Huawei and Xiaomi’s new foldables raise the stakes for Apple in China

Huawei and Xiaomi launched new premium foldable phones in China on September 7, pairing large folding displays with their own processors. The launches put years of Chinese foldable development in focus ahead of Apple’s anticipated entry into the category.

As reported in The Rundown’s September 8 newsletter, Apple was expected to unveil a foldable on September 9. Huawei and Xiaomi were already presenting their latest devices in a market where folding phones have an established competitive history.

Two approaches to the premium foldable

Huawei’s Mate XT 2 unfolds into a tablet-sized display and carries the company’s Kirin 9050 Pro processor. Its product page describes a second-generation hinge with a gearless linkage mechanism. Reuters reported prices from 19,999 to 24,999 yuan, with sales scheduled to begin September 12.

Xiaomi’s 18 Fold starts at 10,999 yuan. According to SCMP’s account of Lei Jun’s launch presentation, it combines Xiaomi’s XRing O3 processor with CXMT LPDDR6 memory. Sales were scheduled for September 10 at 10 AM.

Reuters also reported that Xiaomi’s display can accommodate three applications side by side. That offers a concrete reason to consider the larger screen, although the reporting does not establish which applications support the arrangement or its limitations.

Huawei enters this round with a substantial position. It accounted for 68% of China’s foldable phone shipments in Q2 2026, according to Smart Analytics Global, cited by Reuters. That estimate measures shipments during one quarter and gives Huawei a clear presence against which a new entrant would compete.

Why it matters

Apple’s prospective entry would bring it into a Chinese market shaped by years of work on folding hardware. Huawei announced the Mate X in February 2019, with a mechanical hinge and an eight-inch unfolded display. Xiaomi’s 2021 interim report records the March 2021 introduction of its MIX FOLD. Those histories give both companies years of experience to draw on as they refine the format.

For Apple, that raises the bar for making a persuasive case to buyers. A folding screen would arrive alongside established alternatives, so the complete experience matters, including how the hinge works, how applications fill the display and whether the extra screen space justifies the price. The incumbents’ head start establishes a competitive baseline without settling which device will deliver the better experience.

These launches also extend the role of premium foldables as showcases for homegrown technology. Xiaomi put its proprietary Surge C1 image processor in the original MIX FOLD in 2021. Its latest announced combination of a main processor designed by Xiaomi and memory from CXMT broadens that strategy. For domestic component suppliers, inclusion in a premium phone offers a visible place to demonstrate their products, though commercial success still depends on the finished device.

The stakes are particularly high for Huawei because U.S. restrictions reach into chip production overseas. In its August 2020 export-control announcement, the Commerce Department described restrictions covering certain foreign-made chips developed or produced using U.S. software or technology. Designing a processor internally therefore leaves important manufacturing questions open. The Kirin chip illustrates Huawei’s investment in its own technology, but does not establish complete supply-chain independence. Xiaomi’s component choices carry no implication that it faces the same restrictions.

For buyers, refinement also has to show up in everyday ownership. Huawei’s product page advertises three-window operation, includes screen-handling guidance and offers discounted inner-screen replacement. Those details make application support, screen care and repair costs practical parts of the purchase decision. At these prices, useful multitasking and manageable ownership costs will help determine how much value the ambitious hardware delivers.