Huawei just lost a ton of money on its foldable smartphone
There’s no denying the possibilities of foldable phones. After all, being able to have a device that can transform from phone to tablet and back again is a pretty awesome idea, but in the case of Huawei, it seems to have been a rather pricey gamble, especially since it is a gamble that they lost.
According to Yu Chengdong, CEO of Consumer BG at Huawei Technologies, it seems that Huawei has lost about $60 million ever since the release of the Huawei Mate Xs. Yu claims that due to the cost that it takes to produce the device, it has cost Huawei more to produce than they make from selling it.
This seems to suggest that with the Mate Xs, Huawei’s margins are pretty thin. It is possible that Huawei was never really intending for it to be a massive seller like its P-series and Mate-series, and rather it was done to test the market. Regardless, it does seem like a pretty expensive lesson.
The Mate X was revealed last year but due to numerous delays, it did not actually get released until late November 2019. Even then, it was a limited release only for China. The company has since followed up with the Huawei Mate Xs which launched earlier this year which featured improvements in its overall construction to make it more durable.
Source: GSMArena