Z-shaped foldable

Huawei wants to steal the show from Apple with a foldable phone

The price for the Mate XT is the equivalent of around 2540 euros upwards in China.(Bild: Huawei)

A few hours after Apple unveiled its new iPhone 16, its Chinese competitor Huawei also presented its latest smartphones. The "Mate XT", the first Z-shaped foldable cell phone, caused quite a stir and Huawei has reportedly already received around 3.6 million pre-orders for it.

According to research firm IDC, global sales of high-priced foldable phones amounted to around four million in the second quarter, which is around 1.3 percent of the smartphone market as a whole. Despite the US restrictions on technology exports to the People's Republic, Huawei continues to present products that make people sit up and take notice.

No Apple AI for China
At the same time, the company is benefiting from the disappointment with Apple. For example, the AI functions of the new iPhone 16, which the US company highlighted at the presentation, are initially only available in US English. The Chinese version is set to debut in 2025, partly because the "Apple Intelligence" AI package first has to be approved by the government in Beijing.

"What's the point of buying an iPhone 16 if you can't use AI?" wrote one user on the Chinese online platform Weibo. Another commented: "Without AI as the biggest selling point, it should cost half the price." Chinese users are considered to be particularly fond of AI.

Limited availability
However, the new Huawei products would have little impact on the business of competitors such as Apple or Samsung overall, emphasized analyst Jene Park from research firm Counterpoint. "The quantity of available products is limited." However, Huawei could certainly gain market share in China.

In the first half of 2024, the Group recorded a jump in turnover of a good 34% to the equivalent of 53.1 billion euros. Net profit climbed by 18% to seven billion euros. According to the industry service Canalys, the Group also increased sales of its smartphones in the People's Republic by 55% to 22.2 million units.