The foldable conversation has been dominated by one form factor for years: tall, narrow, book-style phones in the mold of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series. Apple has been quietly rumoured to break that pattern with a wider, more tablet-like foldable design. Huawei, apparently, got tired of waiting. The Pura X Max, launched in China in April 2026, is being called the world’s first wide foldable, passport-shaped, horizontally-oriented device that unfolds into a 7.7-inch display with roughly a 4:3 aspect ratio. It’s almost exactly what the iPhone Fold has been rumoured to look like. Except it exists right now.
The Pura X Max’s defining characteristic isn’t a single spec, it’s the entire orientation philosophy. Where Samsung’s Z Fold 7 and most book-style foldables open into a tall, portrait-first inner display, the Pura X Max opens into a wide, landscape-first canvas more like a small tablet than a stretched phone. The 5.4-inch outer display handles regular phone tasks when folded, while the 7.7-inch LTPO OLED inner display hitting up to 3,500 nits brightness unfolds horizontally for video, multitasking, and productivity in a way that portrait foldables have always struggled to deliver naturally.
At 5.2mm unfolded and 11.2mm folded, the engineering is genuinely impressive. Kunlun Glass Gen 2, IP58/IP59 dual water resistance ratings, and a weight of 229g round out a build that doesn’t feel compromised despite the novel form factor.
Inside sits the Kirin 9030 Pro, Huawei’s most capable in-house chip with up to 16GB RAM and 1TB storage, running HarmonyOS 6.1. Huawei claims up to 30% performance improvement over the previous generation, which if accurate makes this a meaningful leap rather than an incremental update.
The camera system leads with a 50MP variable aperture main sensor (f/1.4–f/4.0), a 50MP periscope telephoto, and 12.5MP ultra-wide all processed through Huawei’s XMAGE imaging pipeline with AI photography assistance. What makes the wide form factor particularly relevant here is that landscape-oriented photography and video review feel genuinely natural on a 7.7-inch 4:3 display in a way that portrait foldables never quite nailed.
Perhaps the most interesting addition: M-Pen 3 Mini stylus support. A wide, tablet-proportioned display with stylus input is a productivity argument that Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold has made for years with S Pen compatibility. Huawei is now making the same case, potentially more convincingly given the landscape-first orientation.
Pricing starts at ¥10,999 (~$1,600) for 12GB/256GB and tops out at ¥13,999 (~$2,050) for 16GB/1TB expensive, but within the premium foldable bracket that the market has established as acceptable.
Apple’s wide foldable iPhone remains unannounced. Samsung hasn’t shipped a wide-format foldable yet. Huawei has. Whatever limitations come with HarmonyOS and the absence of Google services for international buyers, the Pura X Max is a genuine first-mover achievement in a form factor the entire industry was watching Apple to define. The wide foldable era has started just not where anyone expected it to. If you’re in China and ready to spend, this is the most interesting foldable launched in 2026. Everyone else watches and waits likely for Apple to respond.
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