Huawei’s new and improved foldable phone, the Mate Xs, started “presales” on Wednesday with a notable discount compared with other countries. The Mate Xs was unveiled on Monday with prices in Europe starting at €2,499 (about US$2,725). But on Chinese ecommerce platforms like JD.com and Alibaba’s Tmall, it’s selling for 16,999 yuan (US$2,415). The presale period lets people sign up to be notified when the phone goes on sale on March 5th.
(Abacus is a unit of South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba.)
The 5G-enabled Mate Xs was launched during a live-streamed event in Barcelona after this year’s Mobile World Congress was canceled over coronavirus fears. Huawei says the Xs has a better display and improved hinge over the original that was unveiled a year ago. It will not, however, come with Google apps since US companies are currently barred from supplying the Chinese tech giant without a license. Google also warned that sideloading its apps on Huawei handsets is a security risk.
Numbers from JD and Huawei’s Vmall show that a day after presales began, more than 480,000 people had signed up to be notified about the Mate Xs. That’s despite Huawei drawing criticism on Weibo this week for making a geopolitical blunder during its presentation in Barcelona.