Huawei to launch triple fold phone... hours after iPhone 16 reveal

Foldable phones typically come in one of two flavours — the clamshell or a more book-like design — but Huawei is on the cusp of unveiling a third.

The tech brand will hold a launch event in China on September 10, at which it is expected to announce a Z-shaped, triple-fold phone called the Huawei Mate XT.

This lets a standard phone-shape silhouette open up into a 10-inch screen larger even than that of today’s foldable designs.

Huawei CEO Richard Yu was spotted using the device in August, and he has said it will go on sale in September, according to GSMArena.

The company’s event timing, kicking off at 230pm in China, means the phone will be announced around 12 hours after the dust settles on Apple’s September 9 event. That is when we’re likely to meet the iPhone 16 family and a new generation of Apple Watch models.

Huawei devices don’t get nearly as much attention in the UK as they did a few years ago. Trade sanctions applied in the US mean Huawei phones do not get key Google apps like the Play Store, and they can’t even be sold in the US.

However, according to TechInsights data cited by PhoneArena, Huawei is currently the global market leader for foldable phones.

Its most closely comparable foldable phone is the 2022 Huawei Mate Xs 2, which puts its foldable screen on the outside, rather than the inside. Leaked photos suggest this new device will have a similar approach, rather than using a separate outer screen visible when the phone is closed up.

More recently Huawei released the Mate X3, whose design is more like that of Samsung’s Fold phones, with separate inner and outer displays.

The Huawei Mate X3 went on sale in the UK, for an eye-watering £1999.99. Huawei’s next foldable phone may be even more expensive.

Supply chain expert Ross Young wrote that the phone has the “most expensive smartphone panel” with a 10-inch diagonal, in response to a post by notable leaker Ice Universe on X.

For the average UK buyer, the significance of this Huawei foldable is less about the handset itself, and more about whether it’s an indication of future designs to come from Samsung, Honor, Google and OnePlus, whose phones are more palatable to Western buyers.

Samsung showed a concept tri-fold design way back in 2021, held by the company’s display division. It had a working screen, but was only displayed in a case, away from prying hands, with the foldable opened up.

You have to wonder what sort of additional durability issues this new design might surface, and how thin such a foldable can get, even with 2024’s technology.