Huawei delays Mate X again, talks up second-generation model

Six months ago, Huawei officially unveiled its entrant into the foldable smartphone category in the form of the 5G-enabled Mate X. However, if the asking price of €2,299 hadn't put off potential buyers, they had to sit tight until mid-2019 for the handset to hit retail channels. Of course, since then, the Chinese tech company announced that the launch of the Mate X had been delayed until September given the highly publicized issues concerning Samsung's Galaxy Fold review units.

Now, it appears that the launch of Huawei's foldable phone has been postponed once again according to a TechRadar report on the matter. During an event for the press held at Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen, it has come to light that the smartphone is unlikely to make a retail appearance prior to November, which could pave the way for Samsung's smartphone to be first out of the blocks on a commercial basis this year. However, the Chinese manufacturer has conveyed its certainty that the Mate X will be available before the end of this calendar.

There was also apparent talk of the second generation model featuring even more screen real estate by replacing the steel on the back of the yet-to-be-released model with glass, making touchscreens a possibility. However, people could be forgiven for being understandably skeptical of such claims given that the initial model won't include glass on the front.

Of course, it remains to be seen as to how well foldable phones catch on in terms of offerings from major manufacturers or if they will actually see the light of day given the less than smooth establishment of the product segment.