Xiaomi launched the 18 Fold, its first wide foldable phone that opens from a normal handset into a tablet-sized screen, joining a field of folding devices that has slowly moved from fragile novelty toward durable mainstream hardware. A foldable combines a phone and a small tablet in one device by using a flexible display.
Years of iteration have improved the hinges and screens that once made folding phones a risky buy, and prices, while still high, have begun to ease.
What it means: for anyone whose work mixes reading, note-taking and video calls, a foldable can replace carrying both a phone and a tablet. It is still a premium purchase, but the category is now mature enough to consider seriously rather than dismiss as a gadget.