Huawei's foldable screen phone is finally here

Author | Huang Yu

Editor | Liu Baodan

Huawei is making a big move again.

On the morning of September 4th, Huawei's terminal division released a series of teaser videos for the new phone Huawei MateXT Extraordinary Master, featuring five well-known figures: Yang Mi, Yu Hewei, Xu Xin, Fan Deng, and Nigemat. The videos revealed that Huawei MateXT Extraordinary Master will be a three-fold folding screen phone, characterized by being "large and thin."

Throughout this year, there have been continuous rumors about Huawei launching a three-fold folding screen phone. In the past two days, with Huawei's terminal division announcing a new product launch event on September 10th and revealing the new product name as Huawei MateXT Extraordinary Master, the industry speculates that this will be Huawei's first three-fold folding screen phone.

Just when the outside world thought Huawei would unveil the mystery of the new product on September 10th to compete head-to-head with Apple, which is also holding a new product launch event at the same time, Huawei decided not to leave the suspense until the product launch event.

Richard Yu, Executive Director and CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group and CEO of Intelligent Automotive Solutions Business Unit, said, "Huawei's most leading, innovative, and disruptive product is here. This is a groundbreaking product that others can think of but cannot achieve. With 5 years of persistence and investment, we have turned science fiction into reality."

Clearly, Huawei has high hopes for this three-fold folding screen phone and has included it in the lineup of ultra-high-end brands.

Huawei's ultra-high-end brand "Ultimate Design" made its debut at Huawei's autumn full-scene new product launch event last September.

This is a milestone for Huawei's ultra-high-end brand, marking the Mate 50 RS Porsche Design as the last ultra-high-end model to adopt the Porsche Design. Starting from the Mate 60 series, Huawei officially bid farewell to the Porsche Design and launched the HUAWEI Mate 60 RS Ultimate Design.

Huawei has always been the only domestic smartphone brand that can compete with Apple in the high-end smartphone market. Now, with the launch of the three-fold folding screen phone, Huawei's high-end brand image will be further consolidated.

Against the backdrop of smartphones facing innovation bottlenecks in both hardware and software, folding screens and AI have become the focus of major smartphone manufacturers' efforts.

However, on September 10th, known as the "Tech Spring Festival," Huawei and Apple seem to have different focuses. The former continues to break through in folding screens, while the latter aims to make significant progress in AI.

Unlike Apple, which has not yet entered the folding screen phone market, Huawei places great importance on folding screen phones. For Huawei, folding screen phones are a key factor in further consolidating its advantage in the high-end market and regaining lost market share.

In the slow overall recovery of the smartphone market, folding screen phones have shown a counter-trend growth curve. According to CINNO Research data, in the first half of 2024, the cumulative sales of folding screen phones in China reached 4.98 million units, a year-on-year increase of 121% Huawei is a pioneer in the domestic mobile phone market to enter the foldable screen. On February 24, 2019, less than a week after Samsung's Galaxy Fold was released, Huawei launched its first foldable phone, the Meta X, far ahead of other manufacturers.

With the first-mover advantage and influence in the high-end smartphone market, Huawei has maintained the top market share in the foldable screen phone market for four consecutive years.

According to the IDC report on the Chinese foldable screen phone market in the second quarter of 2024, Huawei holds up half of the market with a 41.7% market share, followed closely by vivo and Honor, ranking second and third respectively.

Looking at the overall mobile phone market, Huawei is gradually regaining more market share this year. According to IDC data, after tying for first place in shipments in the Chinese market in the first quarter, Huawei ranked second in the second quarter with a year-on-year growth rate of over 50%. In the first half of the year, Huawei once again became the top shipper in the smartphone market with a 17.5% market share.

However, even though foldable screen phones have emerged, the overall scale is not large, and market competition is becoming increasingly fierce. For Huawei to maintain its industry-leading position and further expand the market, continuous innovation and breakthroughs are necessary.

The release of the tri-fold screen phone is another breakthrough battle for Huawei.

According to TechInsights smartphone research, in Q1 and Q2 of 2024, Huawei's market share in China exceeded that of Apple. Huawei is determined to maintain this leading position in the third quarter, and this strategic move is expected to limit Apple's sales to a certain extent while attracting some Apple users.

The story of Huawei's return as the king continues