Huawei held a private demo of a foldable 5G
prototype for Korean carriers, according to ETNews. A senior government
official confirmed Huawei is working on a flexible product with next-gen
network support. The Korean news agency said Huawei’s plans are to introduce
the phone at MWC 2019.
Huawei is pretty much ready with the product,
according to the report, with the official saying he was surprised how
developed the device is. When the 5G phone is unfolded, it has 8” screen, while
folded it goes down to 5”, which is slightly larger than the Samsung prototype
of 4.6” and 7.3” diagonals. The manufacturer of the screen is BOE, a company
with HQ in Beijing and R&D centers around the world.
Although the Chinese manufacture pitched its idea to
telecom representatives and government officials, no one from Huawei Korea
confirmed if the device will actually make it to the retail shelves in the
Asian country.
The final step before the phone becomes the first 5G
bendable smartphone is testing the next-gen speeds. When the commercialization
of 5G is ready to begin, Huawei will launch the device. For now only the United States is
ready to flip the switch on the new networks, but given the relationship
between Chinese companies and the White House officials, the foldable device is
more likely to be on sale first in Europe, around the second half of 2018.
