Companies are determined to release a phone with the most amount of screen real estate, and simply increasing the size each year wasn’t enough. Nor was a simple foldable, apparently. After Huawei’s debut of its tri-folding phone, Honor seems to be looking to one-up the competition and might be working on a foldable that can fold in multiple directions.
A recently filed patent details a device that kind of looks like it’s got a plus sign in the middle. These are the two creases that run along the display of this alleged phone. The design makes it possible to swing the phone inwards and outwards both vertically and horizontally. It also means that this device will potentially have a very large display.
This patent is not related to Honor’s rumored tri-foldable that aims to directly compete with the Huawei Mate XT while being even slimmer. It talks about a potential future device which will probably be classified as a different type of smartphone entirely.
Huawei Mate XT is, simply put, a marvel of engineering. | Video credit — Huawei
Personally, this patent also highlights another aspect of the phone industry to me. Yes, it’s just a patent for now, but it shows clearly just how much innovation Chinese manufacturers are rushing to achieve.
Kind of like the car market which is now seeing an influx of affordable Chinese cars with excellent performance numbers and build quality. Current phone offerings are also excelling in various ways over the traditional big-name brands. For example, budget Chinese smartphones often come with triple the charging rates of your typical Galaxy or iPhone.
There’s a reason that these manufacturers enjoy so much market share in a huge number of countries. And while they might not be as popular in the U.S., being the first to design something novel will give them an edge.Showing off your iPhone 16 at school is cool and all but look at my Honor phone that can transform into an entire lunch table.
