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Huawei in China is looking to maintain its success with a new 'Trifold' phone
The latest announcement from Apple’s China rival comes just hours after the unveiling of iPhone 16.
Updated 2024-Oct-05 12:34
Three people standing in front of a large promotional image of the Mate 60 phone at the Huawei store in Shanghai.
In China the government tightly controls the availability of A. Products such as certain new features announced by Apple.
Apple has announced its intention to collaborate with OpenAI the prominent American artificial intelligence company on a portion of this technology.
However in order to launch it in China Apple may have to partner with a Chinese company with Baidu being a prime candidate as the leading search engine in China.
Samsung the South Korean technology manufacturer collaborated with Baidu to release versions of its new A.Smartphone in China this year. Apple who did not respond to a comment request has not clarified its plans for introducing A.Lori Chang a senior analyst at Isaiah Research mentioned that the trifold phone is not expected to significantly increase Huawei s sales.
The price of the device will be over $2 000 and due to the complexity of manufacturing the foldable screen the company plans to manufacture only a few hundred thousand units.
Huawei released a foldable phone with a single fold in the screen in early last year. However as of Tuesday over three million individuals had registered on Huawei s website to receive notifications when the Mate XT becomes available for purchase.
Over successive administrations the U. S. Government has used stiff trade restrictions to try to stifle the Chinese telecom giant Huawei.
In turn the company never misses an opportunity to show that it is still standing. Last year at the tail end of a visit to China by Gina Raimondo the U.S. Commerce secretary Huawei unveiled a smartphone that was powered by an advanced semiconductor made in China.
The chip was exactly the kind of technology that the United States in an effort led by Ms. Raimondo had tried to prevent China from developing.
The Huawei phone called the Mate 60 Pro was heralded in China as the triumph of a national champion over American constraints.
It sold out within minutes on Chinese e commerce platforms. Many shoppers chose to pair their purchase with a phone case emblazoned with a photo of Ms.Raimondo’s face. In the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen on Tuesday Huawei again is set to put itself in the spotlight with the expected announcement of a new device just hours after Apple introduced its iPhone 16 in California.
Huawei’s latest phone the Mate XT is heavy on novelty: It can be folded twice. The tablet size device folds along two vertical seams to become the size of a typical phone.
It is the first commercially available trifold smartphone. It comes in two colors red and black and will go on sale on Sept.
20. Since the Mate 60 Pro was launched last year Huawei has been eating into Apple’s yearslong dominance of the market for high end smartphones in China.
While the trifold phone is making a splash Huawei is not yet expected to introduce its latest rival to the iPhone the next generation Mate 70.
Claire Fu reported from Seoul. However Apple s presence in the Chinese market saw a significant decrease in the first six months of the year.
Despite discounting iPhones an uncommon move for Apple the decline could not be reversed. In the June quarter Apple dropped out of the top five selling brands in China as reported by Canalys a research company.
Since the release of the Mate 60 all top selling smartphones in China have been from domestic brands marking the first time this has happened in years.
As a result Apple has seen a significant drop in market share for high end smartphones losing almost 25.
