Huawei CEO Richard Yu has confirmed that the company will be showing off a world first – a foldable 5G phone at Mobile World Congress 2019.
Yu made the announcement at a press event in Beijing, which was later uploaded to Huawei’s YouTube channel.
Yu talked up details of the Balong 5000 multi-mode 5G modem, which boasts almost double the download and upload speeds of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X50 modem, and name dropped the forthcoming Kirin 980 chip, both of which are rumoured to power the Huawei P30.
In a classic ‘one more thing’ moment, Yu casually mentioned that:
“The [Balong 5000] will also power our 5G smartphones. Balong 5000 together with Kirin 980, we believe that we will show you an even more amazing 5G smartphone. We look forward to seeing you at Barcelona in February where we will launch the world’s first 5G smartphone with [a] foldable screen.”
It’s likely that this mystery foldable phone, rumours of which have been circulating for a while now, won’t be the Huawei P30, but a different device entirely.
While no more details of the 5G folder were teased, the display on the stage mentions ‘5G smartphones’ plural, so it’s reasonable to assume that we’ll see the Huawei P30 along with Huawei’s new flexible friend.
You can watch the entire show below, but if you want to jump forwards to the specific part where the foldable phone is mentioned, it’s at the 1:11:11 mark, which we’ve kindly timestamped for you here.
What do you think about the concept of foldable phones? Is it the future of mobile or an expensive gimmick? Let us know which way you bend on Twitter @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
