Huaweiโs new foldable phone will top both Apple and Samsung in price, costing around $2600 โ CNBC
What happened: At an event at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on Sunday, Huawei launched its first 5G foldable smartphone, the Mate X. It can fold into a 6.6-inch smartphone and unfold into an 8-inch tablet, which runs on its in-house Kirin 980 processor and Balong 5000 chipset allowing for 5G. With a starting price at โฌ2,299 (around RMB 17,500 or $2,600), Huaweiโs first 5G foldable phone would be able to download a 1-gigabyte movie in only 3 seconds, said Richard Yu, head of Huaweiโs consumer business group.
Why itโs important: Foldable smartphones are creating a buzz in the consumer electronics sector, and Huawei looks to show its leadership in flexible display technology as well as 5G. Huawei surpassed Apple to become the worldโs second-largest handset maker last year. Digitimes cited industry sources as saying the Chinese telecommunication giant eyes to ship 250 million phones this year and replace Samsung as the worldโs largest smartphone maker. Huawei Mate X marks the companyโs latest move to seize the initiative amid the global 5G roll-out race.
