It's strange to think that mobile phones were originally foldable and then went to a uniform form factor and are now going back to foldable. But what we haven't seen is a tri-foldable smartphone - until now.
Huawei jumped into the foldable smartphone game in 2019 with the Huawei Mate X, and now reports have come out about a possible tri-foldable smartphone, with the company's CEO for Consumer Business Group holding an unannounced device on a plane. The reports cite rumors from a "reliable tipster" called Digital Chat Station, who said they have seen a prototype of the world's first tri-foldable smartphone and that this device is capable of inward and outward folding.
As for more specifications, the tipster says this rumored device has an approximately 10-inch display, a dual-hinge design, and a thickness greater than that of a normal smartphone - by how much isn't mentioned. Moreover, this new tri-foldable device features a single hole located on the far left of the screen, and the device seen in the above photo being held by Richard Yu matches the prototype Digital Chat Station has claimed they saw.
The rumored device is slated to sport a Kirin 9-series chipset, and it would be debuted before the release of the Mate 70, which is rumored to drop in Q4 2024.