Until recently, most flip phones followed the same pattern: when folded, they look like a classic smartphone, and when opened, you get a roughly square-shaped screen. However, there were exceptions. Microsoft Surface Duo, although it technically did not have a flexible screen but two separate displays, brought a shorter and wider format. A similar approach was taken by the first Google Pixel Fold, as well as OPPO Find N and Find N2, which were oriented towards horizontal usage.
It begs the question: where have the wide Android flip phones gone? With the next generations, Google and OPPO abandoned that concept and opted for the dominant “upright” design, and the other manufacturers didn’t even try to experiment. Until now, because there are rumors that Samsung is preparing a new “wide” Galaxy Z Fold. This brings up an interesting topic: to a large extent, Android is to blame for the demise of this format.
Broad Android flip phones and the bug that changed everything
The first Pixel Fold met with mixed reactions. There were hardware issues, but the biggest confusion was around the behavior of apps on the internal screen. The key moment came with Android 12L, when Google introduced compatibility modes. The system started checking if the application was adapted for large screens, and if not, it would display it in “letterbox” mode, with black bars on the side.
Before that, Android simply stretched apps across the entire screen, often at the expense of appearance and usability. The idea behind Android 12L was to force developers to optimize apps for tablets and flip devices. In theory, a bad experience should be a motivation to adapt. In practice, the opposite happened.
Many developers simply ignored the change. Even in 2026, popular apps like Instagram, Booking, Deliveroo or others are still not properly adapted to different screen sizes and orientations. The result was frustrating: on the large internal screen of the Pixel Fold, the applications occupied only a part of the space, while when rotating the device, they would behave as if they were on the classic “portrait” screen and then fill the entire display.
This led to the absurd situation where the user had to rotate the open phone like a laptop, instead of holding it like a book, just to make the app look normal. The experience was unintuitive and arduous, and dissatisfaction was widespread.
Google later practically bypassed the problem by changing the aspect ratio of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold model. The inner screen became somewhat narrower and higher, so non-optimized applications began to recognize it as an “upright” screen and automatically stretched over the entire surface. The problem of lazy developers has not been solved, it has been swept under the carpet, but at least the user experience has become more acceptable.
This is exactly why the return of wide flip phones makes more sense today than it did a few years ago. Newer versions of Android gradually improve the behavior of applications on large screens, which opens up space for this, according to many, a more natural format, to return to the focus of manufacturers and users, writes Android Authority.