For years, the smartphone industry had a simple way of making its newest phones seem indispensable: make them faster, sharper or bigger. Add another camera. Increase the megapixel count. Stretch the display a little further towards the edges.

The harder question was what people would actually do differently with all that extra capability.

Foldables have faced the same test. A phone that opens into a much larger screen is an impressive piece of engineering. But the novelty of opening and closing it eventually wears off. What matters then is whether that extra screen changes the way the device is used.

That is the thinking behind vivo’s X Fold6.

The company’s latest foldable is built around a more ambitious proposition: a smartphone that can move between being a communication device, a productivity tool, a screen for entertainment and a camera without requiring the user to keep switching devices.

The hardware provides the starting point. Unfolded, the X Fold6 offers an 8.02-inch display, giving users considerably more room for documents, emails, presentations, video and content creation. But the more important part of the proposition sits underneath the screen: OriginOS 7.

For vivo, the operating system goes beyond merely running the phone. It is what makes the foldable form factor useful.

Origin Workbench, for instance, is designed for multitasking across applications. A user can refer to information in one app up to five screens while working in........

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