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World's second tri-foldable smartphone to be abandoned as industry optimism dries up

Tri-folding smartphone technology. (Image source: Huawei)
Tri-folding smartphone technology. (Image source: Huawei)
2024 was the year in which the tri-folding smartphone was successfully brought to market courtesy of Huawei. However, the release of a follow-up to the cutting-edge Mate XT in 2025 is now in doubt, as companies with such technology tipped to focus on devices that only fold once instead.

Huawei has ended 2024 with 3 different types of foldable smartphones sold on the Chinese market: the 'clamshell' style in the form of the Nova Flip; the 'industry standard flagship'-type Mate X6 and the even higher-end, higher-tech Mate XT Ultimate Design.

The XT is also much more expensive, not the least because it is the first of its kind. Now, it seems it might be able to hold onto that status for longer than might have been assumed earlier, as no company (not even Huawei) has plans to release the world's second tri-fold smartphone any time soon, and would rather focus on their more traditional clamshells and flagships in an effort to hang on to their current foldable customer-base, according to legendary industry commentator Digital Chat Station

Despite its apparent pessimism, it is a trend that might work out for the consumer in 2025, as companies with proven track records in the space (such as Google, Samsung, Honor, OnePlus/Oppo and Vivo) go back to basics by releasing just 1 flagship foldable with the full gamut of on-trend features such as the latest processing, display and battery technology per year while omitting extra variants (such as the Vivo X Fold3 that looked compromized compared to its full-fat Pro sibling). 

On the other hand, Samsung seems to be in the process of actively contradicting these predictions right now at CES 2025, by hyping its Flex S prototype as the next wave of mobile display technology.

That OEM also (technically) released 2 versions of its current bi-foldable flagship the Galaxy Z Fold6 (one of which is available for $1,259.99 on Amazon), although there is no evidence that it might do the same in 2025 as yet. 

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2025 01 > World's second tri-foldable smartphone to be abandoned as industry optimism dries up
Deirdre O'Donnell, 2025-01- 8 (Update: 2025-01- 8)