Overview
- Huawei unveiled the Mate XT2 on Monday in Guangzhou, a tri‑fold handset powered by the new Kirin 9050 Pro that goes on sale in China from Sept. 12 starting at CNY 19,999.
- Xiaomi announced the Xiaomi 18 Fold the same day, a wide‑format foldable using its in‑house XRING O3 chip and CXMT memory with China prices starting at CNY 12,999.
- Both devices emphasize engineering changes for durability and privacy, with Huawei adding an inward tri‑fold hinge and optional privacy OLED and Xiaomi using a redesigned 'Dragon Bone' hinge and large‑format displays.
- The launches put domestic silicon and memory at the center of a play to work around U.S. technology limits and to lift average selling prices during a global smartphone shipment downturn.
- Huawei’s strong position in China’s foldable market, which research firms put at about 68% of Q2 foldable shipments, gives it latitude to push risky tri‑fold designs while global availability for both new phones remains unconfirmed.