While the phone world is eagerly awaiting the iPhone Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide, Huawei has jumped in before Apple and Samsung with its own version. However, I don’t see the appeal of any of them.
The Huawei Pura X Max has been officially shown off and will be fully unveiled on 20 April in China, way ahead of its aforementioned rivals. The phone looks quite attractive in the range of colours Huawei has unveiled, but the form factor has me baffled.
This new style of foldable phone just looks awkwardly stubby, reminding me of old BlackBerry phones and the like. The Pura X Max is expected to offer 5.8-inch outer and 7.6-inch inner screens, but it’s not the size that’s important here – it’s the aspect ratio.
Huawei
Being a widescreen option, the outer display is boxy and I can’t imagine it being comfortable to use when holding the phone closed and one-handed – it’s going to be so awkward.
I also wonder what apps are going to look and feel like on these screens and how the phone will sit in a trouser pocket.
Furthermore, if you do use that larger inner screen a lot, how good (or bad) is battery life going to be? Foldables are often power-hungry.
The main appeal is that inner display, which will be much wider than regular foldables – likely 16:10.
It’ll be much better suited to gaming and watching films, but is it worth it considering all the potential downsides? I don’t think so.
Huawei shows the phone being used turned 90 degrees in multiple images, showing it’s not just designed to be used in one orientation, so perhaps I need to try one in real life to be convinced.
However, I think I’d rather just carry a regular phone as well as a compact tablet such as the iPad mini or Samsung Galaxy Tab A11, which has the added benefit of sharing battery life between them. Alternatively, I’d go with a foldable phone in its typical form, like the Oppo Find N6 and live with black bars.
