Huawei has joined Samsung in the race to persuade consumers they need to spend more than $2,000 on a new type of foldable smartphone by unveiling its Mate X device at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Sunday.
Huawei is on the offensive at the annual telecoms industry event in Barcelona, despite intensifying rows with governments across the US and Europe over the security of its networking products.
Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei’s consumer business group, took swipes at the company’s smartphone rivals Apple and Samsung on Sunday as he unveiled the Mate X, which unfolds to reveal a seamless 8-inch display.
Mr Yu claimed it was the “world’s fastest foldable 5G phone”, thanks to its in-house processor and modem. He also said it was slimmer than Samsung’s recently unveiled Galaxy Fold, and offering “uncompromised viewing” compared to its rivals.
Mate X is also one of the most expensive smartphones ever released, costing as much as €2,299 ($2,600) when it goes on sale later this year. Samsung drew criticism for pricing its Galaxy Fold at $1,980, when it unveiled the product last week in San Francisco.
The smartphone industry is hoping that as the first generation of foldable smartphones go on sale this year, they will spur consumers to upgrade their existing devices more quickly. Slower replacement rates contributed to a decline in smartphone sales last year.
Despite the industry’s overall decline, Huawei enjoyed strong growth last year, selling more than 206m smartphones, boosting its consumer group’s revenues to more than $52bn. Some analysts forecast that the company could overtake Apple and Samsung to become the world’s largest smartphone maker within the next year or two.
“Seven years ago, nobody knows Huawei, even in China,” Mr Yu said. “Today we are becoming one of the leading brands globally.”
With the Mate X, Huawei is taking a different approach to Samsung in the emerging category for smartphone-tablet hybrids.
Samsung’s Galaxy Fold opens outwards like a book, with a small 4.6-inch display on the exterior, intended for one-handed use. Huawei, by contrast, wraps the display around the exterior of the device, allowing for a much larger 6.6-inch screen on the front when folded in half. Mr Yu said Samsung’s approach was “too small” and “difficult to use” when folded.
Huawei engineers have been working for three years to develop the patented “falcon wing” hinge that sits at the centre of the device.
Huawei’s approach makes the Mate X much thinner — measuring 11m when closed — than the Galaxy Fold, which is 17mm thick.
Forrester analyst Thomas Husson said the Mate X “clearly shows that Huawei is a technology innovation leader” but warned that it would take “a lot more time for a critical mass of consumers to experience the benefits of foldable phones and 5G technology”.
Earlier on Sunday, Huawei showed off updates to its Matebook range of Windows-based laptops and a new 5G hotspot to improve in-home connectivity.
Now in its third year of producing laptops, Huawei said it saw growth of 335 per cent in its PC business last year.
With design and features that aim to appeal to users of Apple’s MacBook line, the new Matebook X Pro offers a 3K touchscreen display, Dolby Atmos audio and a recessed videoconferencing camera that pops up out of the keyboard, which Huawei said offered better security.
Another flagship feature is the Matebook’s ability to send files instantly between the PC and a Huawei smartphone, similar to Apple’s quick-share Airdrop.
