a roadmap close to Samsung and Apple

Huawei has made the Mate X5 official: a folding smartphone, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. This year will not be the year of the big evolution of this folding format. It benefits, at least, from the Kirin 9000S chip with 5G.

Huawei continues to expand in the smartphone market, despite the American embargoes which are disrupting its activities. With the recent announcement of the Mate 60 Pro, the Chinese giant has once again demonstrated its ability to evolve. Today, it’s the Mate X5’s turn to reveal itself.

A strategy of “small steps” adopted

Huawei, like other manufacturers before it, has opted for a strategy that we could describe as “small steps”. Indeed, going from Mate X3 to Mate X5, the changes, although present, do not seem revolutionary.

The Kirin 9000S SoC home is there, the RAM has been slightly increased, the battery has been increased to reach 5,060 mAh (compared to 4,800 mAh previously), and consumers will have the choice among five new colors. Additionally, the addition of Kunlun 2.0 glass protection provides added robustness to the smartphone screen.

This method, consisting of making minor changes from one year to the next, has already been successfully tested by major players like Apple or Samsung (with the Galaxy Z Fold 5). These minor modifications make it possible to maintain consumer interest while maintaining major innovation cycles every two to three years.

However, it is interesting to note that the Mate X5’s Kirin 9000S proves superior to Mate X3’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 4G. The ability to exploit 5G is a major asset for Huawei, which, due to the American embargo, had not been able to integrate the 5G model of the Snapdragon into its previous models.

Marketing uncertainties

The crucial question remains whether this folding smartphone will be available outside Chinese borders (without Google services, obviously). Remember that it runs on HarmonyOS 4.0, which remains for the moment a fork of Android (with the advantage of running Android apps).

The details of its marketing in China also remain unclear, including the price.

However, with the new Kirin chip, Huawei seems to be gaining new momentum, partly supported by Chinese government decisions. Recall that nearly 100 million Chinese working for the state have been banned from using an iPhone, which offers Huawei a golden opportunity to consolidate its customer base in its domestic country.