Samsung Galaxy Fold travels back in time to arrive in Star Trek: Picard

The Samsung Galaxy Fold featured in Star Trek: Picard is a nice tech cameo.

Science fiction plays an important role in our society as it speculates about what our world might look like in a more or less near future. There are many examples of genre content that has already imagined such and such a device in our lives, with more or less precision and accuracy, of course. Today we have, so to speak, the opposite example with the Star Trek series: Picard.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold from Star Trek: Picard

For decades, Star Trek has laid the foundation for consumer technology. We have smartphones and voice assistants today because devices like the tricorder have inspired engineers at Apple, Google and other tech companies to recreate those same technologies in our very real world. And now that loop seems to be closed when you see all the technology and its evolution since the original 1966 series.

Nice tech cameo

If you’ve been watching the new season of Star Trek: Picard, you might have noticed that one of the characters uses a rather curious prop in Episode 2. In footage discovered by 9to5Google, Alison Pill, aka Dr. Agnes Jurati, can be seen using what looks a lot like a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 or Fold 3. It’s not exactly from the 21st century, but if you look closely, you can see the crease mark that is generated on all smartphones of the South Korean giant with a folding screen.

Seeing the arrival of a modern smartphone in Star Trek: Picard is hilarious enough, but what makes this cameo even more anachronistic is that by 25th-century Star Trek technology standards, Dr. Jurati has access to technologies like holographic screens.. Since part of the second season takes place in 2024, we should see more of our current gadgets on the show.