh rate ranging from 1 Hz to 120 Hz, balancing buttery scrolling with battery savings.

Under the hood, the TriFold pairs the Snapdragon 8 Elite with 16 GB of RAM, a combination that should feel snappy in real-world multitasking even if the benchmarks aren’t chart-topping. A 5,600 mAh battery powers the whole setup and supports 45 W wired charging, a reasonable match for a device that doubles (or triples) as a phone, tablet, and conversation piece. Samsung has also given the TriFold an IP48 rating, which doesn’t make it a rugged brick by any means, but does add a bit of dust and water resistance – comforting for something this complex and expensive.

The camera system is similarly ambitious. On the rear, you’ll find a 200 MP main sensor, a 12 MP ultrawide camera for expansive shots, and a 10 MP telephoto lens for zoom. Both the inner and outer displays house 10 MP selfie cameras, giving you flexibility whether the phone is folded or fully opened. Combined with the large internal screen, the TriFold could be a mobile creator’s playground: roomier timelines, better controls for photo and video editing, and more screen space for previews and tools.

All of this brings us back to that awkward tension at the heart of the Galaxy Z TriFold. As a piece of industrial design and engineering, it’s undeniably impressive. As a status symbol, it hits the mark: rare, futuristic, instantly recognizable. But as a $2,447 flagship that ships with a last-gen chip running below its own reference benchmarks, it will be a harder sell for power users who equate premium with “best possible performance, no excuses.” For everyone else – the buyers who care more about the feel in the hand, the folding magic, and the sheer novelty of a tri-fold display – the benchmark drama may end up being little more than a footnote.

Early benchmarks are just one snapshot in time, and firmware updates can move the needle. Still, the Galaxy Z TriFold launches with a clear message: this is a luxury experiment aimed at people who value design and experience above numbers on a chart. If you’re the kind of user who lives inside productivity apps, wants a pocketable tablet, and doesn’t obsess over every last Geekbench point, the TriFold might still be the most interesting – if imperfect – gadget of the year.