Shenzhen-based Huawei, the world’s second-largest smartphone vendor, has finally set a date for its first foldable phone called MateX to meet its users, according to 36Kr.
Sales of MateX, which will be priced at RMB 16,999 (USD 2400) for the 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage model, will start at 10: 08 am on November 15th on Vmall.com, Huawei’s self-operated e-commerce marketplace.
The device is 5G phone with Huawei’s Kirin 980 processor. When unfolded, the screen reaches 8 inches diagonally, but when it’s closed, it has the same size as a 6.6-inch screen phone.
Ahead of a press conference held today, reporter were allowed to touch and test the phone, according to 36Kr. When the MateX was demonstrated for the first time at the Mobile World Congress in February in Spain, all visitors and reporters were only allowed to watch the device, rather than touch it.
Huawei’s first folding smartphone will rival the Samsung Galaxy Fold. The Korean company finally released its device in September, priced at USD 1,980, following a five-month delay and after fixing a screen problem that was first reported by users in April.
Other phone makers are also developing foldable phones, which are expected to be the next trend in this market. The Royole Flexpai, developed by a startup headquartered in Fremont, California, was the first of such devices to debut in October 2018. It was priced at USD 1,318 for the basic variant.
36Kr is KrASIA’s parent company
