Apple may be staring at a problem in China, its biggest smartphone market. And it is called Huawei’s new foldable smartphone: Huawei Mate XT. Chinese tech giant Huawei has unveiled its latest smartphone, a tri-fold smartphone called the Mate XT, priced at $2,800. The phone is set to hit the market on September 20, same day as Apple’s new iPhone 16 series.
As both companies compete for market share in China, Huawei’s Mate XT presents a formidable challenge to
Apple‘s iPhone 16 series.With its innovative trifold design and advanced features, Huawei is aiming to capture a significant portion of the high-end smartphone market.
Huawei Mate XT boasts advanced artificial intelligence features, including text translation and cloud-based content generation. Huawei Mate XT is the first mainstream phone to come with trifold design. The smartphone sports a 10.2-inch screen and a foldable keyboard.
Meanwhile, Apple has announced its iPhone 16 series, including the Pro Max model starting at $1,199. The new iPhones will feature the A18 chip, which promises significant performance improvements.
Adding to Apple’s China woesDespite facing U.S. sanctions, Huawei has continued to push the boundaries of smartphone technology. The company’s recent release of the Mate 60 Pro, featuring a 7-nanometer chip, has garnered significant attention and boosted sales in China. Huawei is already giving a tough fight to Apple in China. For the first time ever, Apple was edged out of the top five smartphone vendors’ list in China in the second quarter, as competition from domestic brands such as Huawei intensifies, according to a Canalys report. According to the report, Apple’s market share in China shrank to 14% in the second quarter, from 15% in the first quarter and 16% in the same period a year ago.
The iPhone maker, which was the third-largest smartphone vendor in the second quarter last year, dropped to the sixth spot with about 9.7 million in shipments, according to CNBC calculations.