Huawei Unveils World's First Tri-Fold Smartphone, Challenging Apple's iPhone 16

Huawei's first tri-fold phone starts at an eye-watering $2,800

If you thought the price of a fully specced iPhone 16 Pro Max or Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 was high, has a new flagship that might require some folks to pull off a bank heist to afford. , which the company claims is the first triple-fold phone to hit the market, will debut in China and start at 19,999 yuan (approximately $2,800). That's enough to buy an 11-inch iPad Pro, M3 MacBook Air and an iPhone 16 -- and still have cash to spare. It took Huawei five years to develop the Mate XT, according to the chairman of its consumer business, Richard Yu. As part of that process, the company is said to have made breakthroughs in screen and hinge technology. The device folds up accordion-style, with one hinge bending outward and the other inward, leaving one of the panels available to use as a 6.4-inch exterior display. "Huawei Mate XT is the world's first triple-fold smartphone, and the largest and thinnest foldable handset globally," Yu said during a launch event, according to . "We are the first in the world to achieve outward folding (in smartphones) and the first to create an inward-folding phone with no gaps." Despite the high price, the Mate XT has already caught the imagination of Chinese consumers. By early Tuesday, Huawei had received 3.7 million preorders. It's no surprise as to why Huawei formally revealed the device hours after Monday's iPhone event -- it's looking to steal some of Apple's thunder. Given its pre-order numbers and the relatively modest iPhone hardware updates this year (Apple is banking on the delayed Apple Intelligence features as a key selling point), Huawei may have just pulled that off. When completely unfolded, the Mate XT has a 10.2-inch 3K display with a 92 percent screen-to-body ratio. Buyers can use one, two or all three panels at once (the size of the two-panel display is 7.9 inches). It comes in red or black with a leather finish on the rear and gold trim on the edges and folds. When they're out of range of a cell network, owners will be able to communicate with the rest of the world via satellite. As you might imagine, there are a bunch of generative AI features too, including a voice input function that can polish and translate a transcript. There's the option to have a chatbot open on one side of the screen to answer questions and summarize articles. There's an AI photo-editing tool too. On that note, Huawei says the triple-camera system (which features a periscope telephoto camera and an ultra-wide-angle camera) includes an approximate optical zoom of 5.5x. Huawei isn't the first company to show off a tri-fold device, however. We had some back in 2020. The rollout plans for the Mate XT outside China are not yet clear. The Mate XT is unlikely to officially come to the US, given that have been in place against the company over the last few years.

Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design Is the World's First Triple-Foldable Phone, Priced at $2,800

Huawei unveiled the world's first triple-foldable phone on Tuesday, just hours after Apple announced the iPhone 16 lineup, as it seeks to overshadow its American rival, particularly in China. The Mate XT Ultimate Design looks like a regular phone when folded, but it can expand into what Huawei calls dual and triple screen modes, with the triple screen reaching 10.2 inches. The Chinese tech giant says the display, which folds twice, is made of flexible materials that can bend in either direction. The base version starts at 19,999 yuan, roughly $2,800, and goes up to 23,999 yuan, or $3,370, for the highest storage variant. The trifold phone has already garnered over four million preorders, with no deposit required, following Huawei's launch event in Shenzhen, according to the company's online store. Given its prohibitive price tag, the Mate XT Ultimate Design is unlikely to be a major sales driver for Huawei. But winning the foldables race remains a key ambition for the Chinese company, which in recent years saw its smartphone division collapse following several rounds of US sanctions. In fact, Huawei has achieved the leadership position in the worldwide foldables market, according to a second quarter report from IDC. Huawei took the top spot from Samsung with a 27.5% market share globally, while Samsung captured 16.4%. The worldwide foldable market is forecast to reach 25 million devices by the end of 2024, up 37.6% from the 18.1 million units shipped in 2023, according to the research firm International Data Corporation. By 2028, total foldable phone shipments worldwide are expected to rise to 45.7 million units, IDC predicts. "The production constraints and price point of Huawei's latest product may not have a huge impact in terms of shipments, but it's telling the consumers that it's still the tech leader and the potential challenge it brings to Apple may be far beyond just market share," IDC's Will Wong told CNET. "The absence of AI features in the latest iPhone 16 series in China may reinforce the challenge faced by Apple in the local market." Huawei's new foldable highlights the progress Apple's rivals have made in innovating this newer subcategory of phones. Apple's first foldable, meanwhile, is reportedly not expected until 2025 at the earliest, with current rumors pointing to a flip phone. Apple unveiled the iPhone 16 lineup just hours before Huawei's event. However, Apple Intelligence, the American company's AI platform considered by many to be a key feature in the series, is not yet available in mainland China. To enable its availability, Apple would first need to partner with a local Chinese AI company due to local regulations. In the second quarter of 2024, Apple's iPhone sales in China continued to face challenges. The American tech giant lost ground to local competitors such as Huawei and Xiaomi, resulting in Apple dropping out of the top five phones makers there, according to IDC. The concept of a triple-folding phone is nothing new. Samsung gave us a glimpse at trifold display concepts back in 2022 at CES. Prior to that, TCL showed a concept off in 2020. But none of them have been released or mass produced for commercial sales until now. Camera: 50-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, 12-megapixel periscope telephoto camera Special features: Triple folding design, AI features, satellite communication, stylus support, keyboard attachment

