Huawei Mate X launch postponed until September in light of Galaxy Fold botch

Huawei has delayed the market release of its Mate X foldable phone until September instead of the initially planned launch in June to avoid the same issues affecting the Galaxy Fold.

When it unveiled the Mate X earlier this year at the Mobile World Congress, Huawei was optimistic that it would be rolling out its first foldable smartphone to consumers in June. However, that hope is now facing a bleak future.

A new report says the Chinese tech giant is delaying the device's market release until September as part of an effort to iron out potential issues with the Mate X, especially involving its folding display. That means the approximately $2,600 handset will be three months behind the scheduled launch.

A Huawei spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that the firm was prompted to make that decision in light of the problems that affected the display of Samsung's Galaxy Fold when review units of the phone were tested in April of this year. The Galaxy Fold debacle even forced retailers including Best Buy and wireless carrier AT&T to cancel preorders for the phone until Samsung resolves the display problems.

Huawei's evaluation will be conducted in collaboration with developers and network carriers worldwide with the goal of ensuring that apps would properly work on the foldable device when it unfolds. The company also reiterated that the device will run Android despite the U.S. trade ban, which fractured the long relationship between Huawei and Google.

Source: CNBC