Why 2026 will be the year of the Wide Foldables

If you told someone in 2016 that your phone screen folds in half, they would look at you like you’ve lost track.

Ten years later, the excitement that came with this design is long gone. While there has been significant evolution in foldable hardware, the form factor has remained fundamentally unchanged since 2019.

I’ve been using the Galaxy Z Fold 7 as my phone for over two months, and no one bats an eye when I open it in public. Even though they’re far from ubiquitous, foldables feel fairly common these days.

The zeitgeist has shifted heavily towards AI, with many companies shoving artificial intelligence down our throats at every opportunity.

I’ve been using the Galaxy Z Fold 7 as my phone for over two months, and no one bats an eye when I open it in public

In terms of hardware, triple devices initially felt like the future, but the focus has quickly shifted to so-called ‘wide foldables’, which look set to dominate the foldable smartphone market by 2026.

With several big-name models expected to launch in the coming months, this could be the upgrade that finally makes foldables mainstream. But there is one big potential catch.

Wait – what are wide folding trailer tents anyway?

Essentially, wide folding phones are a version of today’s book-style folding phones, which are significantly wider (hence the name), but also shorter. Due to their size, they are sometimes called folding passports.

The trade-off for this boxy cover screen (which is also significantly smaller) is an internal widescreen display that’s much closer to a traditional tablet.

Huawei’s Pura Compare that to the company’s book-style Mate

Wide folding models are also likely to be thicker than their regular counterparts. The Pura

I got it. So, are wide folding folding models better than regular ones?

It depends on what you care about most. But if you’re looking for a true phone/tablet hybrid, wide foldables should come much closer to that than today’s book-style foldables.

In theory, they solve a major problem that has affected all foldable book-style books to date: the odd aspect ratio.

Take the Galaxy Z Fold 7 as an example. The tall, narrow 21:9 cover display is similar to that of many regular phones, but the internal screen has an unusual resolution of 1968 x 2184. In other words, it’s only slightly taller than it is wide.

While truly optimized apps look great, they are few and far between.

The vast majority of games in the Google Play Store, plus virtually all long-form online video content, are designed for a traditional 16:9 aspect ratio – the same as that of your TV.

That presents you with a difficult dilemma. The easiest option is to simply crop in on the content, but this risks losing crucial details at the edges of the frame, and some apps don’t even support this. So you’re left with huge black bars at the top and bottom (also known as letterboxes), meaning a lot of that extra screen real estate is wasted.

…many more third-party apps should feel at home on the internal screen

A wide folding solution goes a long way to solving this problem. While no company is likely to achieve perfect 16:9, it will be much closer to a traditional widescreen display, which should significantly reduce letterbox usage.

So are wide foldable devices only worth it for gaming or watching videos?

No. The lack of popularity of today’s foldable book-style books means that many developers are reluctant to create special versions of their apps for the internal displays. While not as bad as the gaming or video watching experience, this leads to awkwardly stretched phone apps that make poor use of available space.

By introducing an aspect ratio that’s more consistent with a tablet, many more third-party apps should feel at home on the internal screen. Android is still lacking in dedicated tablet apps, but the offering should still be dramatically improved.

There’s an added benefit for fans of small phones. To fit the wider, shorter internal screen, the cover display typically needs to be much smaller than we’d now expect. The one on Huawei’s Pura X Max is just 5.4 inches – that’s the same as the iPhone 13 Mini!

Now that true small phones (i.e. with displays under 6 inches) are all but extinct, a wide folding phone could be an unorthodox way to get the small screen back.

Why is 2026 “the year of broad foldables”?

That’s because so many companies are expected to launch their own models for the first time. Until this year, a total of zero wide folding models had been launched. We could see half a dozen or more by the end of 2026.

According to leaker Smart Pikachu, who has a strong track record, Oppo and Vivo are both working on wide folding models. A separate Weibo leak from Guan Tongxue suggests that Honor will also be in action.

Even if these devices are initially exclusive to the company’s home country of China, it won’t be long before the first wide foldables land in Europe. However, these devices will almost certainly skip North America, so you’ll have to wait a little longer in the US.

Instead, it looks like a familiar smartphone battle will resume in the wide foldable arena: Apple vs. Samsung.

It looks like the Korean giant will be the first out of the traps, with July a likely launch month for the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide.

However, it probably won’t take long for Apple to respond, as all signs point to the highly anticipated foldable iPhone (rumored to be known as the iPhone Ultra) will feature a widescreen display.

At the expected unveiling in September, the foldable wars could really start.

Despite all the media attention received so far, foldables have yet to break into the mainstream. According to Counterpoint, they accounted for a paltry 1.6% of global smartphone sales by 2025, including modern flip phones.

I’m confident that this new form factor, combined with Apple’s reputation and marketing power, could finally entice mainstream consumers to make the switch.

Sounds great. Are there any disadvantages?

Yes, but there’s only one you really need to know: the price.

Although book-style foldable books have come a long way in recent years, their price has remained stubbornly high. At launch the Galaxy Z Fold 7 cost £1,799 / $1,999, and almost a year later it has only dropped to £1,519 / $1,579.99.

Since this is a brand new design, I would be shocked if wide folding models were cheaper. In fact, I would expect them to be significantly more expensive, at least initially.

Huawei offers at least some hope here, with the base Pura

However, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is an outlier, at least on a global level. And don’t pay too much attention to the converted UK/US figures above: Chinese phones are almost always much more expensive when they launch globally.

The other big factor is global uncertainty. The ongoing war in Iran threatens the global supply of semiconductors so crucial to smartphones, while increasingly demanding AI workloads have contributed to a global RAM shortage.

As a result, 2026 phones tend to be more expensive, offer very minimal upgrades, or both. And that could have a major knock-on effect on the price of book-style foldable books.

While book-style foldables are compromised in other ways, I expect price will be the only major compromise affecting wide foldables. But it’s a bona fide deal breaker for most people.

While the smaller cover screen will appeal to many people, it will also turn off many others. However, this pales in comparison to the major price problem that I don’t think any of the 2026 models will solve.

Oh honey. Will wide folding models ever make financial sense?

It’s impossible to say at this stage. But there are reasons for hope.

First, wide foldables should become closer than ever to a true phone/tablet hybrid, replacing two separate devices. I could even see it as an alternative to a laptop for some people.

Second, Apple is involved. Whatever you think of the Cupertino giant, it tends to dictate a lot of of industry trends. Eschewing traditional book-style foldables in favor of sheer variety, the company declares this to be the form factor of the future. The impact of this type of approval cannot be underestimated.

The foldable revolution may come a few years later than planned, but it is still underway

But crucially, it’s just one of many companies that appear to be on board. This competition should promote innovation and ultimately reduce costs passed on to consumers. That can only be a good thing.

All in all, I’m so ready for wide foldables to revive an old product category. The foldable revolution may come a few years later than planned, but it is still underway.