Trifold Phones: The Way Forward or a Mad Gimmick?
It is fair to say that mobile phones have come a long way since they first hit the market. Kids these days have no idea how ridiculously big and chunky the original mobile phones were, which is a sad thing.
The launch of the BlackBerry moved the market forward a little bit, but it was the iPhone that genuinely changed the game for the better.
Nowadays, mobile phone uses can do pretty anything with their phone that they’d previously have had to use a computer for. Android phones are taking things a step further, however, with Huawei introducing a Trifold phone that they’re hoping will change the game again.
What is a Trifold Phone?
The Huawei Mate XT has been launched by the Chinese company in an event that came just a few hours after Apple’s iPhone 16 launch. It boasts an OLED display and a screen measuring 6.4 inches; so far so standard. What helps the Mate XT stand out from the crowd, though, is the fact that those measurements are when it is collapsed.
When you look more closely you will see that the phone is dual-hinged and boasts not one, not two but three different screens when it is unfolded. Those screens work together to offer 10.2 inches of device for you to work with, which is about the same size as some tablets can offer you.
@emobiletech2.4 #MyExtraordinaryMaster Put the computer in your pocket, do you like the red and black? #Tri -fold phone #DigitalTechnology #What is the best thing about Huawei’s Tri-fold phone #huawei #conference #emobiletech24 ♬ оригинальный звук – ✨🅰️LEKS🅰️NDER✨
The phone can be used at its full size or collapsed down, which makes it not dissimilar to a normal phone. Once you’re using it you will find all of the various apps that you would be able to find on pretty much any Huawei phone, although some have been adapted in order to make best use of the increased real estate.
One of the questions that you will doubtless want to ask yourself is whether you will ever actually make use of the Trifold ability of the phone or whether that will mostly go to waste and you will tend to use it in its collapsed state most of the time. That is something that only you will know with any certainty.
The Huawei Phone is Prohibitively Expensive
If you are in the market for a foldable phone, and there are a few on the market, then you will no doubt be aware of the fact that it is an expensive type of device to own. It makes sense that they’re pricey, of course, given the fact that it asks you to pay for more than one OLED screen. In essence, you’re buying two or three phones that work together.
This is demonstrated in the case of the Huawei Mate XT’s Recommended Retail Price at launch, which came in it more than £2,500. It is more expensive than a 16-inch MacBook Pro, so it is perhaps not all that surprising that many people aren’t even thinking about having it on their wish list.
Huawei Mate XT, the world’s first tri-fold smartphone and also the largest and thinnest foldable phonepic.twitter.com/EPhZtFgFkH
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) September 10, 2024
That price is the one for the entry level model, whilst those that have more memory come in at any even higher asking price. Sure, you can use it as either a standard model, partially unfolded at a slightly larger size of 7.9-inches or at its full 10.2-inch size, but is it really worth the same cost as four PlayStation 5 Pros?
That is obviously something that everyone will have to decide for themselves, but the likelihood is that most of the people buying the Mate XT have so much money that they don’t know what to do with it. That being said, 3.7 million pre-orders reported by Huawei can’t all have come in from millionaires and billionaires.
Is it the Future of Smartphones?
Whilst Huawei as a company will no doubt be feeling pleased with itself after the launch of the Mate XT, the obvious question to ask is whether such phones are likely to be the future of the smartphone arena. Where one company goes, others soon follow.
There is barely an advancement in technology that Apple have launched without an Android-based company following suit, nor vice-versa. Whether or not the iPhone creator will go down the route of launching a Trifold phone remains to be seen, but it is unlikely.
Apple as a company knows exactly what their customers want and it is difficult to see a world in which that is a Trifold phone. There is also the fact that Huawei are, essentially, screwing themselves out of tablet sales with the launch of Mate Xt.
After all, why would someone with a device that can become 10.2 inches in size bother to buy a tablet too? Apple like selling iPads, so the Trifold phone is unlikely to hit the iPhone any time soon.