There’s “regular” foldables and then there’s tri-folding smartphones.
Huawei recently launched its Honor Magic V3 (pictured) foldable in China
Huawei's CEO Richard Yu was spotted showing off what is perceived to be a new category of foldable devices. In recent leaks, the CEO has been captured using what clearly appears to be a Huawei/Honor device. It seems exceptionally slim when unfolded but a bit thick when folded. Despite the blurry spy shots, we have seen in previous reports, the real flex is when it opens up as it's not the usual bi-fold type foldable, but a tri-fold, meaning this one actually opens up into a tablet. While many have showcased such devices (as demo units), a tri-folding device still falls under the uber-cool sci-fi category. Now, a report states that the phone could launch soon.
According to a report by MyDrivers, Huawei CEO Richard Yu confirmed the imminent launch of the foldable. The report states that Yu told an executive when taking delivery of his Hongmeng Zhixing EV in Shanghai that the foldable device which he has been flaunting over the past few weeks will be unveiled as soon as September this year.
The news does come as a bit of surprise as most smartphone manufacturers are still perfecting their book-style foldables (including Samsung and Xiaomi). Meanwhile Google finally launched its first globally available foldable called the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Lately, Huawei has been at the top of the foldables game, mainly because it manages to launch book-style foldables that compete with regular flagship phones in terms of thinness and weight. The upcoming Honor Magic V3 (global variant) is expected to break most records in terms of thinness and weight as brands like Samsung struggle to figure out a workable formula as per a recent report.
Coming back to the tri-fold that was spotted in the hands of the CEO in various blurry spy shots, appears a bit thick compared to most book-style foldables when folded. However, it seems to open up into a large tablet-like device because of its two hinges. This display according to previous leaks is said to be as large as 10-inch.
Huawei recently launched its Honor Magic V3 in China which is currently the thinnest production foldable available. If anything, the global variant is expected to be very similar with minor changes. The phone measures just 9.2mm thin when folded and 4.35mm when unfolded. It also weighs 226 grams and is only slightly heavier than the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max, which weighs 221 grams.
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