Huawei Tipped to Launch Entry-Level Flip Phone Next Year

The flip telephone taking part in area is ready to get extra crowded.

Huawei is tipped to launch an entry-level flip telephone throughout the first half of subsequent yr, in keeping with a Thursday publish by a tipster Revegnus on X. The clamshell-style telephone might begin for as little as $735, the leaker says, and is anticipated to be a part of Huawei’s P Pocket lineup.

Final yr, Huawei launched the Pocket S, its first entry-level flip telephone and a scaled-down model of P50 Pocket. It shares the identical design language as its pricier sibling, specifically a standout characteristic of two giant circles on the quilt panel. One circle serves because the digicam bump, whereas the opposite is a 1.04-inch spherical cowl display screen. Each telephones have been launched in China solely.

Though flip telephones and their book-style counterparts are more and more receiving industrial releases by main phone-makers, foldable telephones nonetheless make up a small sliver of the broader smartphone market. Nonetheless, business analysis companies count on the foldable telephone pie to develop. IDC experiences that it expects worldwide shipments of foldable telephones to achieve 21.4 million items in 2023. This represents a rise of greater than 50% over the 14.2 million items shipped in 2022. By 2027, it says, foldable telephones ought to seize 3.5% of general market share, which interprets to greater than 48 million shipments.

Based on Revegnus, Samsung appears to be engaged on an identical telephone. In August the tipster tweeted that, “rumors of ongoing testing for the launch of the Galaxy Z FE (lite mannequin), after the Fold/Flip 6.” 

Samsung’s Fan Version, or FE, sequence represents a scaled-down model of its fundamental flagship lineup. Earlier in October, Samsung revealed its $600 Samsung Galaxy S23 FE. This telephone contains lots of the identical options because the $800 Galaxy S23, however makes just a few compromises to hit the cheaper price.

Given the tipped launch timelines, the Huawei’s new flip telephone might be launched alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6, that are anticipated to obtain a launch in August subsequent yr.