The foldable smartphone is still in its nascent stages, climbing its way into the cauldron of popular everyday devices. That said, it has yet to find its footing and a design that will make it universal.
Huawei thinks they may have cracked it with the tri-fold phone they are calling The Huawei Mate XT. In fact, they are so confident in it they are launching it the same day Apple is releasing the iPhone 16.
A teaser video confirmed the upcoming release, but there aren’t any clear images of exactly what it will look like. There is a poster accompanying the event announcement that shows a Z-shaped phone, giving you an idea what the foldable will look like. But honestly that’s not much of anything. We should get a full look at the tri-fold smartphone at the unveiling event on September 10th.
This will be the first actualized smartphone that folds in three. Reportedly, when opened, it reveals a 10-inch display. With all the extra hardware that goes into a device like this, it’s expected to drive the price tag up. In fact, it might be the most expensive phone out there.
A hefty price is going to negatively affect the rollout. You can’t get mass adoption if you can’t offer a phone affordable by the masses.
That said, we’re not even sure it’s ready for launch. The Chinese company may simply have a prototype they plan to show off. And in that case, who knows when it’ll be released.
Huawei is expected to cover more than just this Z-shaped phone. They also have an EV in the works as well as a smartwatch.
In the meantime, in terms of smartphones we can somewhat afford, Apple will be releasing this year’s iPhone 16 a few hours before the Huawei event. Something tells me the latter event isn’t going to upstage Apple’s annual event, no matter how much they try.
