I’m referring to the alleged wide foldables that both Samsung and Apple are about to unleash in some months time:
These won’t be the pioneers of the genre. A company that you may’ve heard of – Huawei – already released its Pura X Max model weeks ago.
But since Samsung and Apple are the best-known phone brands in the whole wide world, it’s up to them to popularize (or trash) the wide foldable genre.
The thing is, they probably won’t be alone.
Incoming!
Huawei already did it first. | Image by Huawei
Per recent reports, it’s rumored that both Vivo and Honor would come up with a wider foldable (or two) of their own.
These speculations are really vague as there aren’t any specs attached, nor are there any exact dates. But Rumorsville is hinting that these alleged wide foldables by Vivo and Honor could materialize in late 2026 or 2027.
I’m sure they’ll be monitoring the situation closely once Samsung’s and Apple’s wide foldables hit the shelves.
But… why wider foldables?
To answer with a question… because why not? Joking aside, wider aspect ratios in foldables are meant to deal with limitations of the current square-ish internal displays, which often feel like a compromise for media consumption.
Think about it – most video content is produced in 16:9 or 21:9 formats. Square screens suffer from massive black bars that negate the benefits of a larger canvas.
A wider design allows the device to function more like a traditional tablet, providing the horizontal real estate necessary for immersive gaming and cinematic media without forced cropping.
This shift would be important also for side-by-side multitasking freaks: apps will have more room to be positioned in the larger, wider desktop-style interfaces.
A flop in the making?
Sure, this experiment might flop – just like the ultra-thin phone craze didn’t take off and both the Galaxy S25 Edge and the iPhone Air sold poorly last year.
Similarly, both the Galaxy Z Fold Wide and/or the iPhone Fold (a.k.a. iPhone Ultra) could turn out to be a market fail. But the industry – if the aforementioned rumors hold true – could invest in wider foldables beyond Samsung and Apple.
The more, the merrier. Maybe one of the smaller players would nail the perfect rectangular foldable and the giants, which won’t lose any sleep over it, would be humbled yet again.