Huawei Unveils $2,800 Trifold Phone Hours After iPhone 16 Debut

(Bloomberg) -- Huawei Technologies Co. announced the world's first commercial device with two folds, claiming leadership in mobile design just after Apple Inc. unveiled its latest iPhones. The so-called trifold phone from Huawei, dubbed the Mate XT and starting at 19,999 yuan ($2,800), took over five years of development and promises to fit a 10-inch tablet in a pocket. Introduced in a livestreamed event from Shenzhen, the new device is jostling for attention at the top of the premium market in China, where Huawei has reclaimed share from Apple over the past year. Riding a yearlong high after the debut of a breakthrough, made-in-China mobile processor last August, Huawei returns with a first-of-its-kind innovation. But questions abound as to how much of an impact the pricey new phone will have on the overall market. And, at a time that every other phone vendor is pushing artificial intelligence features and additions, Huawei's focus on hardware engineering stands out. "It'll be hard for trifold products to become a major growth engine for the foldable market given the high technical requirements, low yields, high prices and limited participants," IDC analyst Arthur Guo said ahead of Huawei's event. Other phone makers are starting to decelerate investment in foldables, waiting for Apple to enter the fray and use its "strong appeal" to attract consumers to the category, he added. For Huawei, the prize may be bigger than just sales. Huawei has become a de facto symbol of national pride, after developing homemade chips that US trade sanctions were meant to prevent, and that patriotism has shown up in some of its bumper sales over the past year. The Mate XT measures just 3.6mm in thickness when open -- camera bump excluded -- and was designed to allow three modes of operation. One is like a regular smartphone, another is an almost square foldable device, and the third is the full 10.2-inch tablet experience. The device runs Huawei's in-house Harmony OS. The company's decision to set its trifold debut mere hours after Apple's worldwide introduction of the iPhone 16 signals the company wants to own the innovation crown -- at home in China, at least -- and not allow Apple its usual honeymoon period after a new launch. Huawei and Apple are likely to once again dominate the Chinese premium smartphone tier this holiday shopping season, with the Shenzhen company expected to introduce a new Mate series of flagship handsets later in the year.

Huawei seeks to steal spotlight from Apple with launch of $2,800 tri-fold smartphone

