Huawei Mate Xs foldable smartphones gifted to Tencent employees turn up on second-hand e-commerce store
- After Tencent employees received Huawei’s foldable Mate Xs smartphone, new listings started showing up online
- The Mate X series is Huawei’s answer to the Samsung Galaxy Fold, but it does not have access to Google apps and services
If you have been waiting to pick up Huawei’s latest foldable phone for a good price, now might be the time to strike. Several Mate Xs devices are popping up on second-hand markets, and Tencent might be to blame – although the company likely did not intend it.
On Wednesday, Tencent Holdings reportedly gave the phones out as a generous reward to 10,000 employees working in its Platform and Content Group (PCG). Not long after, listings for the phones started showing up online with descriptions like, “Company gift, completely new real product!”
Tencent did not respond to a request for comment.
The Mate Xs is the second generation foldable 5G smartphone from Huawei. Similar to the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the Mate Xs unfolds into an 8-inch tablet. But unlike the Fold, the Xs folds outwards so that the foldable display is always exposed.
The lucky PCG employees got the phone as a gift for the second anniversary of the department dedicated to creating content for Tencent’s social, video and news platforms. It also came a day ahead of National Day on October 1, a holiday commemorating the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
