On September 7, Chinese tech giant Huawei announced the release of its latest groundbreaking device, the Huawei Mate XT Extraordinary Master, a tri-fold smartphone, which became available for pre-order at 12:08 p.m.
Although pricing details are yet to be disclosed, and no specifications are listed on the official product page, more than 1 million pre-orders were made within just five hours of its release. The smartphone is expected to go on sale on September 20 at 10:08 a.m. Beijing time.
Richard Yu, Huawei's Executive Director, CEO of the Consumer Business Group, and Chairman of the Intelligent Automotive Solution BU, previously referred to the device on Weibo (China's version of Twitter) as Huawei’s "most leading, innovative, and disruptive product."
The tri-fold smartphone has garnered significant attention recently, with rumors about Huawei’s foldable phones circulating since the start of the year. Due to the complex manufacturing process of the tri-fold device, industry experts speculate that its price will exceed 20,000 yuan (about $2,750).
In 2019, during the height of the U.S.-China trade war, the U.S. imposed a ban on Huawei. Most American companies were prohibited from doing business with Huawei, and companies outside the U.S. were banned from selling chips or other equipment containing U.S. technology to the company. A year prior, the Canadian government, under the coordination of the Trump administration, had arrested Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, daughter of Huawei's founder Ren Zhengfei.
This series of aggressive actions severely impacted Huawei: the company was forced to sell its main smartphone brand due to a chip shortage; over a dozen wealthy nations excluded Huawei from their 5G contracts; and Huawei's revenue in 2021 dropped by 30% year-on-year, while its net profit in 2022 plummeted nearly 70%.
In a 2022 internal memo, Ren Zhengfei stated bluntly that Huawei was fighting for survival: "We must first survive; with survival comes the future."
However, Huawei has not only survived but also thrived again. In the first quarter of this year, its net profit surged by 564% year-on-year, reaching 19.7 billion yuan (approximately $2.7 billion). Huawei’s smartphone business has fully rebounded, and its telecom equipment sales are rising once again.
In 2023, Huawei's profits reached approximately $12.3 billion, comparable to U.S. telecom equipment giant Cisco and significantly surpassing its major competitors Ericsson and Nokia, both of which are undergoing layoffs. Meanwhile, Huawei’s workforce continues to expand, with 12,000 more employees than in 2021.