Samsung is said to be gearing up for a bulkier, clamshell-style foldable to stay ahead of Apple’s first foldable iPhone. Rumors and leaks from ET News and prolific leakers suggest a “Wide Fold” concept with a shorter, wider footprint and a near‑square inner display. One of those disputes supposedly stems from the cover screen, with Ice Universe on Weibo sharing an image that suggests the cover screen will smaller than the one found on Samsung’s tall-and-slim Fold line of phones, a strategic departure in form factor to address Apple’s presumed approach.
What a ‘Wide Fold’ probably means
A wide-first foldable generally gives you a small, easy-to-hold-like-a-phone outer display that then unfolds into a squarer view inside—call it 1:1 to 8:7 aspect ratios or so. This is a mindset we have seen elsewhere: Google’s inaugural Pixel Fold and OPPO’s Find N series both sported a stubbier exterior and an inner panel optimized for landscape kicking-back. The payoff is immediate usefulness when closed and terrific split‑screen multitasking when open, with two near‑phone‑sized panes side by side.
If Samsung sticks to that template, there will a cover screen that’s better for typing than the ultra narrow predecessors and an inner display that’s optimized for productivity. A more square panel can make email, spreadsheets and note‑taking feel more tablet‑like; viewfinders for cameras and timelines for media have more room to roam. It is a different proposition to the tall Fold formula, which utilizes the vertical real estate to the max, but can sometimes feel cramped on the cover display.
Why Samsung seeks to go first
When Apple goes into a category, it generally scales up the market. Getting a rival “Wide Fold” into the hands of consumers before the first iPhone Fold would allow Samsung to set expectations, have first-mover advantage with early adopters, and to influence developer priorities towards a squarer aspect ratio. Top consulting firms like IDC and Counterpoint predict foldable shipments to surpass the 20‑million‑unit threshold annually, and competition has heightened as Honor, Huawei, OPPO/OnePlus, and Motorola sharpen their products. Samsung can defend share by expanding the gulf—maintaining a legacy tall Fold for cheetah customers and adding a wide Fold for horse-loving customers who want to carry a compact exterior and a workstation‑class interior.
Trade‑offs in design of going wider
A squarer inner display is wonderful for split‑screen apps, but less great for video. That’s because most streaming content is encoded for either a 16:9 or cinematic aspect ratio, so a near‑square panel results in heavy letterboxing. Games optimized for tall 20:9 phones may also require some UI modifications. This is not a deal breaker — Google and OPPO users have gotten along quite well — but it’s a compromise buyers should be prepared for.
Hardware engineering gets trickier, too. Larger frame dimensions can also alter weight bias, which might change one‑handed pleasure. Battery size, heat spread, speaker location all must be re-tuned. Expect Samsung to rely on its new teardrop‑style hinge to flatten out the crease and permit a tighter fold, combined with ultra‑thin glass that strikes a balance between flexibility and scratch resistance. Recent Samsung foldables have been rated for hundreds of thousands of folds, and keeping up with, or even exceeding, that durability will be key if the form factor evolves.
Another mystery is the S Pen saga. But: A shorter, wider panel is great for sketching and markup, but things like pen latency, tip feel and palm rejection all need to be dialed for the new aspect ratio. If Samsung wants the Wide Fold to serve as a pocket notebook, first‑party accessories and software must, too.
The software’s the swing factor
Wide foldables succeed or fail by app behavior. Google’s development for large‑screen Android—features just launched via Android 12L and slowly improved in the interim—has done a lot to make split‑screen, taskbars, and continuity more seamless, but too many apps still treat everything like a long phone or a 16:9 tablet. Early Pixel Fold owners loved the ergonomics, however, but ran into letterboxing and weird layouts from apps that hadn’t been optimized for 6:5‑ish canvases.
And Samsung can offset it with the One UI desktop‑style taskbar, drag‑and‑drop, pop‑over windows and Flex Mode controls. The larger lift is with developers. If Samsung sows the ground with guidance and partnerings with (name your top social/productivity/video/creative platform), the Wide Fold could arrive with a stronger roster of layouts. That’s crucial if Apple’s foldable shows up with strong app support out of the gate; mindshare goes to the device that runs folks’ go-to apps best.
What to watch in the supply chain
Watch for indications from Samsung Display around near‑square foldable OLED panels in the 7–8‑inch class as well as changes in cover glass stacks—ultrathin glass versus colorless polyimide—and hinge components rated for tight bending radii. Camera placement is another tell: an overall shape could be programmed to prefer horizontal rear cameras in order to cut down on wobbliness and better capture landscape. Pricing strategy, too, could be telling: the Wide Fold might be positioned not as a replacement to the venerable Fold, but as a co‑flagship, with the lineup redefined as “productivity wide” and “media tall.”
Now, the rumored compact cover display and squarer interior display injects impetus to the idea that Samsung isn’t messing around when it comes to squaring off with Apple on Apple’s own turf. If it can nail ergonomics, manage the scourge of letterboxing, and bundle in some thoughtful software, Samsung’s Wide Fold could have the opportunity to set the tone before Apple’s iPhone Fold ever touches down.
