While some manufacturers are racing to deliver the first mainstream smartphone with a foldable display, Huawei is setting the bar even higher. The company has just sent out invitations to a February 24th press event in Barcelona, teasing its first foldable-display smartphone. The image below doesn’t appear to reveal much at first glance, but if you take a closer look, the v-shape isn’t a corner of a device but rather the flexible hinge which allows the screen to fold in the middle.
The event invitation does not mention 5G or explicitly reveal that the press event will be centered around the company’s foldable display smartphone, but Huawei CEO Richard Yu has already stated that “We look forward to seeing you in Barcelona in February, where we will launch the world’s first 5G smartphone with foldable screen,” at a Huawei investor meeting in Beijing last week.
Come with us to explore #ConnectingTheFuture LIVE from #MWC @GSMA. Are you ready to reveal the unprecedented? #HuaweiMWC #MWC2019 pic.twitter.com/ErPD7eKMh1
— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) February 1, 2019
We were expecting 2019 to be the year of 5G, but it looks like foldable display smartphones will be the talk of the town instead. ZTE, Samsung, Oppo and even Xiaomi have foldable display smartphones which are expected to be unveiled within the next month or two. There’s no guarantee that any of these devices will be any good, but we do know that all these companies will be charging at least $1,600 for the privilege of being one of the first to own a smartphone with a foldable display.
Personally, I’ll be waiting for Lenovo to bring the rumored MOTO RAZR foldable display device to market before handing over any of my hard-earned cash.