In 2019, Xiaomi patented a tri-fold design, but from what we know now, such a funky design would never work in the real world. There was another patent that showed a more sensible design, but it needed segments to fold on both sides, which could be tricky. A month ago, we heard rumors that Xiaomi would show off a tri-folding phone (or at least a prototype) at MWC in February 2025. And now a patent published by the China National Intellectual Property Administration has surfaced that shows what this device could look like.
The patent was issued in December 2022 and has been kept secret since then. Unlike that earlier design, this one is much more understated and follows the same basic plan as the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate – there’s just one screen that can be opened to be fully accessible or folded so that you can only see a third of it.
The camera island is much smaller than the Mate XT, but that could just be wishful thinking in the patent. The individual segments on the tri-foldable need to be fairly thin to keep the thickness of the fold reasonable, which pushes the camera module into a chunky island.
Xiaomi’s three-fold phone patent
Well, based on the August rumor, this tri-foldable will be part of the Xiaomi Mix series. However, it is not clear if this will be a new Mix Fold or a separate series.
Huawei got there first, but several companies are working on tri-fold designs. Xiaomi, of course, but also Samsung. In 2022, Samsung showcased the Flex G concept, which folds inward twice (creating a G shape, of course). Going back even further to 2020, Samsung Display’s blog shared some thoughts on a tri-folding (and rollable) design. Remember, this was only a year after the original Galaxy Fold launched.
2020 also saw us try our hands on a TCL tri-fold display concept. A year after that, a Microsoft patent showed a tri-fold Surface phone (though we’re pretty sure the Surface line is dead at this point). There are more contenders too – this year we’ve seen tri-fold concepts from Oppo and Tecno. Let’s just say that 2025 could see a Cambrian explosion of tri-foldables.