The device has already received more than 3.6 million pre-orders, for which no deposit is required, according to the company's website. The entire global market for foldable phones was around 4 million units in the second quarter, according to research firm IDC. "Today we bring you a product that everyone can think of but could not make. Our team has been working hard for five years and has never given up," Huawei executive director Richard Yu said at the launch. "We dare to make extraordinary breakthroughs. Today we will once again rewrite the history of the industry, turn science fiction into reality, and lead a new era of folding devices." The much-anticipated launch comes just hours after Apple unveiled its latest model - the AI-boosted iPhone 16 - with both smartphones due to go on sale on Sept. 20. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2 inch display screen. At 3.6mm wide, the company said it was the world's slimmest foldable phone and has a keyboard attachment that fits in your pocket. Prices start at 19,999 yuan ($2,800) for 256 gigabytes, with versions with higher memory available for 21,999 yuan and 23,999 yuan. The launch, which follows a series of successful smartphone debuts, underscores Huawei's ability to navigate U.S. sanctions and solidifies its position against Apple in China, where some consumers criticised the new iPhone 16 for its lack of AI features in the country. Apple has yet to announce an AI partner in China to power the 16s and Apple Intelligence, the company's AI software, will only be available in Chinese languages next year. "What's the point of buying it if you can't use AI?" wrote one user on Weibo, China's X-like platform. Another commented: "Without AI as the biggest selling point, it should be half price." While Apple for years enjoyed strong demand in China, where new iPhone launches once sparked a frenzy, its sales have dwindled and the company's ranking in the world's second-largest economy has now dropped from third to sixth place. Huawei made a comeback to the high-end smartphone segment last year with the release of a device powered by a domestically-made chip, defying U.S. sanctions that have cut off its access to the global chipset supply chain. The launch of the Mate 60 Pro surprised analysts and U.S. officials. Huawei already has two-way foldable phones in its lineup, and their strong sales in China helped it overtake Samsung Electronics this year as the biggest vendor of such phones globally. But with a price tag that starts at $2,808 - more than twice the starting price of the comparable iPhone 16 Pro Max - and limited production, the tri-fold phone is likely to become more of a symbol of Huawei's tech prowess than a major sales driver, analysts said. The foldable smartphone market grew 57% year-on-year in the second quarter with 3.9 million units shipped, largely as Chinese smartphone makers pushed into overseas markets, according to consultancy IDC. That still remains just 1.3% of the wider smartphone market, with 292.2 million smartphones shipped in the second quarter, IDC said. Huawei ranked as the world's biggest foldable smartphone seller in the second quarter with a 27.5% market share, ahead of South Korea's Samsung, with 16.4%, according to IDC. That share rises to 42% in China's home market, ahead of Vivo and former Huawei unit Honor, which it spun off under pressure from U.S. sanctions in 2020. In the broader smartphone market in China, Apple's ranking fell from third to sixth place in the second quarter, as Huawei emerged as the third-largest vendor on the back of strong sales of its latest smartphones. (Reporting by David Kirton in Shenzhen and Hyunjoo Jin in Seoul; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Miyoung Kim, Stephen Coates and Sonali Paul and Miral Fahmy)

Huawei unveils $2,800 trifold phone hours after iPhone 16 debut

Huawei Technologies Co. announced the world's first commercial device with two folds, claiming leadership in mobile design just after Apple Inc. unveiled its latest iPhones. The so-called trifold phone from Huawei, dubbed the Mate XT and starting at 19,999 yuan ($2,800), took over five years of development and promises to fit a 10-inch tablet in a pocket. Introduced in a livestreamed event from Shenzhen, the new device is jostling for attention at the top of the premium market in China, where Huawei has reclaimed share from Apple over the past year. Riding a yearlong high after the debut of a breakthrough, made-in-China mobile processor last August, Huawei returns with a first-of-its-kind innovation. But questions abound as to how much of an impact the pricey new phone will have on the overall market. And, at a time that every other phone vendor is pushing artificial intelligence features and additions, Huawei's focus on hardware engineering stands out. "It'll be hard for trifold products to become a major growth engine for the foldable market given the high technical requirements, low yields, high prices and limited participants," IDC analyst Arthur Guo said ahead of Huawei's event. Other phone makers are starting to decelerate investment in foldables, waiting for Apple to enter the fray and use its "strong appeal" to attract consumers to the category, he added. For Huawei, the prize may be bigger than just sales. Huawei has become a de facto symbol of national pride, after developing homemade chips that US trade sanctions were meant to prevent, and that patriotism has shown up in some of its bumper sales over the past year. The Mate XT measures just 3.6mm in thickness when open -- camera bump excluded -- and was designed to allow three modes of operation. One is like a regular smartphone, another is an almost square foldable device, and the third is the full 10.2-inch tablet experience. The device runs Huawei's in-house Harmony OS. The company's decision to set its trifold debut mere hours after Apple's worldwide introduction of the iPhone 16 signals the company wants to own the innovation crown -- at home in China, at least -- and not allow Apple its usual honeymoon period after a new launch. Huawei and Apple are likely to once again dominate the Chinese premium smartphone tier this holiday shopping season, with the Shenzhen company expected to introduce a new Mate series of flagship handsets later in the year. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com SHARE Copy linkEmailFacebookTwitterTelegramLinkedInWhatsAppRedditPublished on September 10, 2024

