> I enjoyed the subtle shade (presumably at Samsung) when they discussed existing foldables having an awkward size

I don't think that was subtle shade...

That being said, short-and-wide foldables have been done before, they just never stuck around. Google should've stuck with it on their Pixel Fold, same for Oppo with the Find N.

Shame that the short-and-wide foldables took this long to become more mainstream, since to me it's been the obvious form factor ever since I tried the older Galaxy Folds.