A tri-fold phone from Tecno has been leaked just days before Samsung is expected to reveal its own innovative model.
The company has shown a concept dual hinge phone before, with reports that this will get an official unveiling later in July.
Samsung is on the verge of announcing its latest folding phones – the Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 – with rumours that the Galaxy G Fold will also be teased.
However, it looks like Samsung isn't the only company looking to attract foldable phone fans with a new G Fold device.
While not a big player in global smartphone sales, Tecno is a big disrupter when it comes to concept devices. The company is teasing the launch of the Phantom Ultimate G Fold Concept, confirming that the phone will make its official debut in mid-July, according to 9to5Google. And today's tease is perfect for disrupting Samsung's launch plans.
Tecno first unveiled a tri-fold phone concept in August 2024 and now seems to be preparing for a bigger push. While we wait for the official announcement from the brand, a familiar leaker has a set of pictures available for examination.
Sharing on X (formerly Twitter), UniverseIce has images of the new Tecno phone, which shows how it lives up to the Phantom Ultimate G Fold Concept name. The "G" part of the name comes from the folding action, as this device folds in on itself, rather than folding in a Z like the Huawei Mate XT.
Like the predicted design of the Samsung tri-fold model, one panel folds into the centre, sandwiched between the front of the phone and the back. That means that there's a proper external display, with the internal display all being safely tucked away when the phone is folded.
That might provide additional protection that isn't found on the Huawei device, where one folding panel is always exposed.
The consequence of this G folding design is that the hinges are different sizes, as one needs to be large enough to fold around the panel that's sandwiched in the centre.
I suspect that Tecno's naming strategy here is simple cuckooing; the previous model was called the Phantom Ultimate 2 and using the G Fold name is likely because Samsung's phone has been colloquially known as the Galaxy G Fold. Certainly the timing of this tease (and leak) couldn't be more obviously disruptive.
Ultimately, however, we currently don't know if Samsung will reveal the Galaxy G Fold at Samsung Unpacked – but if it does, you can expect it to be available to buy within the next couple of months. With Tecno only showing a concept, it's questionable whether it will actually launch this device commercially.
Samsung Galaxy Unpacked will take place on 9 July, so be ready for a storm of updates on the latest Galaxy hardware.
