Move over iPhone 17 – Huawei's second tri-fold could launch in the same week

There's a lot happening in smartphone launches right now, with Google preparing the Pixel 10 and Apple gearing up for the iPhone 17 launch. Now it looks like Huawei is going to inject itself into the middle of what's affectionately called Techtember.

Huawei was the first company to come up with a real, tangible, tri-fold phone. The Huawei Mate XT used one folding panel to stretch across three different screen options – slightly different to the approach expected from Samsung's tri-fold phone, which is thought to have a separate internal and external display.

New information from a leaking on Weibo (via Android Headlines) suggests that Huawei will be announcing the Mate XT 2 on 10 September. If rumours are correct, this will be the day after the announcement of the iPhone 17.

That might prove a distraction in the aftermath of Apple's launch, as headlines switch over to the latest offering from Chinese giants Huawei. While that might impact Apple's launch in China, Huawei's limited availability could ensure it doesn’t have a huge impact across the rest of the world.

After all, the Huawei Mate XT 2 is distinctly different to Apple's offering and a folding iPhone isn't expected for a number of years.

What to expect from the Huawei Mate XT 2

Huawei, however, is nothing if not an innovator. The company was quite the disruptor through the late 2010s, pushing bigger batteries, faster charging, slimmer designs and more aggressive cameras. It's impossible to look at a modern smartphone and not see the impact that Huawei had.

That it's preparing to launch a second-generation multi-pane folding phone is also significant. Just as Samsung has dominated much of the folding phone market, Huawei was right there at the beginning too, with the Huawei Mate X in 2019.

The Huawei Mate XT 2 is said to come with 5G and offer satellite communication. Huawei has offered satellite functions in China via the BeiDou satellite network on a number of handsets, but there's the suggestion that it will use the Tiantong satellite system for communication.

Elsewhere the Mate XT 2 is said to use the Kirin 9020, which powered the company's flagship Mate 70 devices, while it's said there's a 50-megapixel main camera with variable aperture.

Building on the camera experience, there could also be a new periscope telephoto camera, according to details from Digital Chat Station on Weibo.

The availability of the Huawei Mate XT 2 is expected to be limited to China, but we're sure that this new folding phone will be packed full of innovation and excitement.