1,800 Phones Later: Why This Tech Veteran Flew to Korea for the TriFold
TechWednesday, 31 December 2025 at 10:58
Most people get a new phone every two or three years and call it a day. Yasuhiro Yamane is not most people. The veteran Japanese IT journalist has a collection of over 1,800 mobile devices—a literal museum of cellular history. But even with a hoard that size, he felt something was missing. When Samsung announced the Galaxy Z TriFold, Yamane didn't wait for a local release. He hopped on a flight from Hong Kong to Seoul just to buy it on launch day.
Key Points:
- Japanese IT journalist Yasuhiro Yamane flew from Hong Kong to Korea to buy the Galaxy Z TriFold.
- Yamane owns a collection of over 1,800 mobile phones spanning a 20-year career.
- The Galaxy Z TriFold features a 10-inch unfolded display and is only 3.9mm thick.
- The device launched in South Korea on December 12, 2025, for approximately $2,436.
- Yamane demonstrated the phone's 3-app multitasking and Bluetooth keyboard productivity.
The "Mobile Researcher" Perspective
Yamane calls himself a "mobile phone researcher," and he’s seen everything from the first clunky flip phones to the latest slabs. He bought his first Samsung—an SGH-E400—back in 2003. According to him, the Z TriFold isn't just another incremental upgrade. It’s a "completely new kind of device" that finally kills the boundary between a phone and a professional workstation.
Why Three Screens Are Better Than One
At first glance, a triple-folding phone sounds like a recipe for a bulky disaster. But the specs tell a different story. When unfolded, the device is an impossible 3.9mm thick. That is thinner than most tablet-only devices.
- The Display: A massive 10-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel.
- The Weight: 309 grams. It’s light enough to hold vertically on a crowded subway while multitasking.
- The Workflow: Yamane reports running email, Google Maps, and PDF documents simultaneously without the screen feeling cramped.
The "100 Person" Test
After flying back to Japan with his new $2,500 prize, Yamane showed the device to 100 people. The reaction was almost universal: it doesn’t feel like a "phone" anymore. It feels like the future. By pairing it with a Bluetooth keyboard and using Samsung DeX, Yamane has turned the TriFold into his primary mobile office.
In a market full of boring, identical glass rectangles, the Z TriFold is a bold bet that the future of mobile isn't just bigger—it's more flexible. If a guy with 1,800 phones thinks it's special, he might be onto something.
Or... Samsung made a very successful promotion gig ;)
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