Samsung's hosting their third Unpacked event of 2025 on September 29, and they're cramming every experimental device they've been working on into one presentation. Korean media sources are reporting they're showing off a tri-fold phone, Project Moohan XR headset, and AI smart glasses.
Samsung's hosting this in South Korea, which they almost never do. Last time was 2023 for foldables, so they must think this stuff is actually important instead of just prototype demos that'll disappear after the keynote.
Tri-fold? Really?
Samsung's building a phone with three fucking hinges. Because apparently two hinges that already break wasn't complicated enough.
Look, I get it - bigger screen when unfolded, fits in your pocket when closed. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 barely got the reliability right with two hinges, and now they want to add a third failure point?
The engineering nightmare here is real. More hinges mean more moving parts, more stress concentrators, more places for the display to crack. Every Galaxy Z Fold I've seen has developed hinge issues within a year. Adding a third hinge is like putting two more points of failure in your daily driver.
Sure, Google's Pixel Fold exists, but Google couldn't even get that right on the first try. Chinese companies are trying tri-folds too, but none of them have shipped anything that doesn't feel like a prototype.
The Ultra Thin Glass (UTG) tech might be better now, but physics is physics. Bend something repeatedly and it breaks.
Project Moohan: VR Headset #4847
Samsung's been working on Project Moohan for years, and it still sounds like they're trying to compete with Apple's Vision Pro and Meta's Quest series. Good luck with that.
Apple's Vision Pro costs $3,499 and barely anyone bought it. Meta's been burning billions on VR for years and it's still mostly for gaming. Samsung thinks they can crack this market with... another VR headset?
Sure, Samsung makes good OLED displays and decent mobile processors. They'll probably build a headset that's technically competent. But building the hardware is the easy part - it's the software ecosystem that kills most VR companies.
Apple spent years building spatial computing apps and developers still don't give a shit about Vision Pro. Meta's been throwing money at developers for the metaverse and most people use Quest for Beat Saber.
Samsung's going to need more than good displays to make anyone care about another VR headset.
AI Smart Glasses: Because We Need More Surveillance
Samsung's jumping on the AI smart glasses bandwagon because apparently everyone needs cameras on their face now. Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses exist and people use them to record TikToks, so Samsung wants in.
The "AI capabilities" will probably be Bixby, which nobody uses even on Samsung phones. Voice control that doesn't work half the time, camera functionality that makes you look like a creep, and AR features that drain the battery in 2 hours.
The "seamless Galaxy ecosystem integration" sounds good until you realize that means your glasses need to be paired to your Samsung phone, connected to Samsung's cloud, and running Samsung's AI that can't understand basic commands.
These things will probably cost $400, have 6-hour battery life, and get discontinued in 18 months when Samsung realizes nobody wants to wear computers on their face.
Why Samsung's Doing This Now
September 29 is right before the holiday shopping season, so Samsung's hoping at least one of these experimental devices will catch on. More importantly, Chinese phone makers are eating Samsung's lunch in traditional smartphones, so they need something to look innovative again.
Launching three bleeding-edge devices at once is Samsung saying "look, we're still the innovation leader" even though most of these will probably be expensive tech demos that regular people ignore.
Reality Check Time
Let's be honest about what's going to happen:
The tri-fold phone will cost $2500+, break after 6 months of normal use, and get bought by tech reviewers and rich people who want the latest gadget.
The XR headset will be technically impressive, have no compelling software, and collect dust after the initial novelty wears off.
The AI glasses will have terrible battery life, make you look like a Google Glass refugee, and get discontinued when nobody buys them.
Samsung's throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Problem is, most of this stuff isn't ready for regular people who just want devices that work reliably every day.