Huawei Logs 3 Million Foldable Phone Orders Before Apple Launch

Huawei’s foldable smartphone has logged millions of orders, launching ahead of Apple’s AI rollout.

As of Monday (Sept. 9) morning, the Chinese company’s website showed 3.1 million customers had pre-ordered the trifold phone.

A report by CNBC notes that Huawei had begun pre-orders of the phone Saturday (Sept 7), getting a jump on Apple’s planned launch of the iPhone 16 by more than two days.

Huawei had said it plans to officially launch the phone on Tuesday (Sept. 10), hours after the debut of the new iPhone — featuring Apple’s artificial intelligence (AI) offerings — slated for the early morning hours in Beijing.

Richard Yu, Huawei’s consumer group chief, announced the launch on social media platform Weibo, describing the company spending five years to create what is said to be the world’s first commercial-ready smartphone that folds twice, and what Yu called “an epoch-making product.”

The CNBC report cites data from Canalys showing that Apple dropped from the list of China’s top five smartphone vendors in the second quarter of the year, marking the first time that Chinese companies were in all five spots.

Huawei came in fourth place by market share, shipping 10.6 million phones in the quarter. While the analysis did not include shipments beyond the top five vendors, the CNBC report says that Apple shipped 10 million phones in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, experts interviewed by PYMNTS recently said Apple Intelligence — no matter the speed of its rollout — could ultimately transform the digital commerce landscape.

“Apple’s AI integration could bring us closer to the concept of a true AI assistant — something that’s portable, convenient and seamlessly integrated into our daily lives,” Ryan Waite, vice president of public affairs at Think Big, told PYMNTS last month. “While we’ve seen attempts at this with devices like Rabbit, they haven’t fully delivered on the promise.”

The efforts involve more than just shopping, PYMNTS wrote, noting that Apple’s mobile wallet is also expected to undergo its own AI makeover.

“There’s a huge opportunity for Apple to change consumer spending behavior and take its mobile wallet to the next level by integrating it into its core AI strategy,” Darryl Cumming, director of product management at payments solutions company NMI, told PYMNTS. “OpenAI is only the beginning.”

Combining AI with Apple Pay could usher in more intuitive, context-aware financial experiences, that report added.

“We should expect consumer choices in the Apple universe to be amplified and channeled into more App Store purchases and commerce personalization,” Cumming added.