The Galaxy Z Fold7, one of the current foldable smartphones on sale (Photo by Future Publishing via Getty Images)
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While the economic outlook for the smartphone market is a concern, the design side of 2026 has picked its big-ticket item to send down the digital catwalks. The foldable phone market is set to welcome a new style this season with the wide foldable on the horizon. And one company is best placed to accommodate the transforming form factor.
During 2025, the industry apparently settled into the accepted form factor, namely a regular-sized smartphone display on the outside and a broadly square display on the inside, which would accommodate the equivalent of two regular smartphones side by side.
2026 looks to be taking a different path. While the regular book-style foldables will no doubt continue to see updates and upgrades, the “wide foldable” looks set to grab the headlines. Rather than the square form factor found inside the 2025 flagships, the wide screens would be closer to a traditional tablet display, with ratios such as 3:2 or 16:10 expected to be favoured by manufacturers.
That will have a knock-on effect on the outside display, but if 2025 was all about an optimised external smartphone, 2026 will optimise the internal for the tablet experience. This is going to shine the light on one of Android’s weaker areas, namely the weaker support for Android, especially in third-party apps..
The situation has improved in recent years. 2023 saw a renewed interest in Android tablets as more manufactuers introduced tablets to their portfolio. The was supported by Google’s release of Android 12L, a package of updates specifically geared towards large-screened devices running Android. Google also offered a tacit acknowledgement of the space with the release of the Pixel Tablet.
Yet the Android tablet can still be frustrating. There are many circumstances where users need to manage individual apps so they recognise the correct screen orientation, handle differing aspect ratios, and change UI elements to accommodate each app.
As manufacturers continue to innovate in the tablet space, developers should consider the growing Android tablet user base when coding their apps. Google will also accelerate this issue in Android; apps targeting API level 37 must automatically handle display resizing and support the chosen aspect ratios.
The book-style foldables from Android have gotten by on being “square phones” on the inside, but this won’t be enough for the wide foldables. The expectation will be a tablet, and the reality must meet that.
Alongside the many Android-powered forldables, there’s one more foldable to consider. Apple is widely expected to enter the market with a foldable iPhone that follows the wide format. Unlike Android’s tablet environment, Apple has a bespoke option in iPadOS and a wealth of user knowledge from the iPad Mini family.
If it goes down the "iPad Mini in an iPhone” route, then it should see far greater compatibility with the existing third-party app market. With the iPad so firmly entrenched in Apple’s portfolio, there will naturally be confidence that the unfolded device will have full app support.
That confidence is the biggest challenge Android's army of wide foldables will need to face.
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