You've Never Seen Anything Like Huawei's $2,800 Tri-Fold Phone

Chinese smartphone maker Huawei unveiled the Mate XT Ultimate Design, the world's first dual-hinged, triple-display folding smartphone. It is as expensive as it is novel. The Mate XT Ultimate Design unfolds like an accordion of sorts. Where a typical foldable phone has a single hinge, and the user just unfolds it, like opening a book, the Mate XT Ultimate Design adds a second hinge. It's more like opening a children's pop-up book that expands to the side. When the phone is unfolded, the user is treated to a massive 10.2-inch OLED display. Like other foldables, the device can also be used in a slab phone format using a single 6.4-inch display. It can also be used unfolded a single time, which creates a 7.9-inch display. As for the other aspects of the phone's design, Huawei has gone all-in on luxury and elegance. The phone sports gold trim, pinstriping, red leather, and a "Designed and Crafted by Huawei" badge that wouldn't look out of place on a premium handbag. This marketing approach has proven popular with Chinese customers so far, with retailers reporting millions of preorders before Huawei even showed the device, per Reuters. Although undoubtedly different from other phones in form, the Mate XT Ultimate Design is similar in function to its contemporaries, which in 2024 means a lot of AI. The device features onboard artificial intelligence for translation, photo editing, answering questions, and more. Concerning imaging, foldables typically come up short when it comes to camera specs and photo features. The Mate XT Ultimate is similar in that regard, sporting a fairly mundane triple-camera array. The 50-megapixel main camera has a 24mm equivalent lens with a variable aperture (f/1.4-4), which is admittedly unique in the foldable space. However, the other two cameras aren't breaking new ground. There's a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera (13mm) with an f/2.2 lens and for farther subjects, a 12-megapixel 125mm periscope telephoto camera with a 5.5x optical zoom f/3.4 lens. The self-facing camera has an 8-megapixel sensor. The foldable smartphone market continues to grow. Nearly every major player has a foldable device in its portfolio, including Samsung, Google, OnePlus, Huawei, and more. Apple is the most obvious omission, although industry experts believe the American tech giant has been tinkering on the concept for years. Given its high price tag -- more on that in a minute -- the Mate XT Ultimate Design is unlikely to be a huge revenue driver for Huawei despite strong preorder numbers. However, the company is dedicated to being a market leader. "The production constraints and price point of Huawei's latest product may not have a huge impact in terms of shipments, but it's telling the consumers that it's still the tech leader and the potential challenge it brings to Apple may be far beyond just market share," International Data Corporation's Will Wong tells CNET. Wong adds that because some Apple Intelligence features aren't making it to China, at least not yet, competitors have a chance to make up ground in the vast country. Despite facing sanctions in the United States, Huawei continues to perform exceptionally well globally, especially in the foldable market, where it is the market leader with 27.5% market share ahead of Samsung (16.4%), per IDC. Content consumption is a significant part of how many people use their smartphones, and foldables are undoubtedly great choices for this application, thanks to their large displays. However, thus far, the widespread adoption of foldables has been held back by high prices and numerous compromises, especially regarding photography features. Reduced cost, improved reliability and durability, and more competitive features will be vital for the foldable market's continued growth. The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design doesn't subscribe to the notion of cost reduction, though, as Huawei has gone all-out on its new tri-fold phone. The Mate XT Ultimate starts with 256GB of storage and 16GB of RAM, priced at 19,999 yuan, which is $2,810 at current exchange rates. The device also comes in 512GB and 1TB versions, which range up to 23,999 yuan ($3,372). As of now, there's no word the Mate XT Ultimate Design will launch outside China.

