Huawei Unveils Next Foldable Smartphone as Rivalry with Xiaomi and Apple Escalates

Huawei on Monday launched the latest edition of its flagship foldable smartphone as it looks to defend its dominance in China's premium handset market against Apple and Xiaomi, both of which are introducing new products as well.

The new Mate XT2 folds twice into a tablet-sized display, and it is powered by Huawei's Kirin 9050 Pro chip.

Huawei says the chip's architecture delivers greater computing performance and consumes less power, aiding the company in working around U.S. restrictions on advanced technology access.

Later on Monday, Xiaomi is launching a rival foldable handset, while Apple reveals its latest iPhone series Wednesday, with expectations high that Apple could also unveil a foldable.

The Mate XT2 features a new folding design, stronger water resistance, and an optional screen that hides its contents from people looking from the side. In addition, it comes with upgraded cameras and, according to Huawei's internal testing, offers a 42% improvement in overall performance compared with the previous model.

Excluded from the U.S. market by sanctions, Huawei remains China's smartphone leader with a 22.6% share in the second quarter, ahead of Apple's 18.1%, according to consultancy IDC. Xiaomi's share stands at 12.4%.

Huawei is even more dominant in the foldable category, representing 68% of shipments in China during the second quarter, per Smart Analytics Global, a U.S.-based research firm.