Huawei Foldable Soon?
Huawe (pvt), whose smartphone business has been devastated by US trade sanctions, is still hoping to regain some ground in the global smartphone market and to that end is preparing to release their next foldable iteration, with a design similar to Samsung’s Z Flip line. The new foldable, tentatively named the Mate V, would be the fourth foldable for the company after the Mate X (11/2019), the Mate Xs (3/2020) and the Mate X2 (2/2021), none of which have been ultimately successful. As new leaks and renders are beginning to appear, it seems that Huawei has moved from the full-sized foldable to the pocket-size foldable that Samsung and Motorola (MSI) have championed.
A number of questions remain about the Huawei device however, and while some are excited about the new hinge system that Huawei has developed, we wonder how the company will attempt to convince those outside of China that such a phone can compete with Samsung’s Z-Flip, which runs a Qualcomm (QCOM) Snapdragon 888 5G Chipset produced on a 5nm node and runs on Android 11, while the Huawei phone is still expected to have no Google GOOG) Play services that limits its ability to be sold outside of China. We also wonder what processor will be used in the Mate V, as Huawei has limited or no access to 5nm nodes, and while this might be an issue for gamers, who demand the highest performing CPU, it will be more of a marketing issue for Huawei, having to convince buyers that the device can perform as well as those produced at 5nm.
There is also a question as to the size of the secondary screen, which is still in question. As this style foldable is a small device when closed, the secondary screen is more a message display than one that will be used for movies or other media. The Samsung Z Flip 3 has a 1.9” secondary screen, so the Huawei device should have something close to that size, but questions remain as to whether it will have any secondary screen or a 1.35” display that Huawei has specified in patents. As Samsung is selling the Z Flip 3 for $899 (128GB) and throwing in a pair of Galaxy Buds2 ($149 list), Huawei will need to be competitive just to stay in the ball game. Hopefully they have been able to cut hinge costs and get a local OLED panel supplier to give them a good price for the foldable display, but it is going to be an uphill battle unless they have some featured ‘surprise’ built into the device. We will have to wait until January (CES) or February (Mobile World Congress) to get full details, but we are keeping expectations low, especially with the Google Pixel Fold, the company’s first foldable, also expected around the same time.
A number of questions remain about the Huawei device however, and while some are excited about the new hinge system that Huawei has developed, we wonder how the company will attempt to convince those outside of China that such a phone can compete with Samsung’s Z-Flip, which runs a Qualcomm (QCOM) Snapdragon 888 5G Chipset produced on a 5nm node and runs on Android 11, while the Huawei phone is still expected to have no Google GOOG) Play services that limits its ability to be sold outside of China. We also wonder what processor will be used in the Mate V, as Huawei has limited or no access to 5nm nodes, and while this might be an issue for gamers, who demand the highest performing CPU, it will be more of a marketing issue for Huawei, having to convince buyers that the device can perform as well as those produced at 5nm.
There is also a question as to the size of the secondary screen, which is still in question. As this style foldable is a small device when closed, the secondary screen is more a message display than one that will be used for movies or other media. The Samsung Z Flip 3 has a 1.9” secondary screen, so the Huawei device should have something close to that size, but questions remain as to whether it will have any secondary screen or a 1.35” display that Huawei has specified in patents. As Samsung is selling the Z Flip 3 for $899 (128GB) and throwing in a pair of Galaxy Buds2 ($149 list), Huawei will need to be competitive just to stay in the ball game. Hopefully they have been able to cut hinge costs and get a local OLED panel supplier to give them a good price for the foldable display, but it is going to be an uphill battle unless they have some featured ‘surprise’ built into the device. We will have to wait until January (CES) or February (Mobile World Congress) to get full details, but we are keeping expectations low, especially with the Google Pixel Fold, the company’s first foldable, also expected around the same time.
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