Huawei prices trifold phone at more than $2,800, for launch on the same day as Apple's iPhone 16

BEIJING -- Chinese smartphone company Huawei said Tuesday its trifold smartphone will start at the equivalent of more than $2,800. The phone began pre-orders on Saturday and is set to begin in-store sales on Sept. 20. That's the same day Apple's new iPhone 16 series is due to launch in stores, including in China. On Monday stateside, Apple announced its iPhone 16 Pro Max will start at $1,199, and the iPhone 16 at $799. Preorders are set to begin Friday, and in-store sales on Sept. 20. The first set of Apple Intelligence AI features will be available in a free software update next month, the company said. iPhone 16 users as well as those of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max can use the new functions. Huawei's Mate XT also comes with artificial intelligence features, such as text translation and cloud-based content generation, according to Tuesday's presentation. "We have spent five years striving for this," said Richard Yu, Huawei's executive director and chairman of the board of directors of the consumer business group. That's according to a CNBC translation of the Mandarin. The Mate XT comes in red and black, in three storage options with prices ranging from 19,999 yuan ($2,809) to 23,999 yuan ($3,371). More than 3.5 million people had preordered Huawei's trifold Mate XT smartphone as of midday Tuesday, according to the company's website. Apple also announced a new A18 chip for its new phones that use highly advanced 3-nanometer technology. The company claimed the chip makes the iPhone 16 significantly faster than the iPhone 12. Huawei has sought to make a comeback in the smartphone industry, which was hard hit after the U.S. slapped sanctions on the company in 2019. The U.S. in October 2022 imposed broader restrictions on American sales of advanced chips to Chinese businesses. But in late August 2023, the Chinese telecommunications giant quietly released its Mate 60 Pro, which analysis by TechInsights showed had a chip manufactured using a 7-nanometer process by Chinese chipmaker SMIC. Huawei kicked off Tuesday's launch event by discussing Mate XT details and price. That contrasted with its product launch last year that didn't reveal any details about its Mate 60 Pro phone or reported advanced chip breakthrough during a high-profile launch event. The news that Huawei achieved such advanced technology helped bolster its sales in China, despite lackluster consumer spending overall. Apple fell out of the list of top five smartphone vendors in China in the second quarter of this year, according to Canalys. It was the first time that domestic players held all five spots, the firm said. Huawei ranked fourth by market share with 10.6 million smartphones shipped, according to Canalys. The firm only shared shipments for the top five vendors. Apple shipped 10 million phones in the first quarter. Huawei already sells folding and flip phones, as do its Chinese competitors. Apple has yet to expand into those categories.

Forget everything -- Huawei is doing two folds on the Mate XT Ultimate

"It's a piece of work that everyone has thought of but never managed to create." Huawei's Mate XT Ultimate is a phone that does not flip or fold, at least in the way of its Samsung or Google contemporaries. You could say it collapses, really, across two hinges, from a full 10.2-inch diagonal rectangle (about a half-inch short of a standard iPad) down to a traditional 6.4-inch rectangle phone slab. There's also an in-between single-fold configuration at 7.9 inches. And there's an optional folding keyboard. This phone, which Huawei calls a "trifold," would cost you the USD equivalent of $2,800 (19,999 yuan) if you could buy it in the US. Most notably, the phone launched just hours after Apple's iPhone 16 event. As noted by The New York Times, Huawei's product launches are often timed for maximum pushback against the US, which has sanctioned and attempted to stymie Huawei's chip tech. "It's a piece of work that everyone has thought of but never managed to create," Richard Yu, Huawei's consumer group chairman, said during the Mate XT livestream unveiling. "I have always had a dream to put our tablet in my pocket, and we did it." For the price of two really good gaming PCs, you get 256GB storage (with pricier upgrades available), 16GB RAM, a 5,600 mAh battery, a 50-megapixel main camera, and two 12 MP ultrawide and periscope cameras. It weights 298 grams, is just 3.6 mm thick when unfolded, and its screen is an LTPO OLED with 120 Hz refresh. There are, just like US flagship phones, a lot of AI-powered promises stuck onto the software and camera. Beyond the price, the size, and the AI promises, the Mate XT Ultimate will be most interesting in how its hinges hold up. Huawei named its hinges after the Tiangong space station and says it allows for "internal and external bending" across dual tracks. It is made of a composite laminate and non-Newtonian fluid bits. The Verge notes that the Mate XT Ultimate has seen some 3.7 million pre-orders through Chinese retailer Vmall -- before a price was announced. It does not seem likely that the phone will be released outside China.

