Huawei and Xiaomi launched new flagship foldable smartphones on Monday, stepping up competition in China’s premium handset market ahead of Apple’s product launch later this week.

Huawei’s new Mate XT2 series, which fold out twice into a tablet-sized screen, features its Kirin 9050 Pro chip, a redesigned hinge, improved water resistance and a privacy screen that prevents nearby people from viewing the display.

The devices are priced from about then equivalent of R48 000, with the top-end version costing R60 000. Sales begin on 12 September.

“Pricing right now is a real challenge, because memory costs have risen sharply. We adopted a lot of new technology, and the cost pressure has been enormous,” Huawei executive director Richard Yu told a press conference.

Huawei said the new chip design delivers greater computing power while using less electricity. The architecture, called LogicFolding, is part of the “Tau Scaling Law” principle unveiled in May as Huawei seeks to overcome US restrictions on access to advanced technology.

At a separate launch event, Xiaomi unveiled its most premium phone to date, the Xiaomi 18 Fold. The device uses what Xiaomi calls a “medium-fold solution”, remaining passport-sized when closed while supporting three apps side by side when opened.

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said the device had several advantages over Apple products. Weighing 219g and measuring 5.02mm thick when unfolded, the phone is lighter than Apple’s iPhone Pro Max, he said.

Apple’s first foldable

The handset runs Xiaomi’s in-house XRing O3 AI processor, which Lei said outperforms Apple’s A19 Pro in responsiveness. It also uses DRAM memory chips supplied by Chinese memory chip maker CXMT. The Xiaomi 18 Fold is priced from the equivalent of R25 000 to R34 000.

The launches come ahead of Apple’s unveiling of its latest iPhone series on Wednesday, with expectations high that it could also introduce a foldable phone.

Huawei is currently the only major brand selling a so-called tri-fold phone. The Chinese tech giant is barred from selling products in the US, where Washington has deemed it a national security risk.

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, the world’s biggest foldable smartphone vendor, launched a tri-fold device in December but reportedly discontinued sales after three months. In July, it expanded its foldable line-up to include a passport-sized foldable phone.

Huawei led China’s smartphone market with a 22.6% share in the second quarter, ahead of Apple’s 18.1%, according to consultancy IDC. Xiaomi held a 12.4% share.

Huawei was even more dominant in folding phones, accounting for 68% of shipments in China in the second quarter, according to US-based research company Smart Analytics Global. — David Kirton, Eduardo Baptista and Ju-min Park, with Che Pan, (c) 2026 Reuters