Why China Dropped Two Flagship Foldables Hours Before Apple Arrives

The China play is already in motion

Huawei and Xiaomi held separate launch events on September 7, yet their moves were clearly coordinated by something other than a shared calendar. Both unveiled new foldable phones — Huawei with a trifold called the Mate XT 2, Xiaomi with a book-style device named the Xiaomi 18 Fold — and both packed them with chips they designed themselves. The timing was deliberate: Apple was expected to announce its first foldable iPhone just two days later, on September 9.

This is not a coincidence. It is a market-share grab played at full volume.

What Huawei and Xiaomi actually launched

Huawei’s Mate XT 2 is a triple-hinge phone that unfolds into a tablet-size screen. It runs on the Kirin 9050 Pro, a chip Huawei says applies its so-called tau rule — a theoretical framework the company has been developing to squeeze more performance out of folded silicon layouts. Pricing starts at 19,999 yuan (about $2,750) and goes to 24,999 yuan (roughly $3,400), placing it firmly in ultra-premium territory.

Pre-orders that opened on September 1 sold out completely. Official sales begin September 12.

Xiaomi’s entry is different in form but similar in ambition. The Xiaomi 18 Fold uses Xiaomi’s own Xring O3 processor and memory from Chinese supplier CXMT, a combination that signals a deliberate push toward supply-chain independence from Samsung and SK Hynix. CEO Lei Jun said the project began two years ago and involved 20 months of research and development. He called it Xiaomi’s most premium smartphone yet.

Both companies are making the same bet: that when Apple enters a market already worth over 100 million cumulative shipments worldwide, the conversation should not begin with Apple’s product alone.

Why the chip story matters more than the hinge story

The headline feature of any foldable is the screen. But the real signal from these launches is the silicon. Huawei and Xiaomi are no longer relying on TSMC or Samsung Foundry for their flagship chips. That shift took years and billions in investment, and both companies are now collecting the payoff.

For English-language readers who have followed the China semiconductor debate, this is the missing frame. The narrative has long been about export controls, sanctions, and catching up to TSMC’s leading-edge nodes. The Mate XT 2 and Xiaomi 18 Fold show a different reality: Chinese firms are building competitive SoCs outside the most restricted supply chains, and they are ready to ship them in flagships.

Huawei’s chief executive Wen Shuqiang acknowledged the cost pressure. “Memory costs rose sharply,” he said at the launch. “Adopting so many new technologies made the cost challenge enormous.” That admission is important — it means the self-reliance push is still expensive, and prices will reflect that in the near term.

Apple’s arrival changes the math for everyone

Counterpoint Research projects Apple’s first foldable iPhone could ship up to 6 million units in its first year, capturing roughly 25% of the global foldable market. Samsung would remain the leader at 38%, but Huawei’s estimated 22% share puts it within striking distance. By 2027, Counterpoint says Apple’s share could reach 40%, driven in part by the sheer size of its installed premium-device base.

If Apple ships at a $2,000–$2,500 price point — as analysts expect — it becomes the first iPhone to exceed $2,000. That price tier is precisely where Huawei and Xiaomi are aiming with these new launches. The competition is not abstract. It is happening in the same bracket, targeting the same buyers.

Counterpoint analyst Ivan Lam told Bloomberg that Apple’s entry could lift demand for all foldables, not just its own. That may sound counterintuitive, but it tracks with past pattern. When a major brand validates a category, early competitors often gain from the attention surge rather than lose from the competition.

Who wins, who loses, and what happens next

Huawei wins immediately in China, where the Mate XT 2 already sold out on pre-order. Its trifold design is currently unique in the market — no other manufacturer has shipped a device with two hinges. That novelty buys time.

Xiaomi wins narrative. By launching a foldable with a self-designed chip and domestically sourced memory, it reinforces its positioning as a premium brand rather than a value brand. That repositioning has been years in the making and these launches accelerate it.

Apple wins the long game. Its foldable is expected to arrive later this month, and whatever form it takes — likely a book-style design similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 with a roughly 5.5-inch folded screen and a 7.8-inch unfolded display — will benefit from an ecosystem moat no Chinese competitor can match today.

Samsung loses relative share in the short term. It remains the market leader, but it is now facing three rivals with new products and stronger local narratives in the two largest Asian markets. Motorola, Honor, Google, Vivo, and OPPO are also reported to be preparing foldable devices, which means the competitive field is widening, not concentrating.

The broader signal

The foldable market is no longer a Samsung story with occasional Chinese imitators. It is becoming a multi-player arena where chip self-sufficiency, display innovation, and ecosystem lock-in are all being tested at once. Huawei and Xiaomi’s simultaneous launches prove that the Chinese companies view Apple’s entry not as a threat to be managed but as an opportunity to define the market before it arrives.

For the rest of the world, the implication is straightforward: the next generation of premium smartphones will not be designed in Cupertino or Seoul alone. They will also be designed in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, on silicon that once seemed impossible to build without access to the world’s most advanced foundries.

The race has changed shape. The question now is who adapts fastest.