Huawei is set to shake up the foldable phone market sooner than we thought – tri-fold handset imminent

We've known for a few weeks now that Huawei has a triple-folding phone nearly ready for the market, but now it looks like it's truly imminent. Unlike some more traditional leaks from factory floors or supply chain sources, this one came straight from the top – Huawei's CEO. 

Richard Yu was spotted using a new phone with a pretty obvious triple-fold system while travelling recently, confirming the rumours that Huawei was working on a new form factor in its folding lineup. 

Now, a couple of weeks after those photos surfaced, Yu has apparently spilled the beans again. Chinese-language site MyDrivers is reporting that Yu was asked by a competition winner recently asked Yu at a public appearance when they'd be able to buy the triple-folding phone.

Rather than ignoring the question or giving a non-committal answer, Yu seemingly replied that it could be in stores in September - which means it could be just a couple of weeks away at this point. 

That's not exactly the flashy live-streamed news release that we've become used to for phones of this sort, and while Huawei doubtless does have a marketing drive planned, it's pretty fascinating to see it gazumped like this. 

Reports indicate that the folding phone will have an internal, fully unfolded display of 10 inches, which is pretty expansive, and there's no doubt that it seems certain to be the first mainstream tri-fold option. The likes of Google and Samsung are very much sticking with the bi-fold designs they've come up with so far, and there aren't any real rumours of changes planned there. The more hinges, after all, the more complicated the engineering. 

So, it might now be a question of waiting to see what else emerges from Huawei in the coming weeks - we'd presume that the next proper sighting of its triple-folding phone will be a more carefully-engineered one, but perhaps this is all a viral campaign that's got us hook, line and sinker. Time will tell!