"The Era of Horizontal Foldables Begins: Huawei Takes the Lead, Followed by a Three-Way Battle with Samsung and Apple"

Samsung Electronics, Apple, and Huawei are competing in the foldable smartphone market with horizontally unfolding screen designs, similar to a book. Since Samsung Electronics introduced its first foldable phone in 2019, the company has maintained a dominant position, but this year is expected to see a three-way competition emerge.

"Huawei's horizontal foldable phone 'Pura X Max,' to be unveiled on the afternoon of the 20th. Huawei."

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Huawei, a leading IT company in China, will unveil its horizontal foldable phone, the Pura X Max, at a new product launch event at 2:30 p.m. (local time) on the 20th and begin domestic sales. Huawei's first horizontal foldable phone is known to feature a 7.69-inch internal display, a 5.5-inch external screen, and a 16:10 aspect ratio.

A key feature is that, with the wide horizontal display that opens like a book, Huawei's voice AI assistant "Xiaoyi" can be run. According to a video titled "Xiaoyi Companion AI: Always in Harmony," released on Huawei's official Weibo account on the 17th, users can interact with the Xiaoyi AI through the right sidebar of the horizontal screen without covering the main screen content.

Samsung Electronics, which has led the foldable phone market, will hold its "Galaxy Unpacked" event in London, UK, this July to introduce its next-generation wide foldable phone, tentatively called the Galaxy Z Wide Fold. The company is expanding its foldable lineup with a horizontally oriented 4:3 aspect ratio design, aiming to maintain its dominant market position.

Apple is also set to join the competition in September, unveiling its first foldable phone alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. This model will have a horizontal 4:3 aspect ratio similar to the iPad, making it suitable for watching videos and gaming. It is expected to be a product line that combines the advantages of both the iPhone and iPad, functioning as a tablet capable of running multiple apps side by side.

The next-generation foldable phones from Samsung Electronics, Apple, and Huawei share a key feature: a wide horizontal screen ratio, or "wide fold" form factor. Existing vertical foldable phones are long and narrow, and their aspect ratios often differ from standard video and app formats, resulting in black bars (letterboxing) at the screen edges. However, the wider horizontal display resolves these issues, enhancing the display experience when consuming content such as web browsing and video streaming. Unlike conventional smartphones designed for one-handed operation, usage patterns are expected to shift toward holding the device with both hands and utilizing a larger display.

The foldable phone market has progressed beyond focusing solely on technical challenges such as hinge durability and is now moving toward optimizing display usability and aspect ratios.

According to market research firm Smart Analytics Global (SAG), the emergence of horizontal fold form factors this year could drive the foldable phone market to grow by 35% compared to last year. Samsung's market share is projected to decrease from 36% to 34%, while Huawei's share is expected to drop from 35% to 27%. In contrast, Apple, as a first-time entrant, is forecast to secure an 18% market share and rank third.

However, the high price of foldable phones is expected to remain a burden for consumers. The largest capacity model of Huawei's Pura X Max, with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, is expected to be priced at 12,888 yuan (approximately 2.79 million won). Apple also plans to position its first foldable phone as a premium model priced above USD 2,000 in order to prevent cannibalization of part of its iPad lineup.

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