Huawei Mate X Foldable Phone

[Allenwalker]

But the price is not affordable ...

[steveluv]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ywang/2019/02/28/how-huaweis-foldable-matex-can-be-apples-nightmare-in-china/

 

How Huawei's Foldable Mate X Can Be Apple's Nightmare In China

 

Richard Yu, the CEO of Huawei's consumer products division presents the new Huawei Mate X foldable smartphone at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), on the eve of the world's biggest mobile fair, on February 24, 2019 in Barcelona. (Photo: Josep LAGO/AFP)

 

 

It just got harder for Apple to revive flagging iPhone sales in the all-important China following the launch of the Huawei Mate X.

 

Huawei stole the show at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona when it launched on Feb. 25 the $2,600 Mate X, a foldable smartphone that can be expanded into an eight-inch tablet when fully folded out. While Mate X isn’t expected to have mass-market appeal simply because of its price tag, analysts say it still can help Huawei seize more ground in China at the expense of Apple. This is because ultra-wealthy Chinese such as local entrepreneurs are losing interest in the U.S. behemoth. They no longer clamor for the $1,000-plus iPhones, which are now considered as lacking innovation, and wouldn’t mind paying extra for a feature-filled alternatives.

 

“Previously, the most expensive iPhones are a top choice in China,” says James Yan, a research director at Counterpoint Research. “But this type of affluent consumers will instead wait for Mate X to go on sale now.”

 

When the Mate X goes on sale this summer, analysts expect consumers to also purchase other Huawei brand products such as the high-end P series and the Mate series. By being one of the first to launch a foldable phone, which in the future may render tablets obsolete, Huawei is building brand awareness that could drive future sales.

 

“After seeing the MateX, Chinese consumers will be more tempted to try other high-end Huawei devices,” says Jia Mo, an analyst at market research firm Canalys. “At a time when the iPhones haven’t had major upgrades, the Mate X definitely boosts Huawei’s brand image.”

 

The American smartphone giant is already feeling the heat. It cited weak China results when it cut its quarterly earnings guidance in January. Apple’s iPhone shipments to China dropped 20% to 11.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2018 from a year ago, according to IDC. Huawei, meanwhile, managed to sell 30 million smartphones in China, up 23% from a year ago, making it the largest smartphone maker in the country. Huawei’s smartphones are packed with advanced features and retail at lower prices compared to iPhones. Its latest Mate 20 series, for example, starts at 3,999 yuan ($597) and comes with a triple-camera module that promises enhanced photo quality.

 

To revive China sales, Apple has resorted to the unusual strategy of discounts. In a February interview with NPR, Chief Executive Tim Cook said Apple had recently cut prices in China to reflect currency devaluation of the yuan. Now, some vendors are selling the latest iPhone XR model for 5,300 yuan ($791) on Alibaba’s Tmall shopping site, down from the official retail price of 6,999 yuan ($1,045). Last week, Apple also teamed up with Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial to offer interest-free financing to boost waning sales of the iPhones.

 

The strategy has helped. Shipment of the iPhones increased in the first two months of this year, according to Canalys’s Jia, citing early feedback from several retailers. But it remains to be seen whether the trend can continue given competition Huawei and other Chinese phone makers such as OPPO.

 

OPPO, for example, launched during MWC an upgraded version of its Find X flagship phone that supports next-generation 5G network and comes with a 10-times optical zoom camera. More foldable devices are also expected this year, as supplies of such flexible screens will ramp up towards the end of 2019, according to Counterpoint Research’s Yan.

 

“Every Chinese phone maker is trying to sell more premium devices now,” says Canalys’s Jia. “They have more or less reached Apple’s core customer base in China, especially when the brand isn’t looking as good as two or three years ago.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Angcheek]

Hands on ... take a look 

 

[Tohto]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ywang/2019/02/28/how-huaweis-foldable-matex-can-be-apples-nightmare-in-china/

 

How Huawei's Foldable Mate X Can Be Apple's Nightmare In China

 

https___blogs-images.forbes.com_ywang_files_2019_02_MateX-1200x799.jpg

Richard Yu, the CEO of Huawei's consumer products division presents the new Huawei Mate X foldable smartphone at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), on the eve of the world's biggest mobile fair, on February 24, 2019 in Barcelona. (Photo: Josep LAGO/AFP)

 

 

 

 

It just got harder for Apple to revive flagging iPhone sales in the all-important China following the launch of the Huawei Mate X.

