In Shenzhen, five days before Apple's scheduled iPhone 17 reveal, Huawei unveiled the Mate XTs — a trifold smartphone priced at roughly $2,520, lower than its predecessor and equipped with a more powerful homegrown chip. The gesture is less about a single device than about a declaration: that Chinese technology, operating within its own ecosystem, can set the terms of competition in the most demanding corner of the consumer market. Whether Apple answers with a foldable of its own or holds its ground on familiar form will say much about where the next chapter of this rivalry is written.
Huawei launches affordable $2,500 trifold Mate XTs ahead of Apple iPhone 17
Desktop apps on a foldable phone—Huawei's bet on independence
Mark
Why does Huawei launch this phone five days before Apple's event? That seems like it's asking to be overshadowed.
Mimi
It's actually a statement of confidence. Huawei is saying: here's what we've built, here's what we can do with foldables and our own chips and software. Then Apple shows up. The contrast becomes the story.
Luke
But we should be clear—we don't know if Apple is even launching a foldable. The source says Apple is unveiling the iPhone 17 series. That could be all traditional phones.
Mimi
Right. So Huawei might be claiming territory that Apple isn't even entering yet.
Mark
What's the real innovation here? The 36 percent performance bump—is that significant?
Mimi
It's a solid engineering claim. The Kirin 9020 is their own chip, so they're not dependent on Qualcomm. That matters for a company under U.S. sanctions.
Luke
But we only have Huawei's number on that 36 percent. We don't have independent benchmarks in the source. It's what Yu said at the launch event.
Mark
And the PC apps on a phone—that's the bigger story, isn't it?
Mimi
Yes. WPS and Wind are Chinese alternatives to Western software. Huawei is building an ecosystem that doesn't need American companies.
Luke
Though we should note: the source doesn't explain how well this actually works in practice, or whether users will actually want to run desktop apps on a foldable phone. It's a capability, not necessarily a use case yet.
Mark
So the real question is whether this phone appeals beyond China.
Mimi
That's the open question. The pricing is aggressive. But HarmonyOS is still building its app library outside China. That's the constraint.
Luke
And we don't have any sales figures or pre-order numbers from the source. We know what Huawei built and what it costs. We don't know if anyone's buying it.
Le Pouls
- Huawei timed its Shenzhen launch precisely five days before Apple's iPhone 17 event, turning a product release into a geopolitical and commercial provocation.
- The Mate XTs unfolds to a 10.2-inch display across three panels as thin as 3.6 millimeters, pushing the physical limits of what a pocket device can become.
- A 36 percent performance leap from the Kirin 9020 chip and the ability to run full desktop applications like WPS and Bloomberg rival Wind reframe the foldable as a portable workstation, not merely a larger phone.
- Pricing the entry model 2,000 yuan below its predecessor signals that Huawei is deliberately widening the door to premium foldables, daring competitors to follow.
- Apple has never shipped a foldable, and the industry is watching Thursday's announcement to learn whether that silence is strategy or hesitation.
In Shenzhen, five days before Apple's scheduled iPhone 17 reveal, Huawei unveiled the Mate XTs — a trifold smartphone priced at roughly $2,520, lower than its predecessor and equipped with a more powerful homegrown chip. The gesture is less about a single device than about a declaration: that Chinese technology, operating within its own ecosystem, can set the terms of competition in the most demanding corner of the consumer market. Whether Apple answers with a foldable of its own or holds its ground on familiar form will say much about where the next chapter of this rivalry is written.
Huawei announced the Mate XTs in Shenzhen on Thursday — a trifold smartphone that opens to a 10.2-inch display and starts at 17,999 yuan, roughly $2,520 for the base 256-gigabyte model. The launch came five days before Apple's scheduled iPhone 17 reveal, a gap that felt less like coincidence than choreography.
Powered by Huawei's Kirin 9020 processor, the device delivers a 36 percent performance improvement over previous generations according to consumer business chief Richard Yu Chengdong, while maintaining the same 298-gram weight as its predecessor. Higher storage tiers reach up to 1 terabyte at 21,999 yuan — each tier priced about 2,000 yuan below the equivalent Mate XT model, a deliberate step toward broader accessibility within the premium foldable segment.
The three panels range from 3.6 to 4.75 millimeters thick and ship alongside Huawei's new M-Pen 3 stylus. But the most consequential shift is in software: for the first time, Huawei's HarmonyOS allows users to run applications built for desktop computers, including the WPS productivity suite and Wind, a financial data platform that competes with Bloomberg Terminal. The move repositions the Mate XTs not as a large phone but as a portable workstation.
Foldable phones remain a niche — expensive, experimental, and largely shared between Samsung and Huawei. Apple has yet to enter the category, though speculation has persisted for years. What the iPhone 17 announcement reveals in five days will clarify whether Apple sees this moment as the right one to compete, or whether it intends to let others carry the risk a little longer.
Huawei has released the Mate XTs, a trifold smartphone that folds open to a 10.2-inch screen, priced at 17,999 yuan—roughly $2,520—for the base 256-gigabyte model. The company announced the device in Shenzhen on Thursday, five days before Apple is scheduled to reveal its iPhone 17 lineup. The timing is deliberate: Huawei is staking its claim in the premium foldable market just as its largest competitor prepares to show what it has built.
The Mate XTs runs on Huawei's own Kirin 9020 processor and operates within the company's HarmonyOS ecosystem. Richard Yu Chengdong, who leads Huawei's consumer business group, said during the launch that the new chip delivers a 36 percent performance improvement over previous generations. The device weighs 298 grams—the same as its predecessor, the Mate XT—and comes in four color options. Storage tiers of 512 gigabytes and 1 terabyte are available at 19,999 yuan and 21,999 yuan respectively, each priced about 2,000 yuan lower than the equivalent Mate XT models.
The three screens that make up the trifold design range from 3.6 millimeters to 4.75 millimeters in thickness. When closed, they remain compact; when fully extended, they create the 10.2-inch display. Huawei is bundling the device with its new M-Pen 3 stylus, which users can employ to navigate the interface, take notes, and sketch.
What distinguishes the Mate XTs from previous Huawei phones is a significant shift in software capability. For the first time, Huawei has enabled users to install and run applications originally designed for personal computers directly on the smartphone. Yu highlighted two examples: the desktop version of WPS, a Chinese productivity suite that competes with Microsoft Office, and Wind, a local financial data platform that rivals Bloomberg Terminal. This move expands what a foldable phone can do, positioning it not just as a communication device but as a portable workstation.
The price positioning matters. At $2,520 for the entry model, the Mate XTs undercuts the Mate XT while offering more processing power and new software features. Huawei is signaling that it can deliver premium foldable technology at a more accessible price point than before. The launch comes as foldable phones remain a niche category—expensive, still somewhat experimental, and dominated by Samsung and Huawei in terms of market presence. Apple has not yet entered the foldable market, though rumors have circulated for years about whether it might. The iPhone 17 announcement in five days will show whether Apple believes the moment has arrived to compete in this space or whether it intends to wait longer.
Citations marquantes
The new Kirin 9020 chip delivers a 36 percent performance improvement over previous generations— Richard Yu Chengdong, chairman of Huawei's consumer business group
Envie de l'histoire complète ?
Lire l'original sur South China Morning Post ↗
Technology