Huawei will reportedly release their own clam shell foldable phone later this year.
It may be announced alongside the Mate 40 series between September and October. Huawei is currently in a tight spot regarding the U.S. ban on Huawei devices.
The Trump administration just announced last week that the ban on blacklisted companies will be extended up to May 2021. That means Huawei device users cannot expect to get Google services until the latter part of 2021.
Nevertheless, the company is still keeping itself occupied with its strong presence in the local Chinese market. Without this strong performance in China, Huawei’s consumer device arm would definitely tank.
Huawei Mate X clamshell folding phone
According to Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants, Huawei has just placed a massive order of screens for what he think could possibly be an in-folding phone. Huawei recently released the Mate Xs, which folds in an unconventional way.
Instead of technically having three displays, the Mate Xs only has two screens. When folded, the phone has screens front and back. When spread, the Mate Xs has a tablet like effect. The application is completely different from the likes of the Galaxy Fold 2 and the Motorola Razr.
New cheaper pricing scheme for the Huawei Mate X phone
Young said that the Chinese company is working on the more conventional type of folding phone that they may release this year. He said in the interview that this new foldable Huawei phone will be priced aggressively to compete with the cheaper Galaxy Fold Z and the Motorola Razr.
https://twitter.com/HuaweiMobileNZ/status/1240006134838091776
The new pricing scheme may be an attempt of Huawei to attract new users to their ecosystem despite not having Google services. Unfortunately, the Google fallout has already caused up to 30% drop on the sales of Huawei devices outside of China. As long as Google services are unavailable to Huawei phones, new phone seekers will continue to shun having Huawei phones as their option
Fortunately, Huawei found a technical loophole in the ban to combat the Google fallout. Last week, they re-released the Huawei P30 Pro ‘new version‘ that comes with basic Google services such as Google Maps, Gmail and Youtube.
Huawei’s quest for independence
The Chinese company is not sitting on its hands while they await the U.S. to ease up on restrictions. In fact, they are moving most of their production within China. While the U.S. is busy pushing Chinese companies into a corner, Huawei continues to be aggressive in its innovation and 5G rollout in countries across the world.
Image courtesy of Huawei