 

Huawei stole the show at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona when it launched on Feb. 25 the $2,600 Mate X, a foldable smartphone that can be expanded into an eight-inch tablet when fully folded out. While Mate X isn’t expected to have mass-market appeal simply because of its price tag, analysts say it still can help Huawei seize more ground in China at the expense of Apple. This is because ultra-wealthy Chinese such as local entrepreneurs are losing interest in the U.S. behemoth. They no longer clamor for the $1,000-plus iPhones, which are now considered as lacking innovation, and wouldn’t mind paying extra for a feature-filled alternatives.

 

“Previously, the most expensive iPhones are a top choice in China,” says James Yan, a research director at Counterpoint Research. “But this type of affluent consumers will instead wait for Mate X to go on sale now.”

 

When the Mate X goes on sale this summer, analysts expect consumers to also purchase other Huawei brand products such as the high-end P series and the Mate series. By being one of the first to launch a foldable phone, which in the future may render tablets obsolete, Huawei is building brand awareness that could drive future sales.

 

“After seeing the MateX, Chinese consumers will be more tempted to try other high-end Huawei devices,” says Jia Mo, an analyst at market research firm Canalys. “At a time when the iPhones haven’t had major upgrades, the Mate X definitely boosts Huawei’s brand image.”

 

The American smartphone giant is already feeling the heat. It cited weak China results when it cut its quarterly earnings guidance in January. Apple’s iPhone shipments to China dropped 20% to 11.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2018 from a year ago, according to IDC. Huawei, meanwhile, managed to sell 30 million smartphones in China, up 23% from a year ago, making it the largest smartphone maker in the country. Huawei’s smartphones are packed with advanced features and retail at lower prices compared to iPhones. Its latest Mate 20 series, for example, starts at 3,999 yuan ($597) and comes with a triple-camera module that promises enhanced photo quality.

 

To revive China sales, Apple has resorted to the unusual strategy of discounts. In a February interview with NPR, Chief Executive Tim Cook said Apple had recently cut prices in China to reflect currency devaluation of the yuan. Now, some vendors are selling the latest iPhone XR model for 5,300 yuan ($791) on Alibaba’s Tmall shopping site, down from the official retail price of 6,999 yuan ($1,045). Last week, Apple also teamed up with Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial to offer interest-free financing to boost waning sales of the iPhones.

 

The strategy has helped. Shipment of the iPhones increased in the first two months of this year, according to Canalys’s Jia, citing early feedback from several retailers. But it remains to be seen whether the trend can continue given competition Huawei and other Chinese phone makers such as OPPO.

 

OPPO, for example, launched during MWC an upgraded version of its Find X flagship phone that supports next-generation 5G network and comes with a 10-times optical zoom camera. More foldable devices are also expected this year, as supplies of such flexible screens will ramp up towards the end of 2019, according to Counterpoint Research’s Yan.

 

“Every Chinese phone maker is trying to sell more premium devices now,” says Canalys’s Jia. “They have more or less reached Apple’s core customer base in China, especially when the brand isn’t looking as good as two or three years ago.”

Apple had be struggling on the market share. Without able to get enough supply of OLED display. They still have to rely on Samsung for OLED display supply.

Without OLED, it cannot make any folding phone.

[steveluv]

Hands on ... take a look 

 

 

Very nice indeed however for S$3,500 its beyond most consumers I think. The "need" and "want" gap is like an ocean.

[Mockngbrd]

At this point it's prob just gonna be a niche novelty product. Until apple releases their own version.

[steveluv]

https://www.macrumors.com/2019/02/28/self-heating-foldable-iphone-display-patent/

 

Folding iPhones Could Have Self-Heating Displays to Avoid Damage in Cold Weather

 

The foldable smartphone era is fully upon us with the recent introductions of the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X, and while it remains unclear if Apple will follow suit, the company has at least explored ideas related to foldable smartphones in patent applications over the past few years.

 

Huawei Mate X

 

In a patent application published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today, titled "Electronic Devices With Flexible Displays," Apple explains that foldable smartphone displays could be prone to damage when bent in cold temperatures, and describes various heating methods to mitigate the issue.

 

For example, Apple says the portion of the display that bends could be heated by lighting up the pixels in that area of the screen. Alternatively, a "heating element or other heating structure" could be used, although Apple wasn't specific.

 

 

The patent application, highlighted by AppleInsider, notes that the foldable smartphone could have a magnetic latching mechanism that would prevent the device from being folded or unfolded in very cold temperatures to avoid damage to the display. This would be in environments "significantly below room temperature."

