Chinese tech giant Huawei secured over 4 million pre-orders for its upcoming tri-fold smartphone, the Mate XT, just hours after Apple introduced its new iPhone Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
The highly anticipated Z-shaped folding phone will be officially unveiled at a launch event on September 9, as announced on its WeChat account.
Pre-order customers will receive purchase details on the day of the launch, with no down payment required upfront. This surge in pre-orders highlights Huawei’s resilience in navigating U.S. sanctions and solidifies its stance as a major competitor to Apple, which has previously reduced prices to maintain its market share.
Apple debuts iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max
Apple’s much-anticipated September 9 event showcased the iPhone 16 lineup, emphasizing its enhanced artificial intelligence capabilities. The iPhone 16 will feature the new A18 chip, an aluminum back, and a customizable button for camera controls.
“Powered by the faster, more efficient A18 Pro chip and built for Apple Intelligence, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are the most advanced iPhone models we’ve ever made,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.
“Customers who are looking for the best possible iPhone will be able to take advantage of this huge step forward, whether they’re applying edits to a photo without lifting a finger, rewriting meeting notes for a more professional tone, or using the advanced camera system to capture their next masterpiece in 4K120 fps in Dolby Vision — all while enjoying extraordinary battery life.”
iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be available in four finishes: black titanium, natural titanium, white titanium, and desert titanium. Pre-orders begin September 13, with availability beginning September 20.
iPhone 16 gets AI boost
The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max a are aimed at harnessing the latest in artificial intelligence (AI).
“The next generation of iPhone has been designed for Apple Intelligence from the ground up. It marks the beginning of an exciting new era,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook at a product launch on September 8 where Apple also introduced new Apple Watches and AirPods. However, Apple shares dipped slightly, falling less than one percent in afternoon trading.
Apple Intelligence, featured in the iPhone 16 lineup, uses Apple silicon and generative models to simplify tasks by creating language and images, drawing from personal context across apps. Privacy is enhanced with Private Cloud Compute, blending on-device processing with Apple’s servers. Key features include systemwide writing tools, grammar checks, text summarization, and audio transcription. Available as a free software update, Apple Intelligence will begin rolling out in U.S. English next month, improving user productivity while maintaining strong data privacy.
Huawei launches world’s first tri-fold smartphone
Hours after Apple’s fall product launch, Huawei unveiled the world’s first tri-fold phone, the Mate XT. The groundbreaking tri-fold smartphone has secured an impressive preorder of over four million, according to Chinese media.
“This is the world’s first tri-fold mobile phone. We have made great efforts to solve its reliability. We can see that it is a 10.2-inch mobile phone, equivalent to a tablet computer,” according to Yu Chengdong, the Executive Director of Huawei.
Huawei Mate XT comes in a red finish with gold accents.
Sun ChaoZheng, the General Manager of Shandong Linyi Datang Communication Equipment, said: “The folding screen era has arrived, and I believe it will replace the era of single screens. Because this is an era when people want larger screens to watch videos and to browse websites.”
Huawei remains a dominant player in China’s foldable phone market, commanding a 42% share in the second quarter, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). In contrast, Apple fell out of the top five smartphone vendors in China during the same period, with domestic brands dominating the market.
Huawei ranked fourth in overall smartphone shipments, delivering 10.6 million units, while Apple shipped 10 million in the first quarter. Despite competition from other Chinese manufacturers, Huawei continues to expand its lineup of folding and flip phones, a segment Apple has yet to enter.
The global shipments of foldable phones are projected to reach 101.5 million units in 2027 from 18.6 million units in 2023, according to research company Counterpoint Research.