Google pushes for Android apps to better support 'ultra-wide foldables' like Galaxy Z Fold 8

Android is a platform of variety, and that’s even more true now with the launch of Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold 8 series, which includes what Google refers to as an “ultra-wide foldable.”

In a developer-focused blog post, Google encourages Android app makers to build for the latest foldables by “dropping assumptions about display orientation and size.” Google calls the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 an “ultra-wide foldable,” which hasn’t been a particularly common canvas for Android apps. Only a few devices, including Google’s original Pixel Fold, fit into this category.

Google encourages developers to build with adaptive layouts, track the actual space being used by an app on these foldable displays, and take advantage of new features, like fold awareness which can help apps split wherever a foldable device’s hinge is found.

Another area Google mentions is how apps handle the camera on foldable devices, such as accounting for the camera’s position when a device is folded or unfolded. Apps that assume a fixed portrait orientation for unfolded devices “will likely suffer from sideways, stretched, or cropped previews during these folding transitions,” Google says. CameraX can account for this.

Advertisement - scroll for more content

This post also confirms Galaxy Z Fold 8 and its accompanying releases are the first devices with Gemini Nano 4 support, as well as reiterating changes in Wear OS in acknowledgment of the Galaxy Watch 9 launch, which comes pre-installed with that latest version.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 is available for pre-ordernow.

Follow Ben: Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram