Huawei prices its Mate X 5G foldable phone at US$2,400 for China and limited supplies may make it hard to get
- The launch is about six months behind the original plan and sales will begin on November 15
Huawei Technologies launched its long-awaited foldable 5G smartphone in China on Wednesday with a price tag of 16,999 yuan (US$2,400), making it the most expensive handset to be offered in the world’s largest smartphone market.
The foldable offering from Huawei, first unveiled during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, will be sold through Huawei’s self-run e-commerce platform from November 15 amid limited initial supplies, according to an announcement on the company’s official Weibo account. The launch is about six months behind the original schedule.
Pricing is in line with the 2,299 euro price tag announced for the European market in February. On Wednesday, the Shenzhen company also said it had shipped 200 million smartphones to date in 2019, 64 days earlier than the same shipment milestone last year.
Huawei’s expensive and limited offerings have always been sought after in China. Its luxury Mate 20 Porsche Design edition, released last year, was priced at more than 10,000 yuan in the country, and due to limited supplies consumers had to pay more for the model from third-party retailers.
Huawei’s Mate 30 Porsche Design edition, priced at 12,999 yuan in China, will start official sales on November 10.
