Huawei on Tuesday held a global launch for the industry’s first tri-foldable phone, which analysts said marked a symbolic victory for the Chinese tech giant amid U.S. technology curbs. But challenges over pricing, longevity, supply and app constraints may limit its success.
Huawei said at a launch event in Kuala Lumpur that the Huawei Mate XT, first unveiled in China five months ago, will be priced at 3,499 euros ($3,662). Although dubbed a trifold, the phone has three mini-panels and folds only twice. The company says it’s the thinnest foldable phone at 3.6 millimeters (0.14 inches), with a 10.2-inch screen similar to an Apple iPad.
Wake me up when the quadfold drops. Heck, quilt me a smartphone/picnic blanket, then we can talk.
Edit: I’m sorry if this comes off as too snarky, I just don’t get the trend… I thought we were heading directly away from large form stuff with this whole smartphone thing. I mean, didn’t we already see this not working with tablets, and how they kinda’ ended up repurposed as quasi-laptops?
I want to have a phone that I have to wrangle-fold like an old paper map
Call me when the phone folds into an origami swan
It’s a laptop you can fit on your pocket. I think it’s a great idea, if it’s effective enough. Knowing this company, it isn’t… So I’ll wait for Samsung.
Sso… like my already existing smartphone. Only larger.
I kind of get the appeal, like turning your phone into a media munching device.
See, that’s just it, I already do that with my standard phone… At this point, they’re all basically phablets, Nexus 6 was right all along (although it still did it better, save for the weird speaker system…). Multi-window splits have also been a thing for a good while now, I honestly don’t see the point for more screen on my pocket device… Heck, I even mainline it as a secondary PC, use it to have YT/movies in the background while doing stuff on the big dude.