Huawei quietly shows off its 5G foldable phone to Korean carriers

Ausdroid understands that Huawei will announce its foldable phone at Mobile World Congress 2019, following quiet moves to pitch the device to Korean carriers in the last couple of days. Featuring foldable screen technology from Chinese firm BOE, the device is already in production (rather than a prototype or proof of concept).

Reports from GizChina indicate the device will feature a 5-inch display when folded, and 8-inches when unfolded, which is larger than the rumoured Samsung device at 4.6 and 7.3-inches respectively).

Given 5G networks are likely to become commercially available early to mid next year, it makes sense that Huawei and other brands would be playing in this space getting ready to release consumer-ready phones. However, a foldable phone is a bit of a double whammy, and it remains to be seen how popular this form factor will be.

For a bit of an idea what the foldable phone from Huawei could look like, check out this YouTube video:

Although the video is just a concept, we understand the product shown off to carriers today was not, and the timing couldn’t be closer. Tomorrow, in South Korea, we understand that Samsung will show off its first foldable phone ahead of a launch next year too.

It’s early days, but I’m willing to predict we’ll see at least one foldable phone at MWC 2019 in a couple of months, and quite possibly more than one. After ZTE’s Axon M showed up quietly at MWC 2018 – and didn’t go anywhere much – it isn’t hard to see that this year we’ll easily see a few more polished concepts down this line.

Let us know what you think about the idea of foldable phones in the comments below.