This New Android Foldable Claims To Have Apple Watch Support... Somehow

The Apple Watch is a stellar wearable, and one that’s enticing enough to prevent many from switching to Android. But with its upcoming foldable, Vivo claims to, somehow, support the Apple Watch.

In a teaser on Weibo, Vivo claims that its coming X Fold 5 will support the Apple Watch, being the first Android phone to do so. The company explains (translated) that you’ll be able to answer phones, read texts, and sync health data from the Apple Watch to the Android-powered Vivo X Fold 5.

It’s a wild claim, to say the least.

X Fold5 has become the first Android phone that can connect to Apple Watch! Your Apple Watch can not only display the incoming calls and text messages of X Fold5, but also the health data recorded on the watch, which can be synchronized to the vivo health app

Is this is a true, native connection? It’s rather hard to say, but it seems unlikely as Apple does not, and seemingly will never, allow Android phones to pair with its smartwatch.

It seems more likely that Vivo is building on the iOS and macOS integrations that have been coming with recent releases from Oppo and other Chinese brands. Android Authority notes two other posts in which Vivo teases “direct” iCloud integration, as well as the ability to use the X Fold 5 as an extended monitor for a Mac.

With that in mind, it’s hard to imagine that Vivo is somehow making an Apple Watch truly “compatible” with an Android phone, but rather using some sort of app workaround to offer some form of connection between the two, perhaps by routing everything through an iPhone or other Apple device.

The Vivo X Fold 5 is coming soon, and even outside of these Apple integration promises, it’ll be a compelling foldable with rumors and teasers hinting at high-end specs, and perhaps even some real dust resistance too.