Huawei has announced that its foldable phone, the Mate X, will now launch in September. The company had initially targeted a June launch, but a spokesperson told CNBC, that it was doing extra tests after Samsung’s foldable smartphone broke down earlier this year during reviews by the media. Huawei’s spokesperson said the company was more “cautious” after Samsung’s foldable device, the Galaxy Fold, began to break when tested by reviewers in April.
Huawei said, “It was pushing back the launch of the Mate X, the folding smartphone it first unveiled at Mobile World Congress earlier this year. The Mate X was supposed to launch this month, but a Huawei spokesperson told CNBC that the phone’s debut is being moved to September.”
The company claims that the delay has noting to do with the U.S. sanctions that forced the Chinese tech giant to scrap plans for a new MateBook earlier this week. Instead, Huawei says it’s delaying the Mate X to keep testing the phone in the wake of the troubles Samsung had trying to launch its foldable phone.
This comes after Samsung paused its release of the Galaxy Fold this spring. The $1,980 foldable phone was scheduled to go on sale in the US on April 26, but Samsung hit the brakes right before the phone’s launch due to numerous screen problems on review units. Samsung said a new release date for the phone will be announced in “the coming weeks.”
The Mate X delay is just the latest challenge for Huawei, the world’s No. 1 telecom supplier and No. 2 phone manufacturer. In May, the US blacklisted networking gear from Huawei and President Donald Trump signed an executive order essentially banning the Chinese company due to national security concerns. As a result, some tech companies have cut ties with Huawei.
The spokesperson also clarified that the US government ban won’t affect the Mate X’s ability to run Android and the Google suite of apps as it was announced before the blacklisting. Just yesterday China’s 3C agency certified the Mate X, meaning Chinese users will be among the first to get access to the phone. The Mate X will be available in Interstellar Blue for the steep asking price of $2,600 (€2,299).