Everyone’s in awe of ‘tri-fold’ phones, and now projectors are all ‘yeah, us, too’

Listen, foldables are cool — who doesn’t love big things that transform into smaller things — but they’re also becoming a little been-there-done-that as manufacturers really start getting comfortable with the form factor. And that sort of familiarity is probably exactly why so many of us have been shifting our interests slightly towards the growing crop of “tri-fold” devices like Samsung’s upcoming TriFold or the new Mate XTs.

Editor’s note: When did the mobile industry forget how to count? All these things fold twice, not three times. Get it together.

This week at IFA 2025 in Berlin, I had the opportunity to check out a totally different category of mobile device that’s also been experimenting with the possibilities this kind of multi-fold construction affords: projectors.

This is the Aurzen ZIP, a compact portable projector with a surprising amount of versatility thanks to its folding design. It debuted earlier this year at CES, but right now it’s picking up new Cyber Edition and Titanium Gold colorways, so we’re taking a closer look at how that unusual shape opens up some fun possibilities that might be awkward — if not impossible — with more traditional projectors.

As portable projectors go, the ZIP isn’t looking to become your movie-night solution. The 720p resolution and 100 ANSI lumen brightness aren’t going to compete with larger units — but that’s just not the point of this hardware. Aurzen’s solution is all about portability, and more importantly, a design that lets you get the ZIP’s image exactly where you want it.

The folding construction helps with that in a few ways. Obviously, you can use the Z shape to raise and lower the height of its beam, and articulate that top section housing the projector itself to point up and down. But start thinking beyond “this projector has a built-in stand” and you begin to see the possibilities.

In one demo at IFA, Aurzen shows how owners can point the ZIP’s output straight down from a vantage above, giving creators the ability to easily project and copy art onto objects of all shapes and sizes.

Another interesting way this folding design helps enhance versatility is by going vertical. Simply extend that Z shape and turn the ZIP on its side and you have a stable platform where its output is now in portrait orientation. Why would you need that? Screen mirroring lets you copy your phone’s display to the ZIP, perfect for sharing app content — or just watching a few Shorts.

The 5,000mAh battery is supposed to offer about 90 minutes of operation on a charge, and fast USB-C charging lets you get back up and running quick. Folded shut, the ZIP is only an inch thick and about the size of half a phone, so it should have no problem at all fitting in your bag. And niceties like fast auto-focus mean you can just whip it out and get started projecting without a lot of fuss.

Aurzen is selling the ZIP tri-fold projector right now for just about $430, with a $50-off coupon available. If you want to check out one of the new color options, those become available at the end of the month.