What made this journalist with 1,800 phones fly to Korea for a Samsung phone?

Samsung has highlighted the interesting story for a Japanese IT journalist who has amassed a huge collection of 1,800+ phones flying over to South Korea to get his hands on a unique Galaxy phone.

Anyone who has been in this line of work has a passion for technology and even if they're not true collectors, they probably have many devices lying around. Between all of us here at SamMobile, we probably have hundreds of old phones gathering dust somewhere!

For Yasuhiro Yamane, though, collecting these devices is a passion. He considers himself to be a “mobile phone researcher,” having covered smartphones and telecommunications for more than 20 years.

It was none other than Samsung's Galaxy Z TriFold that convinced Yamane to make the trip to South Korea from Hong Kong so that he could buy one. Samsung launched the device in its home country on December 12, priced the equivalent of $2,500.

Yamane's first Samsung product was the SGH-E400 flip phone released in 2003. Just over two decades later, Samsung has released a tri-folding phone that would have seemed like a fantasy back when the SGH-E400 hit the market.

He was eager to try the phone before anyone else so hence the trip to South Korea where the Galaxy Z TriFold was first made available. It was probably for the better, because the Galaxy Z TriFold also happens to be the cheapest in South Korea.

Yamane has come away impressed with the Galaxy Z TriFold, finding its 10-inch unfolded display great for multi-tasking. He says this is a good device for creators and business users who need to juggle multiple tasks.

Given how limited this phone's availability will be for the foreseeable future, whether they can get their hands on one is another matter altogether.