Huawei's tri-fold phone crosses 3 million pre-orders as Chinese tech giant keeps up pressure on Apple in China

The fortunes of Apple and Huawei have seemingly gone in opposite directions since Huawei unveiled a smartphone featuring an advanced chip in August 2023. Since then, the Chinese tech giant has chipped away at Apple's market share in China. This week, Huawei is looking to upstage Apple again. It's expected to release the Mate XT, the first commercially produced tri-fold phone, at its product launch event on Sept. 10, 2:30 p.m. Beijing time. That's just hours after Apple's own product launch event, where the U.S. tech giant is expected to unveil its latest iPhone equipped with AI applications, along with updates to the Apple watch and Airpods. Huawei's head of consumer and automotive technology group Richard Yu posted on Weibo on Monday, teasing the launch of the tri-fold phone. A tri-fold phone is one where the screen can be folded out three times. Besides a new smartphone, Huawei is also expected to unveil new wearables, like its smartwatch, and new tablets. Huawei started accepting orders for the Mate XT on Sept. 7, and it had already received more than 3 million pre-orders as of time of publication, according to Huawei's website. The phone officially goes on sale on Sept. 20 -- the same date that Apple's new iPhones are expected to be available in stores. Prices for both Huawei and Apple's new phones are expected to be announced at their launch events. Huawei has been gaining market share at the expense of Apple ever since it launched its Mate 60 Pro, a 5G phone featuring a fairly advanced chip, in late August last year. The phone surprised analysts and U.S. officials who had thought export control measures would curtail Chinese tech firms like Huawei from producing such chips at scale. That phone was celebrated by state-media in China, and earlier this year Huawei followed up with a new phone, the Pura 70 series, which also features a similarly advanced chip. Analysts have speculated that China, which has been barred from procuring cutting edge chipmaking equipment, has optimized older equipment to churn out these more advanced chips. And while it may be more expensive to do that at scale, Huawei's new phones show Chinese companies may be willing to bear the production costs. A recent report on the Chinese smartphone market from IDC, a market intelligence firm, showed Huawei in second place with 18.1% of market share in the second quarter of this year -- a slice that represented 50.2% year-on-year growth. In contrast, Apple came in sixth. The report noted that despite price promotions, Apple still saw a 3.1% year-on-year decline. Data from Counterpoint Research, another market research firm, also showed the recent contrasting fortunes for Apple and Huawei in the Chinese market. Counterpoint's report had Apple in second place with a market share of 15.5% in the second quarter of 2024, but that's down 5.7% year-on-year. Huawei had a market share of 15.4% for the same period, which was up 44.5% year-on-year. Apple's own quarterly results for the three months ending June 2024 showed a 6.5% decline in sales year-on-year, to $14.7 billion, in the Greater China market, which includes Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Measured over the nine-month period ending in June 2024, Apple's sales in Greater China declined 9.7% year-on-year. Analysts attribute Apple's struggles in China at least in part to the increasing rivalry between the U.S. and China. Against the backdrop of Washington's tighter export control measures, Beijing has been supporting a shift away from Western technology towards domestic ones. And that sentiment may apply to consumer devices as well, with Beijing previously asking government officials to stop using non-Chinese phones for work. Apple's bid to wrest back market share in China may be further hampered even before its launch due to Beijing's strict rules around generative AI technology. Such regulations mean the American company's latest tech offerings in the iPhone 16 won't be available in China. "Huawei may still face some production restrictions in its upcoming new launch, but a breakthrough in the form factor will tell the consumers that it's still the tech leader," said Will Wong, senior research manager at IDC Asia-Pacific Client Devices Group "This will further strengthen Huawei's brand image, especially since Apple's upcoming AI features will be absent in China in the short term."

