Huawei Delays Mate X Foldable Smartphone Following Samsung Debacle

Huawei has delayed the release of its Mate X foldable smartphone following the Samsung debacle earlier this year, reports CNBC.

Samsung's Galaxy Fold X failed spectacularly when reviewed by members of the press ahead of its release in April. Samsung was forced to delay the Fold's release and then ended up canceling pre-orders altogether as it could not deliver the device by the end of May.

Originally expected to arrive in June, Huawei now says the Mate X will be released in September. The company has decided to do extra testing with mobile carriers and developers to make sure their apps work when the device is fully unfolded. A spokesperson says they are being more 'cautious' following the problems with Samsung's Galaxy Fold.


“We don’t want to launch a product to destroy our reputation,” a spokesperson told CNBC.

Notably, the company says it's 'confident' it can deliver the device to consumers despite being on the U.S. Entity List. The Mate X will run Google Android because it was launched before the Huawei was blacklisted.

Finally, Huawei reiterated that it would prefer to stick with Android but said it has its own in-house operating system ready.

“We don’t want to go for our own systems; we still very much like the co-operation with Google in the past few years. If we are forced to do it by ourselves, we are ready. We can do in the next six-to-nine months,” the spokesperson told CNBC.


You can learn more about the Huawei Mate X here. Please follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates.

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