The future of foldables is not tri-folds

Foldable phones are still in a bit of an odd spot, barely making an argument for themselves.

For years now, they’ve been criticized on a few key points:

• Heavy build, due to being two halves stacked on top of each other (we’ve seen amazing progress on this in 2025)
• Limiting square aspect ratio on the main screen
• Ever-present crease (again, fading in recent models)
• Durability concerns, and price associated with them

But there’s no denying that foldables are getting a lot of attention. Even Apple is rumored to be planning to throw its hat in the ring with a supposed iPhone Fold. And we all know that Cupertino does not bet on lame horses (look, we’ll talk about the Vision Pro another time).



Why are they so enticing? Because they promise to be the one “combo” device that smartphones have not become yet. Yes, they are music players, communication devices, Internet browsers, and cameras, but they have yet to come with a screen full enough to comfortably make them a “main device”.

People are waiting with bated breath for the time when unfolding a foldable will give you a big, wide screen, that’s good for spreadsheets and movies, homework and gaming, portfolio browsing and social media.

Which is why the industry is currently envisioning the next step — the tri-folds, as we call them (technically, it’s a bi-fold, because you fold it twice but let’s not get into semantics).

And I look at them, and I am thinking… “That ain’t it”.

Tri-folds compound the foldable issues, give very little in return

While it’s ultimately extremely cool to have a tri-fold phone in your hands and expand it into a full 16:9(ish) tablet, that thing is a piece of fine tech that you will probably not even want to leave the house with.

Expensive, fragile, less practical.

There are two ways to go about a tri-fold. Huawei designed the Mate XT to close in a zig-zag manner, so you can use one tall screen like a “normal” phone; unfold it halfway to get the classic square screen; or unfold it in full for a wide experience.



The issue here is that part of the main screen is always exposed to the outside world, acting as a corner for the phone. You don’t want flexible OLED to be a corner for sure!

Samsung’s approach with the Galaxy Z TriFold goes the other way — its three panels close on the same side, like a Christmas card. Meaning, you can’t use it in a half-open state like the Huawei, but only get to use the main screen if it’s fully open.

The benefit is obvious — that fragile flexible OLED on the inside is protected at all times, but the phone is a little thicker.

The issues with trifolds compared to standard foldable phones?

• Even more expensive
• Even heavier
• Durability concerns x2
• Hard to produce
• Effort to make them thin leaves even less wiggle room for camera systems

The truth is that foldables are just a stepping stone. Rollables are the future

For years now, manufacturers have played with the idea of a “rollable” phone. Utilizing the properties of a flexible OLED panel to roll it in and tuck it into half of the phone. When needed, the handset can expand, causing the display to roll out and become wider.

We’ve seen a lot of concepts, prototypes, patents. I am quite certain — this is the next wave of devices where we will be seeing hardware innovation again.



For example, one type of “rollable” phone may look exactly like a smartphone. It’s just that, with the press of a button, its frame would start expanding until it reaches a wide ratio.

Another design to go with is to make the smartphone into a kind of a stick — a cylinder that resembles a lightsaber handle, with the display rolled up inside. You pull it out and lock it at the exact size you need. One hand holds the cylinder, the other is used to tap on the screen.



Of course, I can envision the same negatives applying for rollables:

• Motorized parts will be heavier
• More things to cause durability concerns — flexible displays and motors?
• Price will definitely be up there

Though I don’t think that rollable phones need to necessarily be automated. What if the screen expansion mechanism is manually operated? Surely that’ll shave off some grams, some production cost, and some lifespan worries. Right?

And then, a rollable phone has these benefits that a foldable will never give us:

• Variable aspect ratios: unroll it to just the right size you need, instead of sticking with a physical limitation
• Multiple ways to make it compact: either make it a handle that unrolls into a phone, or a phone that gets wider, or who knows what else
• Forget about a crease

So, while foldables are pretty cool for now, I think the industry’s endgame is to get to that stage where it can reliably make rollables. What do you think?