Huawei Targets iPhone's Premium Market with $2,800 Foldable Mate XT Launch: Report - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Pre-orders for Huawei's Mate XT trifold smartphone exceed 4 million. China's top smartphone maker Huawei Technologies Co announced that its new trifold smartphone, Mate XT, will launch on September 20, 2024, with prices starting at over $2,800. The move marks Huawei's attempts to snatch the premium smartphone market share of Apple Inc's AAPL iPhone. The Mate XT features advanced artificial intelligence capabilities such as text translation and cloud-based content creation, which came after five years of efforts, CNBC cites Huawei's chairman of the board of the consumer business group Richard Yu. Also Read: Apple's Market Share Poised To Gain, GenAI And iPhone 16 Lead the Way: IDC Huawei's update assumes significance as the U.S. slapped a semiconductor technology embargo on China, including its access to sophisticated artificial intelligence chips, citing national security concerns. In August 2023, Huawei launched its Mate 60 Pro, which reportedly had a chip manufactured using a 7-nanometer process by China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. Huawei's foldable smartphone launch also coincides with the release of the 16 models of the Apple iPhone. Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Max will start at $1,199, while the standard iPhone 16 will be priced at $799. Huawei's phone has a 10.2-inch display and is just 3.6 millimeters thick when unfolded, offering single, double, or triple-screen viewing options. Pre-orders for the device have already surpassed 4 million, CNBC cites Huawei's website. Reuters cites the IDC as stating that Huawei led the foldable smartphone market in the second quarter with a 27.5% market share, followed by Samsung Electronics with 16.4%. IDC analyst Arthur Guo expressed skepticism to Bloomberg over the prospects of trifold products becoming a major growth catalyst for the foldable market, citing the high technical requirements, low yields, high prices, and limited participants. Price Action: AAPL stock is down 0.77% at $219.17 premarket at the last check Tuesday. Also Read: China's Markets Still Manage To Get Nvidia AI Chips Via Smuggling: Report Photo via Huawei Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Huawei racks up 3 million pre-orders for tri-fold phone before Apple's iPhone 16 reveal

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese tech giant Huawei has garnered more than 3 million pre-orders for its triple-folding smartphone, its website showed on Monday, which comes just hours before Apple's debut of its new generation of iPhones. Huawei's Mate XT, a Z-shaped tri-fold phone is scheduled to be unveiled at a launch event on Tuesday, as announced on its social media account WeChat. Pre-ordering customers will receive details on how to purchase the phone on Tuesday, the day of the launch event, rather than making a down payment. This robust pre-order figure underscores Huawei's ability to navigate U.S. sanctions and solidifies its position as a key competitor to Apple, which has cut prices earlier this year to sustain its market share. The Huawei launch event will take place shortly after Apple's Sept. 9 event, where the company is set to introduce its iPhone 16 lineup, emphasising the integration of artificial intelligence features in its flagship devices. Huawei was the biggest foldable phone seller in China in the second quarter, with a 42% domestic market share, according to consultancy IDC. (Reporting by Ella Cao and David Kirton, Editing by Louise Heavens)

Huawei's tri-fold smartphone has over 3 million preorders ahead of Apple's new iPhone release

