*

Huawei's Mate XT garners over 3.3 million pre-orders in

China

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Analysts say new model may not significantly impact

Samsung and

Apple ( AAPL )

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Huawei leads global foldable smartphone market with 27.5%

share

By David Kirton

SHENZHEN, China, Sept 10 (Reuters) - China's Huawei

Technologies unveils a three-way foldable phone on

Tuesday, as it seeks to widen its lead over Apple ( AAPL ) in

the world's biggest smartphone market with a new form factor

that has gained popularity in the China market.

Just hours after Apple ( AAPL ) unveiled its latest iPhone model,

Huawei is holding a launch event of the new Z-shaped smartphone

Mate XT which was displayed on its flagship e-commerce stores in

mainland China a day earlier.

Huawei's website showed on Tuesday that it had garnered more

than 3.3 million pre-orders, for which no deposit is required,

for the new smartphone.

By comparison, the entire global market for foldable phones

was around 4 million units in the second quarter, according to

research firm IDC.

The latest launch, which follows a series of successful

smartphone debuts since last year, underscores Huawei's ability

to navigate U.S. sanctions and solidifies its position against

Apple ( AAPL ) in China.

Huawei already has two-way foldable phones in its lineup and

their strong sales in China helped it overtake Samsung

Electronics ( SSNLF ) this year as the biggest vendor of such

phones globally.

But the hefty price tag and limited quantity are likely to

make the new model more of a symbol of Huawei's tech prowess

than a major sales driver, analysts said.

"The upcoming Huawei products are not expected to

significantly impact Samsung and Apple's ( AAPL ) businesses in terms of

product quantity," said Jene Park, an analyst at research firm

Counterpoint.

"There is a limit to the quantity of products supplied.

However, there may be some impact on sales in certain Chinese

markets."

The foldable smartphone market grew 57% year-on-year in the

second quarter with 3.9 million units shipped, largely as

Chinese smartphone makers pushed into overseas markets,

according to consultancy IDC.

That still remains just 1.3% of the wider smartphone market,

with 292.2 million smartphones shipped in the second quarter,

IDC said.

"The average consumer still has limited knowledge about

them, not to mention the benefits and value of the products,"

said Will Wong, a senior researcher with IDC.

High prices of such models remain another barrier. While the

new model's price tag is unknown, last year's Mate X5 still

retails for over 10,000 yuan ($1,406) domestically, almost twice

as much as a new iPhone 15.

Overcoming issues such as screen wrinkles and reduced

durability due to the use of more hinges will also be important

for foldables' increasing usage, said Park.

Huawei ranked as the world's biggest foldable smartphone

seller in the second quarter with a 27.5% market share, ahead of

South Korea's Samsung, with 16.4%, according to IDC.

That share rises to 42% in China's home market, ahead of Vivo

and former Huawei unit Honor, which it spun off under pressure

from U.S. sanctions in 2020.

In the broader smartphone market in China, Apple's ( AAPL ) ranking fell

from third to sixth place in the second quarter, as Huawei

emerged as the third-largest vendor on the back of strong sales

of its latest smartphones.

($1 = 7.1105 Chinese yuan renminbi)