Chinese telecoms giant Huawei unveiled its new phone on Tuesday, billed as the world’s first foldable phone, the day after its American rival Apple announced the iPhone 16, which features a generative artificial intelligence system.
This new Huawei model, called Mate XT, was presented by Richard Yu, president of the company’s consumer branch, during an online conference of the group from its headquarters in Shenzhen (southern China).
It will go on sale on September 20 with a starting price of 19,999 yuan (over 2,500 euros), more than three times the price of the iPhone 16.
Although the phone, with its red and gold design, is aimed more at a premium clientele, more than three million people have already pre-registered to be alerted of its availability.
“Huawei has always been a leader in the foldable phone sector,” said Richard Yu during his presentation. And this new model “is the world’s first foldable in three.”
Able to unfold like an accordion, it reaches, once fully extended, a width of 26 centimeters, the equivalent of a tablet, and weighs 298 grams.
“We have made great efforts to solve the problem of mass production and product reliability,” Yu also assured.
This announcement comes the day after Apple presented its new range of iPhones, the first smartphones equipped with Apple Intelligence, its generative artificial intelligence (AI) system, the star technology of Silicon Valley in which the Californian group has fallen behind.
– Technological rivalry –
Huawei has been at the center of an intense technological rivalry between China and the United States for several years, which accuses, without providing evidence, the company of being able to spy for the Chinese authorities.
Huawei categorically denies these allegations, but since 2019 sanctions from Washington have cut the company off from global supply chains for American technology and components.
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Currently, in the Chinese market, the group is the fourth largest smartphone manufacturer, with 10.6 million units sold in the second quarter of 2024, according to a recent report by Canalys.
It was previously the market leader and one of the three largest smartphone manufacturers in the world, along with Korea’s Samsung and Apple.
Huawei, however, remains dominant in the foldable phone niche, capturing more than half of the Chinese market for this type of phone in the first half of the year.
According to some analysts, the launch of this new model could revive the group’s “technological leadership”.
“This will strengthen its position as number one in the consumer foldable phone sector,” said Toby Zhu, an expert at Canalys.
But this new phone “will probably have a very limited impact because of Apple’s strong ecosystem and its greater appeal,” predicts Ethan Qi, associate director at research firm Counterpoint.
Its high price tag won’t necessarily deter its target audience, suggests Zhu: “The purchasing power of China’s wealthiest consumers has increased, despite the less favourable general economic climate,” he points out.
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