There's an Android foldable coming with Apple Watch support – the first of its kind

Riding on the crest of the news coming out of Apple’s WWDC right now, comes the rumour of Apple Watch support in an unexpected place – and not just support for Apple Watch.

According to a new report, the forthcoming Vivo X Fold 5 will offer support for the Apple Watch, even though it'll run on Android. It’s said that it will be able to display incoming calls, messages, while the health data will be recorded in the Vivo Health app.

The details come via 91mobiles, while the site goes on to say that there’s an iCloud connection built into the file management system on the Vivo X Fold 5. Currently, Apple Watch doesn’t work with any other Android devices, so this report raises more questions than answers.

However, these details come from Han Boxiao, product manager at Vivo, with extensive details offered across a series of Weibo posts. The first confirms that the Vivo X Fold 5 will be the first Android phone to work with Apple Watch.

He then goes on to detail that the Vivo X Fold 5 is going to sync with iPhone, so you can run both phones without the two ecosystems being disconnected. He says that you’ll be able to accept incoming calls on your iPhone using your Vivo device instead, and vice versa.

Fleshing out the details of the Vivo iCloud connection, we learn that you’ll be able to log into your Apple account so you can directly access photos and files you stored in iCloud, and it also allows for synchronisation back to the service. That means you can access notes from the iPhone, family albums and so on.

Vivo is also adding the ability to use your X Fold 5 as an extension screen for your Mac. You’ll be able to drag windows from your Mac onto your unfolded device to give you more working space. He also mentions that you’ll be able to connect AirPods too, but it’s already possible to connect AirPods as standard Bluetooth headphones to Android devices.

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Apple has traditionally been coy about opening up access to its products and services, so this substantial access to Apple’s walled garden raises more questions than it answers.

Han Boxiao goes on to say that the Vivo X Fold 5 conference is going to be worth watching and it certainly sounds like it is.

But the big question is why is Apple going to let Vivo access its services. Is this a change of policy from Apple? Is this the start of closer collaboration between Apple and other manufacturers, or is this all too good to be true?