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Huawei launches the Pocket S, a budget foldable phone TechNode

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Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei introduced the Pocket S, a budget flip-style foldable phone in China on Wednesday. The phone has a lower price range than other foldable phones, which are priced between 5,988 RMB to 7,488 RMB ($819 to $1,025).

Why is this important: Huawei has so far dominated the foldable phone market in China. The new Pocket S further lowers the entry price of a foldable phone, making it a serious competitor to the Samsung Z Flip series.

  • Huawei is also looking to appeal to a wider audience with the product, and some phone cases have been specifically designed to appeal to female users, whose tight-fitting garments may not have enough pocket space to hold a traditional smartphone.
  • Liu added that the old Huawei Pocket P50 is the model with the best sales of 510,000 units in the first three quarters in China. The release of Pocket S further reduced the entry of foldable phones, and he expected a larger market share of flip-style foldable phones.

Details: The Huawei Pocket S is a cheaper version of the Pocket P50, sharing a similar core experience but compromising key specs like processor and cameras.

  • The phone sports a 6.9-inch OLED display and its body measures 87.3 x 75.5 x 15.2 mm when folded (half of a regular smartphone) and 170 x 75 .5 x 7.2 mm when unfolded. The main screen is in 21:9 aspect ratio, with a refresh rate of 120Hz.
  • It also has a mini screen on the lid next to the cameras to show essential information, which is 1.04 inches. Its resolution is 340 x 340 pixels with a 328 PPI.
  • Huawei has adopted a new hinge design for the phone, which is firmer and more durable, claiming a bend count of over 400,000.
  • It has a 4000mAh battery and supports 40W fast charging. Huawei claims that the phone can be charged to 52% in 20 minutes.
  • Unlike the Pocket P50, the model has a dual camera design and comes with a new RYYB (Red, Yellow, Yellow, Blue) sensor, like the Mate 50 series. With the new sensor, the camera can absorb 40% more light, according to Huawei.
  • The processor is a major compromise as the Pocket S is equipped with a mid-range Qualcomm 778G 4G chipset. Huawei has applied a new flexible graphene material cooling technology to achieve more CPU performance.
  • The Pocket S comes with a fingerprint sensor on the power button for biometric authentication.
  • The phone is available in four colors and three storage volume options: 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB. All versions have 8 GB of RAM. The first two storage options will be available from November 10, and the 512GB version will launch in December.

The context: Foldable phone shipments in China saw a strong year-on-year increase of 246% in the third quarter of 2022 to reach 1 million units. Huawei is China’s top foldable phone supplier and shipped 44.9% (in Chinese) of units in the country in Q3 2022, according to IDC.

  • In the first half of this year, Huawei accounted for 16% of the global foldable phone market. Samsung led the global market with a 62% share, according to Counterpoint Research.
  • Compared to those with larger screens, flip-style foldable phones have lower bulk and weight and target users who prefer smaller phones or want an affordable foldable phone, said CINNO Research analyst Louis Liu at TechNode.

Ward Zhou is a technical journalist based in Shanghai. It covers stories about the digital content industry, hardware, and all things geek. Contact him through ward.zhou[a]technode.com or Twitter @zhounanyu. More titles from Ward Zhou

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