Apple files numerous patent applications every week, of course, and many of the inventions do not see the light of day. Patents are also very detailed, encompassing many possible ideas, even ones that Apple might not have any plans to advance. So, the exact implementation if any remains to be seen.

While unique, early foldable smartphones from Samsung and Huawei are far from perfect, with bulky designs and expensive price tags. Apple is unlikely to release a foldable iPhone unless it can meet the company's strict quality standards.

Last year, Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan predicted that Apple is working on a foldable iPhone for release in 2020, while an earlier Korean report said Apple was developing a foldable iPhone alongside LG. However, it's still not entirely clear if Apple will ever proceed with those plans.

 

 

[Mockngbrd]

Pretty sure Apple will not release a phone that creases... no idea how they gonna do it though. 

[Angcheek]

Very nice indeed however for S$3,500 its beyond most consumers I think. The "need" and "want" gap is like an ocean.

 

agreed ...... at that price , I just get 2 phone    

[steveluv]

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Startups-in-Asia/Royole-displays-flexible-approach-to-foldable-phones?utm_campaign=RN%20Subscriber%20newsletter&utm_medium=daily%20newsletter&utm_source=NAR%20Newsletter&utm_content=article%20link

 

Some have touted the Royole FlexPai, priced at $1,300, as a potentially revolutionary product akin to early iPhones. (Photo by Yoshiyuki Tamai)

 

Royole displays flexible approach to foldable phones

Startup takes on Samsung, Huawei with home-grown technology

COCO LIU and CHENG TING-FANG, Nikkei staff writers March 01, 2019 17:03 JST

 

BARCELONA, Spain/LAS VEGAS, U.S. -- For a relatively unknown Chinese startup, Royole has been attracting a lot of attention. The Shenzhen-based manufacturer of flexible displays stunned the smartphone industry last autumn when it beat giants Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies to launch the world's first commercialized foldable phone.

 

At this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Samsung and Huawei made all the noise with their $2,000 foldable phones. But it was only at Royole's stand that visitors had the chance to touch and play with the industry's most significant innovation in years. Samsung's Galaxy Fold and Huawei's Mate X, sleeker and significantly more costly than Royole's $1,300 FlexPai, were kept securely locked away in glass cases.

 

Royole is no technology giant. Just seven years old, it has never made a smartphone before. But late last year Royole began commercial production of the FlexPai in Shenzhen.

 

That achievement, and its expertise in bendable screens and sensors, has caught the attention of big international companies. In December it signed an agreement with Airbus, the European aerospace heavyweight, to codevelop flexible displays and sensors for next-generation aircraft cabins.

 

On its website, Royole claims a number of firsts: the world's thinnest full-color AMOLED flexible display and flexible sensors (2014); the world's first foldable 3D mobile theater, with collapsing headphones attached to a 3D headset (2015); and the world's first curved car dashboard based on flexible electronics (2016). It holds more than 2,500 patents and has a 102,000-sq.-meter flexible display production campus in Shenzhen, as well as offices in California and Hong Kong.

 

 

And all of that started when co-founder and CEO Bill Liu was a college student, lounging on the lawn of Stanford University.

 

Back in 2006, the 23-year-old Jiangxi native went to Stanford to pursue his Ph.D. after receiving a diploma in electrical engineering from China's prestigious Tsinghua University. As soon as he started, Liu began planning what to do for graduation. 

 

The idea of inventing a screen as flexible as a piece of paper suddenly struck him. "I thought that would be really cool and flexible displays could revolutionize the way we interact with the world," he recalled.

 

For the next three years of his doctoral study, Liu devoted much of his time at the university's laboratory trying to solve the puzzle. "I was so into the idea that I thought about it day and night," Liu said.

 

When he finally hit on a possible solution in 2012, Liu quit his job as a research scientist at IBM in New York and returned to China with two Stanford schoolmates -- Wei Peng and Yu Xiaojun -- to start Royole.

 

"Since there were no examples to follow, we had to do everything from scratch," Liu said. "We tried and failed. Tried again and failed again. ... The screen we made contains more than 20 million transistors and has nearly 100 nanomaterials. You have to get every detail right to make it work. Calling the experiment exhausting feels like an understatement."

 

In the early days Liu had to use his savings to fund the work. But his commitment drew investors. Despite widespread skepticism about the technology -- with some analysts predicting flexible displays would only become commercially available by 2040 -- two Chinese venture capitalists decided to take the risk. "We believed that Liu and his team would make it happen. He has such an impressive background," said Li Wei, founding partner of Shenzhen Green Pine Capital Partners, one of Royole's first investors, in an interview in 2015.

