From 19999 yuan! Just now, Huawei’s three-fold mobile phone was released! Will you buy it？

From 19999 yuan!

On the 10th, Yu Chengdong, Chairman of Huawei BG and Chairman of BU, a smart car solution, announced the price of Mate XT, Huawei’s first three-fold screen mobile phone, at the Mate XT conference.Among them, the price of 16GB+256GB version is 19999 yuan, the price of 16GB+512GB version is 21999 yuan, and the price of 16GB+1TB version is 23999 yuan.The sale time is 10: 08 on September 20th.

Yu Chengdong introduced that the team has developed this product for five years. This three-fold mobile phone is 10.2 inches wide and only 3.6 mm thick, which supports Tiantong satellite communication.

As the first three-fold product of the folding screen mobile phone track, Huawei Mate XT received much attention before its release. On September 7th, Huawei Mate XT started booking. As of press time, the number of people booking this product in Huawei Mall has exceeded 3.8 million.

Why did Huawei "rush to run" three folds?

In February 2019, Huawei released Huawei Mate X, the first folding screen mobile phone. In five and a half years, all major mobile phone manufacturers have been involved in the folding screen mobile phone track. Although the sales of folding screen mobile phone products have been leaping forward in recent years, the market penetration rate is still low.

According to the data of market research organization CINNO Research, the cumulative sales of folding screen mobile phones in China market in the first half of 2024 reached 4.98 million units, up 121% year-on-year, with a penetration rate of 3.6%.

Guo Tianxiang, research manager of IDC China, said in an interview with Zhongxin Jingwei that at present, the shipment of mobile phones in China market is 280 million units a year, and the shipment of folding screen mobile phones is only 10 million units, which is still low for a category that has been developed for five years.

Under the background that the dual-fold mobile phone has not yet become the mainstream of the market, why should Huawei launch the triple-fold mobile phone first?

According to Ma Jihua, the founder of Darui Consulting and a senior analyst in the communication industry, Huawei is the first to release a three-fold mobile phone in the industry. On the one hand, it can continue to form a brand mind with leading technology in the market, and on the other hand, it can continue to deepen the folding screen market segment.

At present, in China’s domestic market, Huawei’s market share of folding screen mobile phones ranks first. According to the market share report of China folding screen mobile phone in the second quarter of 2024 released by IDC, the top five manufacturers in the domestic folding screen mobile phone market are Huawei, vivo, Glory, OPPO and Samsung. Among them, Huawei ranked first with a market share of 41.7%, while vivo, Glory and OPPO accounted for 23.1%, 20.9% and 8.4% respectively.

It is worth mentioning that in the early morning of the 10th Beijing time, Apple just released new products such as iPhone 16. Huawei’s choice to release the three-fold mobile phone on the same day is quite meaningful.

Will other mobile phone manufacturers follow suit?

What changes will the three-fold mobile phone bring to the mobile phone market? Will other mobile phone manufacturers follow suit?

Zhou Hua, chief analyst of CINNO Research, told Zhongxin Jingwei that although the listing of Huawei’s first tri-folding mobile phone attracted many consumers’ attention, tri-folding screen, as a subdivision of the folding screen market, was initially limited by many factors, such as cost, technology and yield, and would not bring obvious share growth. "From the perspective of the five-year development of dual-folding mobile phones, a series of technical and market challenges need to be overcome to realize large-scale commercialization of three-fold screens." Zhou Hua said.

Guo Tianxiang said that at present, several major mobile phone manufacturers have developed three-fold mobile phones, but at present only Huawei is really commercialized, and there should be no followers in the short term. "Three-fold mobile phones are difficult to become the main growth point of the mobile phone market due to factors such as high technical requirements, low yield, high price and few participants. In fact, many manufacturers are in a conservative attitude towards the folding screen market next year. " Guo Tianxiang said.

Ma Jihua also believes that at present, double folding mobile phones have not become a necessity, let alone triple folding, and it is unlikely that mobile phone manufacturers will flock to the track collectively.

Zhao Ming, CEO of Glory, also said earlier that Glory is ready for triple folding screen technology, and its commercialization in the future will depend on the needs of consumers. Zhao Ming said that he was also considering whether Huawei launched the three-fold mobile phone to show its technical strength or the real market demand.

In addition, will the three-fold mobile phone have an impact on the tablet market? Guo Tianxiang believes that it will not be for the time being, because the price and supply of three-fold mobile phones are a big restriction. Ma Jihua also thinks not, because "the target user groups are different".

Since the advent of the folding screen mobile phone, the adaptation problem between App and screen has not been properly solved, and the next three-fold mobile phone also faces the same problem.

Earlier, some analysts believed that because the unfolded screen ratio is closer to the flat panel, the problem of App adaptation of the three-fold mobile phone is easier to solve than that of the horizontally folded product of the double-fold mobile phone which is "too long" and the vertically folded product which is "too square".

Zhao Xiaogang, an associate professor in the Department of Software Engineering, School of Computer Science, Wuhan University, and a programming teacher in HarmonyOS, told Zhongxin Jingwei that before, apps were mostly adapted to single screens, some to double screens, but none to triple screens. "The expansion ratio of the three-fold mobile phone is close to the tablet, which does not mean that the App that adapts to the tablet is completely adapted to the three-fold mobile phone. In addition to considering what the third screen displays, the App that adapts to the three-fold mobile phone should also adapt to the display problems of the straight board and the dual screen, which will increase the adaptation work of the App. " Zhao Xiaogang said.