Huawei’s wide foldable shows where the market may be heading
A new direction is starting to take shape in foldable phones even before the long-rumored iPhone Fold reaches the market. Several Chinese vendors are reportedly preparing wider foldable designs, echoing the concept long associated with Apple’s first foldable phone.
That shift matters because today’s foldable market is still dominated by elongated formats, whether book-style or clamshell. If wider screens become a stronger trend, competition will no longer focus only on hinge quality and thickness.
Apple’s idea is already influencing rivals
Rumors about the iPhone Fold have circulated for years, and Apple is said to be working on a wide-screen foldable rather than the stretched format seen in many early foldables. There is still no clear launch timing, but the design discussion has already reached major Android makers, especially from China.
Vivo is among the first names linked to this movement. Tipster Smart Pikachu said Vivo is preparing the Vivo X Fold6, although it has not been clearly stated whether the device will directly adopt a wide-screen concept.
Vivo, Honor, and Oppo are all being watched
Smart Pikachu also pointed to improvements around the crease, the visible fold line near the hinge. According to the tipster, the Vivo X Fold6 is worth watching for users who prefer a broader foldable design, and future models are expected to move further in that direction.
Honor has also been mentioned in the same conversation. Tipster Guan Tongxue GiM said Honor has long been preparing a foldable with a more “wide” design, and shared an image that is said to point to the company’s future foldable concept.
The image reportedly shows three holes that are believed to be camera sensor positions on top of the secondary display. The launch schedule remains unclear, though rumors suggest Honor may not release the device until early 2027.
Oppo is also said to be evaluating a foldable smartphone with a wider screen. Details are still limited, and the project appears to remain at the assessment stage, so its final design and launch window cannot yet be pinned down.
Huawei has already put the concept on sale
While Apple, Vivo, Honor, and Oppo are still tied to rumors and development chatter, Huawei has already shown a real example of the wider foldable approach. The company launched the Huawei Pura X Max in China in April with a wide-foldable design.
The device sits between a flip phone and a book-style foldable. Its expanded shape gives the display a paper-like ratio, setting it apart from the more common elongated foldables on the market.
Huawei Pura X Max uses a 5.4-inch outer screen and a 7.7-inch main display. That is larger than the Pura X, which comes with a 3.5-inch cover display and a 6.3-inch main screen.
Display size is not the only difference
Both screens use LTPO 2.0 panels with adaptive refresh rates from 1 to 120Hz. The outer screen reaches up to 3,500 nits of brightness, while the inner screen goes up to 3,000 nits.
The Pura X Max also uses a nearly square display ratio of around 14.1:10. That makes it slightly wider than the classic 4:3 format and is intended to provide a more consistent visual experience when moving between the outer and inner screens.
Physically, the phone measures 120 mm x 166.5 mm when unfolded with a thickness of 5.2 mm. When folded, it becomes 120 mm x 85 mm and 11.2 mm thick.
In China, the Huawei Pura X Max starts at 11,000 yuan. There is still no information on whether it will be sold outside China, but its arrival shows that the wide foldable format has moved beyond concept talk and into the commercial market.