 

Their faith was rewarded. In 2014, Royole rolled out its first product, a full-color flexible display as thin as onion skin. The display was later used by advertisers to put on clothing, such as flashing T-shirts or top hats, for ad campaigns. Other products include a rollable computer keyboard that can be tucked away like a pen, as well as a smart sofa that has no physical buttons but can be adjusted with one touch on its armrest.

 

At the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year in Las Vegas, visitors were enthusiastic about Royole's products.

 

 

"This is quite easy to use," said Yejong Chang while taking a picture with Royole's flexible sensor-enabled selfie stick. The selfie fan from Seoul said conventional sticks only allowed her to click the shutter button, while Royole's product enabled her to use other functions such as zooming in and out, by simply moving her fingers. "I have never seen anything like that before," she told the Nikkei Asian Review.

 

Before launching its flexible smartphone in October, Royole was mostly known in the business world. Liu says his startup has supplied customized flexible displays to more than 200 corporate clients, including Hong Kong-listed sporting goods maker Li Ning Company and Chinese smart device producer Toppers. The partnership with Airbus marks a significant coup, even if there is no set timeline for production of the cabin displays.

 

Royole refuses to disclose its annual revenues but Liu says half the sales come from overseas markets. He ducks the question of whether his company is loss-making. 

 

"Profitability is not our priority" at this moment, Liu said. "As an early-stage startup, if you care too much about profits, you are not doing enough in innovation because innovation requires massive investment," he explained. "We believe once we have cutting-edge products, profits will follow."

 

The Royole booth at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was the only place visitors could actually touch a foldable smartphone. (Photo by Cheng Ting-Fang)               

 

To be fair, the company was not able to mass produce its flexible displays until seven months ago, when its factory in Shenzhen went online in June.

 

Investors do not seem put off. Royole is backed by A-list venture capital firms such as Knight Capital and IDG Capital as well as Chinese financial services tycoon Xie Zhikun. It was valued at $5 billion in its latest E round of funding in August.

 

Data from information portal Crunchbase shows that Royole has received a total investment of $1.1 billion since its debut. Liu said in Barcelona this week that he was considering another round of fundraising. 

 

Liu owns nearly 41% of the company, while co-founders Wei and Yu hold 5.2% and 4.7%, respectively, according to Chinese company information service Qichacha.

 

Royole today has come a long way from the tiny office in Shenzhen that lacked even a doorplate. The company now runs a manufacturing hub the size of 56 football fields with more than 2,300 employees. Roughly 70% of the staff are scientists and engineers working at three research and development centers in Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Silicon Valley, Liu said.

 

With a production capacity of 50 million units per year, Royole's new factory in Shenzhen now supplies flexible displays for its own bendable smartphones and industrial clients. Although all the products are made in China, Liu said its sales to the U.S. so far have been immune from the ongoing trade war between Beijing and Washington, as the products are not included in the punitive tariff list.

 

 

Liu declined to disclose how many handsets the company has shipped since the FlexPai hit the market in November, but said the sales "have been going very well."

 

He is particularly proud that Royole is being compared to Apple. "Some told me that FlexPai reminded them of the very first iPhone or the debut of the Android system," he said. "I was over the moon when they called it 'the reinvented smartphone.'"

 

But Royole's FlexPai is now up against tough competition after the Samsung and Huawei launches this week. And there are many more in the pipeline. Even Chinese television maker TCL is getting in on the game with plans to launch a smartphone that can be folded into a smartwatch.

 

Market watchers say the FlexPai will find it difficult to survive against such competition. But they also suggest the company may not intend it to.

 

Market demand for flexible displays has been growing, as carmakers, smartphone producers and others scramble to produce more efficient and exciting designs. The global flexible display market is expected to double by 2021 from last year's near $14 billion, according to market intelligence firm IHS Markit.

 

"Royole's best opportunity is not to become a leading smartphone vendor, but to sell its technology and innovations to other brands," said Benjamin Stanton, a senior analyst at global research institute Canalys. "Therefore, the most important conversations will be happening in the meeting rooms behind its booth, rather than at the booth itself."

 

Royole's display at the MWC attracted executives from Huawei and ZTE, which both have big ambitions for the next generation of mobile technology. Neither produces flexible screens.

