Huawei expected to debut another new form factor to the smartphone market later this year
Last September Huawei released its tri-fold Mate XT Ultimate Design phone. The device, which opens up to reveal a 10-inch display, was launched globally last month. Despite being heavily sanctioned by the U.S. for being a national security threat, the company has remained as innovative as it could possibly be considering the circumstances. It shouldn't be a surprise that the company made a big splash in the foldable market as it is the second largest phone manufacturer in that space world wide trailing only Samsung.
During Samsung's first Unpacked event of 2025, the company briefly displayed a tri-fold phone while showing off its product roadmap. This would indicate that a Galaxy tri-fold is in the works and could be released sometime later this year. But Huawei isn't planning on basking in past glories. A Weibo post from leaker @Setsuna Digital suggests that Huawei could finally bring a patent to life by mass-producing a rollable smartphone this year.
In 2020 and 2021 Huawei filed a patent application for a rollable phone. | Image credit-LetsGoDigital
A phone sporting a "Rollable" display allows the user to make the screen larger and smaller by extending or retracting it with the help of motors, rollers, and other technology. This allows the device owner to have a pocketable device with a screen that gets bigger on demand. In April 2020, Huawei submitted an application for a patent on a phone that uses rollers and strategically placed magnets to increase the size of the display.
In 2019, Samsung received a patent for a screen that increases its size by 50% by pulling out a hidden display. A 6-inch phone could turn into a 9-inch tablet with this technology. In 2022 at Lenovo Tech World, the company's Motorola unit displayed a phone with an expanding screen that grew in size from 4 inches to 6.5 inches. Motorola called it a "Rollable proof of concept."
We've been moving closer to mass-producing a phone with this form factor for some time. If the Weibo post from @Setsuna Digital is accurate, Huawei will once again be the first to bring a new look to the foldable phone market. While Huawei enjoys being the pioneer in new phone form factors, the limited availability of its handsets in the U.S. means that, similar to the tri-fold foldable, it will be up to another manufacturer like Samsung to bring the new design into the U.S.
One advantage that these rollable phones have over today's foldables is that there should be no crease to mar the look of the screen. The name of Huawei's aforementioned patent application, "Rollable phone with magnets for creaseless display" says as much.
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