Comments provided by Huawei’s Richard Yu suggests he is not a fan of Samsung’s foldable phone solution, the Galaxy Fold. At least, not at a design level.
Yu, in comments given to Business Insider made it clear that Huawei had previously worked on a foldable phone design similar to Samsung’s but it was canned due to it not being good enough.
The CEO of Huawei’s consumer electronics division expanded on this point by stating the company had a number of different designs on the go at the same time but canceled them all due to them not reaching whatever standards the company sought.
Drawing on the fact that Huawei killed off a design that Samsung currently uses (as “it was bad”) is already being interpreted as a dig directly leveled at Samsung and its foldable solution, while at the same helping to explain why Huawei did eventually go with the design it did.
Both Huawei and Samsung unveiled their foldable phone solutions within a week of each other and the two devices are already being compared with one aother on multiple levels. The design in particular has garnered a lot of attention due to the different implementations.
For example, Samsung has opted for the use of two separate displays where one is solely used when the smartphone mode is activated and then a separate display for when the device is unfolded and used in a tablet-like manner.
It is this use of a two-display approach that Yu seems to particularly take issue with after pointing out that two screens “makes the phone too heavy.”
In contrast, Huawei’s solution employs the use of a single display that is used in both the folded and unfolded state. This is also likely to be in part a way to offset against other areas where the Mate X could gain weight increases. For example, the Mate X comes with a larger display in general and a greater capacity battery, compared to the Galaxy Fold.
Of course, it should probably not come as much surprise that a CEO of one company prefers the design of its device than that of another company’s. In this case specifically, Huawei is also in need of providing reasons why its solution is better considering it does cost significantly more. This is even more pertinent considering Samsung’s is not exactly cheap to begin with.
Huawei’s Mate X comes with a retail price of $2,600, compared to Samsung’s option which comes in at $1,980.
Arguably, both designs are prone to vulnerabilities that are unique to their design and whether Huawei or Samsung’s design is ultimately best is unlikely to matter too much during this wave of first-generation products. The prices alone are likely to factor the majority of buyers out of the equation.
Furthermore, we’ll get a much better idea of what both Huawei and Samsung genuinely think of their own (and each other’s) design when the next-generation products come through as this will tell the market whether they have stuck with their original design or changed it to improve the product overall.