When I first heard about the Huawei Mate XT in September 2024, I wasn’t sure what to think about it. I’ve thought for a while that larger foldable displays were the key to truly changing the foldable game, spurred by my fervent appreciation of the OnePlus Open, but seeing one become a reality took a while to sink in.
Looking back, I suppose I had a case of what you might call first-gen jitters – go back to 2019 and the original Samsung Galaxy Fold, an unreliable and fragile device that created so much doubt than enthusiasm. It didn’t really help that the Mate XT was, and still is, a Chinese exclusive, so there was little chance of testing it myself.
Fortunately, foldable screen technology has come a long way in the last five years, so much so that the Mate XT has become a technical marvel rather than a prototype. TechRadar Phones Editor Axel Metz recently had the chance to get hands-on with the Mate even thanks to the power of the Internet, I am inclined to agree with my colleague on this point.
Apparently, as soon as the dust settled around the Mate We know little about this follow-up other than the suggestion that it’s in the works, but what it does tell us is that the Mate XT tri-fold wasn’t a one-off. If a successor arrives in production, the tri-fold phones will have escaped the event horizon of the “experimental” category, and Huawei will thus be able to continue to exert pressure – albeit from a distance – on other phone makers like Samsung and Google.
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The current foldable phone market features two form factors that all foldable phone manufacturers fit into their own devices, with a few exceptions. The cheaper of the two is the flip phone, a modernized revival of classic Y2K-style flip phones that typically aim to be more stylish than functional. The second are booklet-style foldables like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 or the Google Pixel 9 Pro, much more focused on productivity.
Now, I’m a self-proclaimed fan of foldable phones, but while I loved using the powerful and stylish OnePlus Open, it led me to realize that a foldable phone can rarely do something that a panel phone can’t. can’t do. I loved using the Open’s 7.82-inch interior screen to watch movies, scroll through articles, and play games, but I didn’t find myself writing articles, editing videos, or play something deeper than Tetris on the big indoor screen. It just wasn’t big enough to be practical.
Plus, half of the things we do with a phone every day are so fast that it’s hardly worth the hassle of unfolding the phone at first. By the end of my time with the Open, I was using it folded most often.
Be bold with pleats
Perhaps it’s this middle-of-the-road mentality that’s starting to hurt foldable phone sales. As we previously reported, the end of 2024 saw a decline in orders for foldable displays across the industry, indicating a decline in production of foldable devices. Perhaps tri-pronged devices are the boost this niche part of the phone industry needs.
Fortunately, the latest updates suggest that Huawei isn’t the only one that believes in the triple form factor. At CES 2025, Samsung Display showed off two new tri-fold phone displays, and while these remain proofs of concept at the time of writing, it’s very encouraging to see physical evidence of Samsung’s explorations into three-pronged territory, which has been talked about for a long time.
And according to a rumor originating from Korean media outlet Sisa Journal-E (via GSMArena), Samsung is set to produce a unique tri-fold device that doesn’t expose the interior screen when folded sometime in the second half of 2025 – although in a very small series of 300,000 units.
Personally, I think foldable phones have the potential to deliver on the productivity promise of foldable phones. A 10- or 11-inch screen, especially mounted vertically, is an ideal size for writing documents and provides enough space for two or even three multitasking windows. It will always be outclassed in screen real estate and performance by laptops, especially laptops of the same exorbitant price that the Mate XT sells for.
It’s up to Samsung to decide whether or not the displays seen at CES will turn into usable devices, but with these latest rumors and demos, I hope we see more tri-pronged devices appearing over the coming years ( I’ll see myself outside).
