Huawei plans world-first tri-fold launch to rival new iPhone

Chinese giant Huawei revealed it will be launching a premium smartphone on 10 September, a day after Apple’s much-anticipated event in which the iPhone-maker is set to unpack a line of devices and new AI push.

On a community forum Huawei’s consumer group chief Richard Yu stated its own imminent launch will involve the brand’s “most leading, innovative and disruptive product”, adding it spent five years of development and investment. Yu did not provide more details on the upcoming smartphone.

A Bloomberg report linked the launch to the “world’s first” tri-fold handset, a product which the outlet claimed Huawei’s Yu had been seen using.

The high-end product would fit the large display of a tablet “inside the dimensions of a regular smartphone”, the report added. In the community forum, Yu had pitched the handset as an “epoch-making product that others have thought of, but cannot make”.

People close to the matter also told Bloomberg Huawei is preparing the launch of the Aito electric vehicle, without specifying details.

The unveiling of the rumoured tri-fold smartphone will step up Huawei’s rivalry with Apple, which is due to reveal the AI-powered iPhone 16 next week.

Recent data by IDC showed Apple has had a somewhat slower growth compared to Android devices in China due to increased competition. In 2023 Apple topped the Chinese smartphone market for the first time, though it was later dethroned by Huawei in the opening of this year.

Of course, Huawei’s smartphone business has been impacted massively by US trade sanctions implemented in 2019. It is also unable to use the Android operating system and has had to develop its own Harmony OS.