Now another phone maker wants to copy the iPhone Fold – before it's even launched

Honor could be planning to introduce a new folding phone design to fend off the challenge of the iPhone Fold. The unannounced Apple device is thought to have a wider format than current folding phones, leading to a number of manufacturers looking at alternative formats for their own devices.

If Honor makes this move, it could join Samsung in offering a "wide fold" device, shifting the aspect ratio of the internal display. We've seen similar devices in the past – the original Pixel Fold adopted this slightly squat format – and it seems that Honor could be heading in the same direction.

Rather than replacing its existing model – most recently seen in the Honor Magic V5 – it's suggested that Honor might update and replace the Honor Magic Vs instead. The Magic Vs was the first folding phone that Honor offered outside of China, appearing in 2022.

The name then sort of vanished with a run of Honor Magic V models with most of us forgetting that the Vs name ever existed. However, HuaweiCentral says that could change.

This comes down to information shared on Weibo by WangzaiKnowsEverything, saying that a "new wide fold" will join the product line. It's then said that "the replacement should be in the price range of the previous Vs".

This immediately highlights the problem with product names that include an "s" – it could be a replacement for the Vs and in the same price bracket, or that might be the plural for the Magic V models. We also have to consider that this has been translated, so approach the exact details with caution.

Exactly when this might happen isn't clear, but we know that Honor is planning for a big MWC event on 1 March. That's going to see more details revealed about the Robot Phone, while there's speculation that we could see the international launch of the Honor Magic 8 Pro Air as well as the launch of the Honor Magic V6.

There's little else that's been said about a potentially wide version of the folding phone, but Honor isn't as tightly bound by launch cycles as some manufacturers, so it might just pop it out when it's ready – before the iPhone Fold, naturally.