Huawei and samsung race to copy apple’s wide fold before it even ships

While Apple still refuses to confirm that a foldable iPhone exists, Huawei and Samsung are already photocopying the rumored blueprint and rushing their own “wide-fold” devices to market this summer.

The cadence is almost comical: leak sites publish a CAD file of an iPad-mini-shaped iPhone that bends in half, and within weeks Samsung’s Galaxy Z Wide Fold and Huawei’s next Pura both sprout identical short-and-wide panels. If you squint, the only difference is the logo.

The cult of the unannounced

Apple’s real super-power isn’t innovation; it’s the gravitational pull of a product that doesn’t exist yet. Analysts pencil in 20 million first-year shipments for a device Apple has never acknowledged, and competitors panic-iterate to avoid looking late. The result: a trio of phones that all unfold into the same squat 4:3 canvas, killing the last visual distinction between brands.

Huawei should know better. Its Pura X—sold only in China—already folds vertically like a cosmetic compact, an engineering flex that feels genuinely new. Instead of doubling down on that identity, rumor mills say the follow-up will flatten into Apple’s landscape orientation, ditching the one design that wasn’t a me-too.

Specs don’t matter when the logo glows

Let’s be honest: the iPhone Fold could ship with last year’s chip and a 60 Hz panel and still outsell every foldable combined. The buying impulse won’t be the hinge mechanism or the aspect ratio; it will be the half-eaten fruit on the back and the bragging rights that come with it. Samsung and Huawei are volunteering to be the warmup act, validating Apple’s thesis before the main character appears.

History says the knock-offs rarely cash in. Remember the Galaxy S25 Edge? Samsung shaved a millimeter off the waistline, crowed about “the thinnest ever,” and watched inventory pile up. When the story is “we look like Apple,” the only winner is Apple.

The wider tragedy is what gets lost in the photocopying. Foldables were supposed to break the glass slab monotony; instead they’re converging on a single template, driven by fear rather than imagination. If the next wave of phones is just three versions of the same unconfirmed Apple mock-up, consumers won’t see choice—they’ll see déjà vu at two grand a pop.

Real dominance isn’t aping the future before it arrives; it’s having the guts to stay weird while everyone else races toward the middle. Huawei had that guts. Samsung used to. Apple will gladly sell them the rope.