Huawei Targets iPhone's Premium Market with $2,800 Foldable Mate XT Launch: Report

China’s top smartphone maker Huawei Technologies Co announced that its new trifold smartphone, Mate XT, will launch on September 20, 2024, with prices starting at over $2,800.

The move marks Huawei’s attempts to snatch the premium smartphone market share of Apple Inc’s AAPL iPhone.

The Mate XT features advanced artificial intelligence capabilities such as text translation and cloud-based content creation, which came after five years of efforts, CNBC cites Huawei’s chairman of the board of the consumer business group Richard Yu.

Also Read: Apple’s Market Share Poised To Gain, GenAI And iPhone 16 Lead the Way: IDC

Huawei’s update assumes significance as the U.S. slapped a semiconductor technology embargo on China, including its access to sophisticated artificial intelligence chips, citing national security concerns.

In August 2023, Huawei launched its Mate 60 Pro, which reportedly had a chip manufactured using a 7-nanometer process by China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.

Huawei’s foldable smartphone launch also coincides with the release of the 16 models of the Apple iPhone.

Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro Max will start at $1,199, while the standard iPhone 16 will be priced at $799.

Huawei’s phone has a 10.2-inch display and is just 3.6 millimeters thick when unfolded, offering single, double, or triple-screen viewing options. Pre-orders for the device have already surpassed 4 million, CNBC cites Huawei’s website.

Reuters cites the IDC as stating that Huawei led the foldable smartphone market in the second quarter with a 27.5% market share, followed by Samsung Electronics with 16.4%.

IDC analyst Arthur Guo expressed skepticism to Bloomberg over the prospects of trifold products becoming a major growth catalyst for the foldable market, citing the high technical requirements, low yields, high prices, and limited participants.

Price Action: AAPL stock is down 0.77% at $219.17 premarket at the last check Tuesday.

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Photo via Huawei