China’s Huawei unveils tri-fold smartphone hours after iPhone 16 reveal

[JACK AYLMER]

JUST WHEN APPLE THOUGHT IT HAD CONTROL OF THE NEWS CYCLE THIS WEEK WHEN IT CAME TO SMARTPHONES – ANOTHER COMPANY IS TRYING TO STEAL ITS THUNDER.

CHINA’S HUAWEI IS RELEASING A TRI-FOLD SMARTPHONE –WITH A STARTING PRICE OF TWO THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS.

THE COMPANY UNVEILED ITS MATE XT PHONE ON TUESDAY DURING A LAUNCH CEREMONY IN CHINA JUST HOURS AFTER APPLE REVEALED ITS IPHONE 16 LINEUP DURING AN EVENT IN CALIFORNIA.

NOT AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE IN STORES IN CHINA UNTIL SEPTEMBER 20TH – THE SAME DAY THE IPHONE 16 GOES ON SALE – THE MATE XT HAS ALREADY RECEIVED OVER 4 MILLION PRE-ORDERS, THOUGH NO DEPOSIT IS REQUIRED TO PREORDER.

HUAWEI HAS BEEN TRYING TO REINVENT ITSELF AND HOW IT MAKES ITS PHONE SINCE BEING DEALT WITH US SANCTIONS IN 2019 – BLOCKING IT FROM THE GLOBAL CHIP SUPPLY CHAIN.

THE COMPANY HOWEVER MADE A RESURGENCE LAST YEAR WHEN IT RELEASED ITS MATE 60 PRO POWERED BY A DOMESTICALLY MADE CHIP.

THE CHINESE TECH GIANT IS LOOKING TO BATTLE APPLE IN THE WORLD’S LARGEST SMARTPHONE MARKET WITH ITS MATE XT – WHAT IS BEING TOUTED AS THE SLIMMEST FOLDABLE PHONE EVER AT 3 POINT 6 MILLIMETERS WIDE.

HUAWEI SURPASSED SAMSUNG EARLIER THIS YEAR TO BECOME THE WORLD’S BIGGEST FOLDABLE SMARTPHONE MAKER.

AND JUST LIKE APPLE’S IPHONE 16 – THE MATE XT IS BUILT WITH AI FEATURES LIKE TEXT TRANSLATION AND IMAGE EDITING FUNCTIONS.

HOWEVER – UNLIKE IN THE US WHEN APPLE INTELLIGENCE WILL BE ACCESSIBLE RIGHT AWAY – APPLE’S AI SOFTWARE WON’T BE AVAILABLE IN CHINESE LANGUAGES UNTIL NEXT YEAR.

AND APPLE HAS YET TO ANNOUNCE AN AI PARTNER TO POWER ITS 16 SERIES IN CHINA.

AND AS FOR THAT PRICE TAG FOR THE MATE XT – THE TWO THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLAR COST IS MORE THAN TWICE THE STARTING PRICE FOR THE COMPARABLE IPHONE 16 PRO MAX WHICH STARTS AT ONE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED AND NINENTY NINE DOLLARS.