Huaweis Tri-Fold Phone: Expensive, but Potentially Trend-Setting

Huaweis Tri-Fold Phone: Expensive, but Potentially Trend-SettingWhile established players in the tri-fold smartphone market have yet to bring their products to mass production, Huawei might be about to launch the worlds first tri-fold phone, taking a leap ahead of its competitors. However, consumers hoping to experience this new device should be prepared for a hefty price tag, rumored to exceed $4,000

Huaweis Tri-Fold Phone: Expensive, but Potentially Trend-Setting

While established players in the tri-fold smartphone market have yet to bring their products to mass production, Huawei might be about to launch the worlds first tri-fold phone, taking a leap ahead of its competitors. However, consumers hoping to experience this new device should be prepared for a hefty price tag, rumored to exceed $4,000.

Recently, photos surfaced of Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group, holding a tri-fold smartphone, confirming the existence of this device. Speculation suggests that Yu might be testing the phone's performance in real-world conditions. As there's no news about this tri-fold smartphone entering mass production yet, the device in his hands is likely a prototype.

However, @jasonwill101 on X platform revealed that Huawei is still trying to reduce the cost of this smartphone. The engineering prototype is estimated to cost 35,000 yuan (approximately $4,887), which is still quite expensive for a smartphone, even with its unique design. Rumors suggest that the anticipated retail price could drop to 29,000 yuan (about $4,049), more than twice the price of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6.

This high price tag could be attributed to the limited production scale, though this detail wasn't mentioned in the rumors. Furthermore, due to US trade sanctions, Huawei can't procure cutting-edge chip technology from TSMC and has to rely on its local foundry partner SMIC, which forces them to utilize older generations of lithography technology for large-scale chip production. Currently, the Kirin 9010 from the Pura70 series seems to be the only option, making the tri-fold phone significantly slower than competing devices equipped with Snapdragon 8Gen3 and Dimensity 9300.

Despite these limitations, Huawei's tri-fold phone may have a small target audience, but it might inspire other companies to adopt this design. Considering that Huawei is still under US trade restrictions, even if this smartphone goes into mass production, it would be considered a miracle.

Summary

Huawei's upcoming tri-fold phone is expensive and performance-limited, but it could be a pioneer in paving the way for new trends in smartphone design. The device's ultimate fate remains uncertain, but it will undoubtedly become a bright star in the market and will likely push other manufacturers to accelerate development of similar products.