What Oppo is doing with its trifold is not cool at all

But the trifold game is officially on, and big players are already out there making moves.

Walk the walk

Huawei kicked things off in 2024 with the Mate XT, then doubled down with the second-gen Mate XTs. Samsung recently unveiled the Galaxy Z TriFold, which isn't perfect yet but is already shaping the market.

I'm willing to bet a reasonable amount of money that non-tech-savvy buyers with deep pockets will go straight for Samsung's option because… well, because Samsung and One UI bring that extra layer of peace of mind (compared to recent Huawei devices which lack native Google Services).

Most importantly, though: Oppo's trifold is essential for competition reasons. It would be a real race if Oppo threw its hat into the trifold ocean. Samsung doesn't seem to innovate unless someone pressures them, so why not make them feel it?

Safe is boring

Reports say that Oppo has "fully functional trifold prototypes" sitting in their labs. Multiple units, apparently. Engineers have apparently cracked the dual-hinge problem, made the device durable, and solved the engineering headaches that would scare off smaller startups.

And yet, Oppo has no immediate plans to sell them at the moment. Production costs are high, the market is niche, and apparently the price tag (well over $2,400) is just too much of a headache for now. But the tech exists and that should make any tech-savvy person a bit nervous.

I think the risk is manageable for a company of Oppo's size. Keeping the devices in a drawer while the rest of the market moves forward feels like a tease, or worse, a deliberate stall. For a scrappy startup, sure, that might be understandable. They have to weigh every dollar, every production line. For Oppo? Nah. You're big enough, capable enough, and well-resourced enough to take this gamble and actually make it matter.

What's stopping Oppo from unleashing it?

It could be the case that Oppo is preoccupied with the Find N6, expected to launch soon, and maybe that's sucking up attention and resources. OK, maybe.

The OnePlus Open 2 – the foldable that OnePlus should have brought to market a year ago – has reportedly been canceled again in 2026, for the second year in a row. That device was expected to be closely tied to the Find N6 anyway, since OnePlus often reuses Oppo hardware with a different brand twist.

The Find N6 looks like a strong play. It's to compete with Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8, which will succeed the already classy and successful Z Fold 7, and Apple's first foldable, the alleged iPhone Fold. The latter might come with an almost crease-less inner display that has a lot of people excited.

So yes, the Find N6 is coming, and it's likely going to be impressive. But that doesn't excuse Oppo from deliberately holding back the trifold. Nobody is asking them to mass-produce it globally. Release it in a handful of countries, limited quantities, and see what happens.

What now?

This feels like a blown chance. Trifolds aren't a joke anymore, they're about who leads and who follows. Huawei moved first, Samsung is serious about playing catch-up, and Oppo has the tools to shake things up but won't pull the trigger. Waiting for the perfect time is not what I call innovation.

I know some will say trifolds are niche, that the general public isn't ready, or that the price will scare people off. But that's the same argument that could have been made about foldables five or six years ago. The “niche” label doesn't matter when you're talking about the first movers in a new form factor.

So, yeah, keeping prototypes under wraps is not cool, ese.