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Huawei, Honor, Lenovo’s Motorola push new range of foldable smartphones in China
- Chinese smartphone vendors are currently focusing their foldable devices on the domestic market because of rival Samsung’s relative lack of success there
- Samsung, which is already several generations into its foldable devices line-up, saw its best sales yet with the Galaxy Z Flip 3 clamshell
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Huawei Technologies Co, its spin-off brand Honor and Lenovo Group’s Motorola Mobility have introduced plans for new foldable smartphones in recent days, betting on the nascent handset form factor to win over the ultra-competitive Chinese market.
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Each company is billing its upcoming device as a top-of-the-line smartphone, with Huawei pricing its P50 Pocket at 8,988 yuan (US$1,410), Honor calling the Magic V its first foldable flagship and a Lenovo executive teasing Motorola’s third attempt at a Razr clamshell handset.
Shenzhen-based Huawei is already selling its foldable device in China, the world’s largest smartphone market, after announcing it in a live-streamed event on December 23.
Global smartphone shipments are expected to grow to 1.35 billion units in 2022, according to data from market research firm IDC, and novel form factors and capabilities like 5G mobile connectivity are expected to be key to winning over customers.
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The rise of Chinese smartphones
The rise of Chinese smartphones
Global smartphone market leader Samsung Electronics is already several generations into its foldables line-up, which saw its best sales yet with the release of the US$999 Galaxy Z Flip 3 clamshell in August.
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