Huawei Crashes Apple’s Big Launch Week With $3,000 Trifold Smartphone

Two days before Apple’s big launch event on Wednesday, when the company is expected to debut its long-awaited foldable iPhone, Huawei Technologies and Xiaomi are unveiling their premium foldable smartphones.

Huawei on Monday unveiled its Mate XT 2, a trifold smartphone that unfolds into a 10.2-inch tablet. The starting price is $2,980, representing a 10% increase over its predecessor.

First unboxing of Huawei’s $3,000 Mate XT2

The second-gen tri-fold that turns into a 10.2 inch tablet pic.twitter.com/xDET4qM296

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Huawei Executive Director Richard Yu attributed part of that increase to the big memory squeeze that has sent prices skyrocketing. Despite its premium price, the entry-level device comes with 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage. 

Xiaomi is set to launch a rival foldable phone later today, while Apple’s foldable iPhone, expected to debut on Wednesday, could be called the iPhone Ultra and cost upwards of $2,500.

The iPhone Ultra is now said to feature MagSafe charging after all.

Previous leaks suggested Apple was skipping this feature on their first foldable due to space constraints. pic.twitter.com/95EomHTV9c

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Yu told reporters earlier that the “real challenge right now is pricing, because memory costs have risen sharply. We adopted a lot of new technology, and the cost pressure has been enormous.”

The launches of premium foldable phones from the three major brands this week come amid mounting headwinds across the global handset market. Counterpoint forecasts a 14% drop in global smartphone shipments this year. Chinese manufacturers are particularly exposed because of their reliance on budget handsets.

Counterpoint analyst Ivan Lam said Apple has the “world’s biggest premium device installed base,” adding, “Its foldable will sell well and rapidly grab market share.” He also noted that the new handset could spur broader consumer demand, giving rivals a lift.

Smart Analytics Global forecasts that Apple could capture 41% of worldwide foldable sales next year. Its entry will undoubtedly intensify competition across the foldable space.

However, Nikkei Asia reported last week that production of foldable iPhones remains limited ahead of this week’s launch.

“Apple has very high quality requirements and added an extra trial run in August ahead of actual production. However, production is ramping up slowly, with output currently at only a few hundred units a day in late August. That initial volume could be challenging to meet market demand,” one supply chain manager told the Japanese news outlet.

With U.S. gasoline prices averaging above $4 a gallon nationally and squeezing household budgets, the iPhone Ultra’s high price tag could pose a major test of consumers’ willingness to spend on premium upgrades. For Apple, under new leadership with John Ternus at the helm, the key question is whether the foldable design offers enough value to persuade consumers to upgrade. Then again, there are always buy-now, pay-later options.