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Huawei has scheduled the launch of its triple-folding phone, the day after Apple’s iPhone 16 launch.
Huawei has been substantially relegated within the US smartphone market after the former president Donald Trump’s sanctions in 2019. However in China, Huawei continues to perform well consistently occupying a spot in the top five phone companies by sales. Capitalizing on this momentum, Huawei has announced a launch event for September 10 — just hours after Apple is set to unveil the iPhone 16 series.
- Source: Richard Yu/Weibo
Huawei recently took to Chinese social media Weibo to announce an event set for September 10. Richard Yu, head of Huawei’s consumer electronics and automotive intelligence arms, responded to the post, suggesting the company would announce an “epoch-making product that others have thought of but cannot make.”
Yu added the product took five years of “persistence and investment.” Despite the cryptic post, Bloomberg reported this product is expected to be a triple-folding smartphone. The executive has previously been seen sporting the device more than once and had even confirmed the phone would go on sale in September.
Richard Yu's Triple looks very slim and has the familiar Huawei design. pic.twitter.com/FEeyrtJtJW
— MyplaceMyworld (@myplace_myworld) August 15, 2024
If the speculation is correct, Huawei would become the first smartphone manufacturer to make a tri-fold phone that is also commercially available. Based on earlier patents applied by Huawei, the phone is expected to adopt a Z-shaped folding mechanism and unfold to feature a 10in flat display.
Richard Yu using the Huawei Tri-Foldable on a plane. I actually could see myself carrying this around instead of a tablet.
Leave it closed to use it as a regular phone and unfold it twice to have a full Ultra-Tablet experience pic.twitter.com/tmZmTNlfjC— Max Jambor (@MaxJmb) August 9, 2024
Apple’s AI magic is inapplicable in China
Huawei’s foldable is speculated to pack a lot of leading-edge technologies. Huawei and its spin-off brand Honor already have a diverse portfolio of sideways folding and clamshell phones, and the latter is set to unveil one of the slimmest foldables yet — the Honor Magic V3 — at the IFA trade show later this week.
However, the phone may struggle in terms of performance as sanctions in the US and the Netherlands have prevented Huawei, among other companies in China, from developing advanced chipsets for their devices — something Chinese engineers are trying to circumvent by reverse engineering and remodeling older technologies. As a result, Huawei’s own Kirin line of chips have lagged in terms of performance or efficiency behind counterparts from Apple, MediaTek, or Qualcomm.
A launch event scheduled for the next day after the iPhone 16’s launch in the US could be Huawei’s approach to highlight Apple’s lack of a folding product. Meanwhile, Apple, which typically takes the top spot in sales for months following its usual announcement in the fall, may miss the opportunity this time. This is because although Apple Intelligence will be a key feature of the upcoming iOS 18 and the iPhone 16 series, the AI features have yet to be unwrapped for China.
The local government’s restrictions on AI, including special permission requirements and a strong need for censoring, mean Apple cannot deploy the same services in China as the rest of the world. China’s ban on OpenAI’s GPT, which is the underlying technology powering Apple Intelligence, further complicates the matter. Therefore, Apple may have to partner with a local provider and personalize the services heavily for China — a mammoth task which may take months and even hamper sales of the iPhone 16 series.
Meanwhile, the upcoming version of Huawei’s HarmonyOS is focused on experiences around AI, powered by the company’s own PanguLM model. The version, called HarmonyOS Next, is also expected to completely drop support for Android apps while emphasizing AI-backed functions across the board.
In addition to the triple folding phone, Huawei is also likely to showcase a flagship M9 SUV under the brand Aito, in which the company is a partner. The M9 will be an electric SUV powered by Huawei’s HarmonyOS.
