This week’s Gear news: Samsung’s TriFold sold out in minutes, and a leak teases Google’s new operating system

The first Galaxy phone from Samsung The Z TriFold went on sale last Friday, but sold out in minutes. This foldable phone differs from the seventh generation Galaxy Z Fold7 in that its screen can expand to 10 inches, turning it into a suitable tablet. This also means that it commands an incredibly high price of $2,899. It’s the first device of its kind here in the West, although Huawei has its own version in China.

You’ll have to register at Samsung.com to receive notifications of when the next batch of Galaxy Z TriFolds are available. The company says it has limited units in select Samsung Experience stores across the US in states like New York, Texas, California and Minnesota.

The leak gives us a glimpse at Google’s aluminum operating system

Google has been quiet about hinting at its future plans to merge Android and Chromebook into a single operating system, said to be known as Aluminum OS internally. But now we may be getting our first glimpse at what it will look like, as captured by 9to5 Google. Admittedly, the glimpse is a bit limited, but some official images and a video were pulled from the bug report revealing the interface, which have since been removed by Google.

The brief look shows that Aluminum OS really looks like Android and ChromeOS combined. The window and browser elements seem to be derived from ChromeOS, while the rest of the interface seems to take more cues from Android. Specifically, the taskbar and Start screen look very similar to the desktop mode in Android 16. The video shows two instances of Google Chrome running in split screen, a common setup for Chromebooks, before the Google Play Store briefly opens in a separate window. Either way, based on what we see here, the aluminum OS may not end up feeling like a huge deviation from what’s available. That will be important if Google hopes to keep the Chromebook going in educational markets.

Although the aluminum OS will replace ChromeOS in the long term, that could take years, and Chromebooks themselves aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. But rumors suggest that we will see an official launch of the cross-platform operating system sometime later this year as Google gradually integrates its platforms. —Luke Larsen

New Vivaldi update avoids artificial intelligence

Vivaldi via Scott Gilbertson

Vivaldi, an alternative web browser, recently released an update to its tab organizers, but the update is more notable for what it doesn’t include: artificial intelligence. “While every major browser is racing to integrate AI assistants into their products, Vivaldi is dropping the middle finger on this entire approach,” Vivaldi CEO John von Titchener wrote.

With Google Chrome now integrating the company’s Gemini 3 LLM model to handle tasks like booking flights and finding apartments, Vivaldi is positioning itself as a browser that remains AI-free. Instead, Vivaldi plans to double down on tools for humans, because “human intelligence, equipped with really powerful tools, outperforms artificial algorithmic assistants every time,” Titchener says.

The new Power Tools in this release include some improvements to Tab Tiling, Vivaldi’s feature of having two tabs (two or more web pages) side by side in the same window. Vivaldi 7.8 adds a new feature that allows you to tile tabs using drag and drop. Grab any tab in the tab bar and drag it to the current tab, and Vivaldi will tile the two side by side. Where you drag it determines how the tab is tiled, left, right, top, or bottom, depending on where you want it.

Other new features in this update include easier access to Vivaldi’s built-in mail client and a user requested feature that allows you to restrict pinned tabs to a single domain. Vivaldi 7.8 can be downloaded from the Vivaldi website. —Scott Gilbertson

Samsung makes a sustainable display

Courtesy of Samsung

Samsung is always experimenting with new display technology, but sustainability enthusiasts will be particularly interested in its latest innovation: phytoplankton-based bio-resin in displays. This material is part of Samsung’s new color e-paper display, and is used in the chassis.

“The display casing has been independently verified by the global safety and sustainability certification organization UL, and is composed of 45 percent recycled plastic and 10 percent phytoplankton-based bio-resin,” Samsung says. “This material innovation was developed as an alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastics, which can reduce carbon emissions in the manufacturing process by more than 40 percent.”