The race for tri-fold smartphones might be heating up: Xiaomi to jump in

Huawei has been making waves lately with buzz about its upcoming triple-folding smartphone. It has been spotted a few times with Richard Yu, the CEO of Huawei’s consumer business division, and there is talk that the device could launch next month. Samsung is also rumored to be working on its own triple-foldable phone, though it is a bit behind Huawei in the race. Now, it looks like another Chinese company might be jumping into the tri-foldable game as well.

Xiaomi could also be working on its own tri-fold phone

A new rumor from China (translated source) hints that Xiaomi is also developing a tri-foldable phone. For those unfamiliar, a tri-foldable phone has three folding segments, letting it fold twice. This means it can unfold into a much bigger display, kind of like a tablet, instead of just folding in half like regular foldable phones.For instance, Huawei’s soon-to-be-released tri-foldable phone is rumored to offer about 10 inches of screen space when fully unfolded.

Huawei’s upcoming tri-fold in the hands of Richard Yu. | Image credit – Digital 80s Generation

The rumored Xiaomi device could be part of the Mix lineup, and we might get a glimpse of the phone, or at least a prototype, in March 2025 at the Mobile World Congress (MWC). Actually, the Chinese tech giant is also expected to globally unveil its next flagship, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, at the same event. Now, whether this report is spot-on or not is still up in the air, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Xiaomi is indeed working on a tri-foldable phone. With both Huawei and Samsung exploring this technology, it makes perfect sense for Xiaomi to be deep in development of a similar product.

Foldable phones are gaining popularity year after year, especially with more manufacturers jumping into the game. We’ve got options from Samsung, Motorola, and several Chinese brands like OnePlus, Xiaomi, Huawei, vivo, and Honor. Since foldables are now fairly common, it makes sense that tech companies are exploring the next big thing – a tri-fold phone, and I am betting we will see even more brands getting in on this action soon.