Why Android killed huge foldables and the way it’s resurrecting them

Till right now, most foldables have adopted a really related kind issue that resembles a daily smartphone when folded and opens as much as a square-ish show. Few fashions have eschewed that development, although, beginning with the Microsoft Floor Duo (technically not a foldable show, however a dual-display foldable cellphone) after which the primary Google Pixel Fold, each of which adopted a shorter and wider design. Even OPPO had gone for a landscape-first design on the Discover N and Discover N2.

However the place did the huge Android foldable go? Each Google and OPPO rejoined the lots with their subsequent foldables, choosing designs that open in portrait orientation first, and no different firm dared mess with that equation till now. Rumor has it that Samsung has a brand new “huge” Galaxy Z Fold within the works, and that made me understand one thing: It’s all Android’s fault — to a sure extent.

Google’s first foray into foldables with the Pixel Fold acquired a mitigated response from testers and customers. The cellphone had a number of {hardware} points, to say the least, however what left everybody a bit confused was the way it dealt with apps on the inside show.

See, Google had gone for broke in 2022 when it launched compatibility modes to Android 12L, which let the system learn whether or not an app was optimized for tablets and huge shows, then letterbox it (add black bars on the edges) if it wasn’t. Beforehand, Android stretched apps to fill the display screen regardless, with out asking any questions, however usually on the expense of usability and aesthetics.

By exhibiting these ugly black bars on Android 12L onward, Google made certain that an app wouldn’t stretch past its meant design, wouldn’t break, and wouldn’t show icons or menus someplace the place they’d grow to be more durable to achieve. It was additionally hoping to gentle a hearth for lazy builders and pressure them to replace their apps to make them extra adaptable to bigger screens. Guaranteeing these apps are much less helpful and fewer pleasing on a big show was alleged to be an incentive, a mandatory evil on the best way to raised apps.

What occurred in actuality was that few builders cared. Even common apps from massive corporations like Instagram, Reserving, Roborock, Deliveroo, Tiqets, GetYourGuide, Too Good To Go, and extra saved their dangerous, unoptimized apps. To this present day, in 2026, these apps are nonetheless not correctly optimized for a number of show sizes and orientations.

This created a foul expertise for pill customers and Pixel Fold customers when the cellphone first launched. I used to open unoptimized apps like Reserving.com on my massive Fold and see them take up practically half the display screen. But when I rotated the cellphone in my hand, the app would now see this as a “portrait” display screen and replenish the whole thing of the show. The orientation dilemma was inconvenient and annoying. I needed to carry my cellphone open like a e book, not like a laptop computer, and luxuriate in my apps on the fantastic full show, however I couldn’t.

I wasn’t the one one irritated by this; it was only a dangerous general person expertise. Tablets have been a misplaced trigger, however foldables had an orientation joker. I theorize it’s why the Pixel 9 Professional Fold switched side ratios. For the reason that square-ish inside show is barely narrower than it’s tall when the cellphone is open, unoptimized apps see it as portrait and go full-screen immediately, stretching to fill the total width. Rotating the cellphone round confirmed the portrait design on a panorama display screen, however due to the extra sq. kind issue, they virtually seemed to be in full-screen mode regardless that they have been nonetheless partly letterboxed on the edges.

Google had seemingly solved the lazy-developer drawback on the Pixel 9 Professional Fold by avoiding it fully, and since each different Android foldable producer had settled on the sq. kind issue too, it seemed like Google had lifted the rug, swept the difficulty beneath it, and pretended this wasn’t occurring.

However if you happen to’ve been maintaining a tally of tablets and foldables lately, you’d know that Google had one other answer within the works. Despite the fact that this wasn’t wanted for the newer square-ish foldables, it was important for tablets that customers will usually maintain and use in panorama. It didn’t make sense to maintain apps letterboxed in portrait there.

If a cussed app like Reserving.com needed to look as a portrait app on my pill or huge foldable just like the Pixel Fold, I may go into App Information > Facet ratio and swap between the App default, Full display screen, and Half display screen. Android additionally surfaces a little bit icon on letterboxed apps to allow you to rapidly go into full display screen with out realizing precisely the place the setting is.

I haven’t encountered any challenge when forcing all my insubordinate apps to full display screen; none of them break or crop vital elements. Sure, there’s some additional stretching occurring, however as a result of most fashionable Android apps are constructed with a responsive design that ensures they’ll work on a wide range of display screen shapes and sizes, most apps can technically reflow to fill a big panorama orientation even when they don’t essentially flag this for the system. Test how elegantly Reserving.com handles the pressured full-screen ratio. It seems as if it was all the time made for a large fold, proper?

Android 16 and 17 are taking this compatibility mode even additional. On Android 16, the system ignores the app’s choice on the huge screens of huge foldables and tablets, but it surely lets builders nonetheless decide out. On Android 17, the opt-out choice is gone. Apps focusing on its API degree 37 have to be resizable and will help the side ratio we select.

This fully modifications the equation for wider foldables. Anybody choosing up a Pixel Fold right now will discover it very straightforward to faucet the button that switches apps into full-screen mode. And as soon as an app switches, it would default to that side ratio from then on. It takes one faucet to repair essentially the most annoying drawback with huge foldables. Now, the shape issue is not restricted by small, disappointing apps that wreck the person expertise. On high of this, some apps have taken the chance to really implement a responsive design.

Since 2023, Android 12L diminished the usability of huge foldables, Android 14 introduced it again, and Android 17 will make it extra resilient and foolproof. This makes 2026 the right time for producers to resurrect this foldable kind issue. After all, Apple having opted for a wider iPhone Fold is an additional incentive.