Will Huawei’s foldable smartphone bend it like Beckham at Mobile World Congress 2019?
![Huawei said it would ‘bring the world’s first 5G smartphones with [a] foldable screen’ to MWC. Photo: Reuters](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/wide_landscape/public/images/methode/2019/02/21/618f36f8-35b5-11e9-b09f-892c410303c7_image_hires_165335.JPG?itok=fF20W8XO&v=1550739224)
Sony, Samsung and LG are also among firms expected to present new offerings at the annual mobile phone industry exhibition in Spain from February 25 to 28
The world’s largest exhibition for the mobile phone industry, The Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona, in Spain has often been the launch pad for the latest smartphone innovations.
The roll-out of fifth-generation (5G) mobile services in the United States and South Korea is expected in the second half of this year.
That means the focus of this year’s show, at the Fira de Barcelona convention centre, from February 25 to 28, will be on the arrival of the industry’s first 5G smartphones.
Huawei has said that it will “bring the world’s first 5G smartphones with [a] foldable screen” to MWC. It is likely to be unveiled at a press conference on February 24, the day before the show’s opening.
The phone is expected to use the Chinese company’s own Kirin 980 processor and the Balong 5000 multimode 5G modem, which can achieve download speeds of up to 4.6Gbps over a sub-6GHz network, and up to 6.5Gbps over mmWave spectrum.
It should have a folded screen measuring 5 inches (12.7 centimetres) and an open screen size of 8 inches.
Besides 5G phones, Huawei may also unveil its flagship P30 smartphone at MWC, although reports in past few days suggest that the Chinese manufacturer might skip the event and opt for an announcement in late March in Paris.