 

The Huawei Mate X, left, and the Samsung Galaxy Fold both cost around $2,000. (Nikkei montage/AP)            

 

But some analysts are still wary. The company would be battling against the overwhelming dominance of Samsung, which has years of experience in mass producing high quality OLED screens. Royole also faces fierce competition from Beijing-based BOE Technology Group, which supplies flexible screens to Huawei.

 

"I would not put Royole in the same category as Samsung. I believe the future of flexible display technology is still in the hands of traditional display makers as they really know the industry inside out," said Eric Chiou, an analyst at market research firm WitsView based in Taipei. "There is always concern over how stable its supply would be and at what quality," Chiou said.

 

Last month, Royole issued a statement defending its technology, saying that the company had received orders worth 4 billion yuan ($590 million) for its flexible displays during the fourth quarter of 2018.

 

The founder of the Chinese unicorn said he is "not concerned" by incumbent competition or questions over his motives for launching the FlexPai.

 

"We have been working on flexible displays for years and we are very happy to see many companies recognize this technology as a direction that all of us want to pursue [as] the next generation of innovation," Liu said.

 

Yet the Royole boss cannot resist a last swipe at his competitors, whose flexible phones remain tantalizingly out of reach for ordinary consumers: "I am proud to say that we are the only company that is shipping products consumers can touch, play and feel."

 

Nikkei staff writers Kim Jaewon in Seoul and Takashi Kawakami in Guangzhou contributed to this story.

[steveluv]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33iWJOBNL2o

[steveluv]

https://www.cnet.com/news/mate-x-costs-2600-dollars-but-huawei-hints-at-cheaper-foldable-phones/

 

Mate X costs $2,600, but Huawei hints at cheaper foldable phones

Huawei's foldable Mate X may just be the tip of the iceberg for the Chinese company's foldable phone plan.

by Jessica Dolcourt March 2, 2019 11:19 AM PST

 

When Huawei announced that the Mate X foldable phone would sell for 2,299 euros -- roughly $2,600, £2,000 or AU$3,660 -- the audience at Huawei's Mate X launch event at MWC gasped and groaned. But it may not be that way forever. 

 

"It is not just only one phone," said Clement Wong, director for product marketing at Huawei. "A lot of different phones will be coming out," he added, hinting that they could sell at different prices.

 

Foldable phones are shocking, and not just because they introduce a completely new design. With prices that double that of today's $1,000 4G flagship designs, these bendable devices will shoot the cost of ownership into the stratosphere. In 2016, Samsung's most expensive Note phone cost $850, while the price of Apple's most expensive iPhone soared from $769 in 2016 to $1,099 in 2018, a 43 percent increase.  

 

The possibility of cheaper Huawei foldable phones was one new Mate X detail that trickled out at a small group session for journalists after Huawei's press conference in Barcelona.

 

Another was an insight into why the phone is so expensive in the first place, surpassing even the price of Samsung's new Galaxy Fold, which will sell for $1,980. While a foldable design and high-end specs do inflate the price, the key might lie in the Mate X's shape.

 

"Honestly," Wong went on, referring to the Galaxy Fold in veiled terms, "it's not really, really true foldable." Huawei didn't want to sell a foldable phone with a large gap between the sides when they bend shut. The Galaxy Fold has a noticeable loop, seemingly large enough to slot in a pencil, while the Mate X is much more flat. 

 

 

 

The hinge, Wong said, was a major R&D effort that took three years to design. "That is the very critical part to develop the phone," he said. 

 

Huawei's wise to admit it wants to build lower cost foldable phones. TCL, another Chinese brand that's best known for selling midprice TVs, also has its eye on making affordable foldable phones that come in far below Huawei's asking price for the Mate X. We got to see concept devices that included a wallet-style fold and even a tall, narrow strip you can fold around your wrist like a watch.

 

The Mate X closes with a physical latch, supported by magnets, and will not support wireless charging. As for its four cameras, which take selfies as well, Wong confirmed that it has the same wide-angle, standard and telephoto lens as the Huawei Mate 20 Pro.

 

"This camera system is as good as our flagship product line Mate series," he said. "Maybe not exactly the same, but the performance is as good as that one."

[Angcheek]

THe screen is plastic . ... i think scratches may be a concern 

THe screen is plastic . ... i think scratches may be a concern 

[Inlinefour]

https://youtu.be/RrQRzXcEb6I

 

Malaysian ZhaBor 

[Fcw75]

https://youtu.be/RrQRzXcEb6I

 

Malaysian ZhaBor

几厉害一下。

[Inlinefour]

几厉害一下。

 

Malaysia Boleh

 

I love Chew Hu Mui