A Foldable Phone War May Start in August

A 3D rendering of the Galaxy Fold

Samsung Electronics and Huawei are reportedly ready for the launch of their foldable smartphones. Industry watchers say that a foldable phone war would begin this August at the earliest. The two companies took the wraps off their foldable phones at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019 in Barcelona in late February, but both have not yet launched their products into the market.

GSM Arena, a U.S. IT media outlet, reported recently that Samsung Electronics is ready to launch its foldable handset. “According to experts and unnamed inside sources, the Korean tech giant has revamped the hinge and screen design and tested the device, which in turn passed with flying colors. Just some finishing touches are needed before the launch,” the online news site reported.

Regarding the launch date, GSM Arena said a July launch seems like a less likely scenario, adding that it will be sometime after the Aug. 7's Galaxy Note10 Unpacked event.

Some industry watchers say that Samsung Electronics may announce a release schedule for the foldable phone during the Aug. 7 unpacking event for the Galaxy Note 10 in New York.

They say Samsung Electronics is likely to launch the foldable phone in August as it is competing with Huawei to earn the title of going down in history as the world's first foldable phone maker.

China's Huawei is also likely to launch its foldable handset in August. China’s Global Times reported on July 21 that Huawei's Mate X has received a network access license and is expected to go on sale in mid or late August.

Global Times reported that “One of Huawei's 5G digital mobile phones, whose equipment model number is TAH-AN00, was granted a six-month trial network access license on July 15, according to a statement released by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.” Industry insiders noted that the TAH-AN00 model 5G handset is very likely to be Huawei's Mate X foldable phone, which was announced in February, it added.

Global Times reported, quoting a Chinese telecom analyst, that phone producers always apply for network access licenses when they have come up with a mature product that they're ready to launch in the market.

This means that the Mate X likely is highly likely to be released in China in August and at the latest in September.

However, the two companies are keeping lips sealed. In particular, Samsung Electronics says it will re-announce a Galaxy Fold launch schedule in a few weeks, a stance it has maintained since it announced the postponement of the launch of the Galaxy Fold due to quality problems in April.

Image source: LetsGoDigital (https://en.letsgodigital.org/)

 

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