Liu Minxia mllmx@msn.com HUAWEI is scheduled to launch its flagship foldable smartphone today, the Shenzhen company said in a warm-up promo yesterday, adding that the company’s smartphone production capacity is recovering with improved supply chains. “With improved supply chains, Huawei is regaining its smartphone output capacity,” Yu Chengdong, executive director and CEO of Huawei’s consumer business group and CEO of its intelligent automotive solution business unit, said yesterday. “Huawei smartphone supplies will become ample again and it will be much easier for consumers to buy Huawei phones.” The Huawei Mate Xs 2 phone to be released today will see further improvement in both design and function and the new model won’t be thicker or heavier than ordinary smartphones, Yu revealed. The new model has also achieved breakthroughs in Wi-Fi connection technology, resulting in a much faster connection speed, Yu said. Smartphone makers and supply chain players across the globe are doubling down on investment in research and development of foldable phones as the market is predicted to explode in the next few years. Shipments of foldable phones is expected to almost double and reach 14.4 million this year, according to Chen Jun, chief analyst of consulting firm Sigmaintell. Samsung, the first to have introduced the foldable smartphone back in 2019, and Huawei, which introduced its own version of the foldable phone right after Samsung in the same year, remained the top two players in the market last year, with Samsung taking up a market share of 81% and Huawei 13.9%. China’s smartphone makers are accelerating their product releases and expanding their distribution channels following a slump in domestic sales in the first quarter of the year. Vivo is releasing its mainstream X80 models this week, while OnePlus, a division under Oppo, started sales of its new OnePlus Ace model yesterday. ZTE plans to release a new model next month. In the first quarter, 74.4 million smartphones were sold in China, a 14.4% decrease from a year ago. Oppo, Honor and Vivo are the top three players in the domestic market, according to a report from CINNO Research. | 