Apple's AAPL main competition in China has over 3 million preorders for its smartphone as the iPhone maker prepares to unveil its latest model. Huawei's tri-fold Mate XT smartphone has received over 3.18 million preorders since September 7, according to its website. The Mate XT will be unveiled at an event on Tuesday, Richard Yu, Huawei executive director, said on Weibo. Meanwhile, Apple is expected to introduce its new iPhone 16 on Monday, equipped with its new generative artificial intelligence initiative, Apple Intelligence, that includes an AI-powered update to Siri and other native iPhone apps. Since releasing its Mate 60 Pro smartphone series last August, Huawei has outpaced Apple in the Chinese market. In April, the company reported a rise in profit for the fourth consecutive quarter, also showing resilience against U.S. sanctions. Meanwhile, Apple's iPhone sales fell 19% over the same period -- its worst performance in China since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Apple's share of China's smartphone market also fell year-over-year in the first quarter of 2024 from 19.7% to 15.7%. The company has had to cut prices on some iPhone models in the Chinese market as competition grows with Huawei and other homegrown smartphone-makers. China's smartphone shipments increased 8.9% year-over-year in the second quarter of this year, led by double-digit growth from local companies including Huawei, Vivo, and Xiaomi, according to the International Data Corporation. The growth edged Apple out of the top five into sixth place -- and, despite the price cuts, the iPhone-maker saw a decline of 3.1% year-over-year, the data shows.

Huawei racks up 3 million pre-orders for tri-fold phone before Apple's iPhone 16 reveal

Pre-ordering customers will receive details on how to purchase the phone on Tuesday, the day of the launch event, rather than making a down payment. This robust pre-order figure underscores Huawei's ability to navigate U.S. sanctions and solidifies its position as a key competitor to Apple, which has cut prices earlier this year to sustain its market share. The Huawei launch event will take place shortly after Apple's Sept. 9 event, where the company is set to introduce its iPhone 16 lineup, emphasising the integration of artificial intelligence features in its flagship devices. Huawei was the biggest foldable phone seller in China in the second quarter, with a 42% domestic market share, according to consultancy IDC. (Reporting by Ella Cao and David Kirton, Editing by Louise Heavens)

Huawei Logs 3 Million Foldable Phone Orders Before Apple Launch | PYMNTS.com

Huawei's foldable smartphone has logged millions of orders, launching ahead of Apple's AI rollout. As of Monday (Sept. 9) morning, the Chinese company's website showed 3.1 million customers had pre-ordered the trifold phone. A report by CNBC notes that Huawei had begun pre-orders of the phone Saturday (Sept 7), getting a jump on Apple's planned launch of the iPhone 16 by more than two days. Huawei had said it plans to officially launch the phone on Tuesday (Sept. 10), hours after the debut of the new iPhone -- featuring Apple's artificial intelligence (AI) offerings -- slated for the early morning hours in Beijing. Richard Yu, Huawei's consumer group chief, announced the launch on social media platform Weibo, describing the company spending five years to create what is said to be the world's first commercial-ready smartphone that folds twice, and what Yu called "an epoch-making product." The CNBC report cites data from Canalys showing that Apple dropped from the list of China's top five smartphone vendors in the second quarter of the year, marking the first time that Chinese companies were in all five spots. Huawei came in fourth place by market share, shipping 10.6 million phones in the quarter. While the analysis did not include shipments beyond the top five vendors, the CNBC report says that Apple shipped 10 million phones in the first quarter. Meanwhile, experts interviewed by PYMNTS recently said Apple Intelligence -- no matter the speed of its rollout -- could ultimately transform the digital commerce landscape. "Apple's AI integration could bring us closer to the concept of a true AI assistant -- something that's portable, convenient and seamlessly integrated into our daily lives," Ryan Waite, vice president of public affairs at Think Big, told PYMNTS last month. "While we've seen attempts at this with devices like Rabbit, they haven't fully delivered on the promise." The efforts involve more than just shopping, PYMNTS wrote, noting that Apple's mobile wallet is also expected to undergo its own AI makeover. "There's a huge opportunity for Apple to change consumer spending behavior and take its mobile wallet to the next level by integrating it into its core AI strategy," Darryl Cumming, director of product management at payments solutions company NMI, told PYMNTS. "OpenAI is only the beginning." Combining AI with Apple Pay could usher in more intuitive, context-aware financial experiences, that report added. "We should expect consumer choices in the Apple universe to be amplified and channeled into more App Store purchases and commerce personalization," Cumming added.