Text / cuckoo

Source: Online insight (ID: lxinsight)

Under the white fluorescent light, Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's consumer business, opened the first press conference in 2021 with his new folding screen mobile phone mate x2.

Compared with the previous two generations of products, mate x2 adopts a folding design, with an external screen size of 6.45 inches, an internal screen of 8 inches after opening, and a 90hz refresh rate for both internal and external screens.

Huawei mate X2, tuyuan Huawei press conference

It is worth noting that mate X2 is equipped with Huawei Qilin 9000 chip, and will be the first batch of smart phones adapted to Hongmeng operating system. In other words, whether in terms of hardware or software, mate X2 is a smart phone independently developed by Huawei.

This time, the price of Huawei mate x2 also set a new record. The price of the 256gb version is 17999 yuan, 1000 yuan higher than that of the previous two generations, while the price of the 512gb version is 18999 yuan.

The price of Huawei mate x2 has also caused many controversies. The high price of Huawei mate x2 has been jokingly called a new financial product by many people. The former two generations of folding mobile phones are precisely because of high price, small supply and bull grabbing, resulting in thousands or even tens of thousands of profits from the reselling of a folding mobile phone.

It can be predicted that the difficulty of rushing to buy mate x2 will be further increased, and the situation of one machine hard to find has already appeared.

Despite the high price of mate X2, there are millions of people snapping up. According to online insight, the number of appointments for mate x2 on Huawei mall's official website has reached 3 million. Some e-commerce platform businesses have marked the price of 20000 yuan, and some even marked the price of nearly 50000 yuan.

The number of Huawei mall booking mate X2 is shown in the official website of Huawei mall

At this time point, Huawei's launch of mate X2 is not only a competition in the market, but also represents Huawei's exploration in high-end models, including its determination to make mobile phones and its R & D strength.

Water drop hinge, seamless closure,

How many black technologies does mate x2 have?

On the eve of the press conference, Huawei's first new year model was hotly discussed, and the press conference did not live up to the expectations of the outside world.

Huawei mate x2 hardware configuration, tuyuan Huawei press conference

This chip can be said to keep pace with the current Qualcomm snapdragon 888 and apple A14, which represent the latest technology of the current 5nm chip. However, due to the design of Huawei Hisilicon and the US supply blockade, the Kirin 9000 market is in short supply, and its value has also increased.

On the screen, Huawei has also made important changes this time, from the original folding design to the folding design, and continues to use BOE's folding OLED panel. The screen supports P3 wide color gamut. The inner screen is designed with a ratio of 8:7.1, and the outer screen is designed with a ratio of 21:9.

At the same time, Huawei's mate x2 screen adopts the design of double rotating water drop hinge. Carbon fiber composite material and high-strength steel are selected to ensure the strength. According to Huawei, the strength of this design material is higher than that of B-pillar of safety grade car.

Through the multi-dimensional phase control linkage mechanism, a water drop type screen space can be formed at the screen bend, which can not only make Huawei mate x2 achieve seamless closure, but also ensure the flat screen after expansion.

The second is the magnetically controlled nano optical film. This new film is pasted on the inner screen of Huawei mate x2. The data parameters show that the reflective rate of this optical film is less than 1.5%, while the reflectivity of ordinary folding machines is more than 5%, which has a good improvement for the screen viewing experience.

In terms of photography, Huawei mate X2 is equipped with 1 / 1.28 inch ryyb sensor, which is said to be the largest sensor in the industry. It will also bring good improvement to the camera performance. The specific parameters are as follows: 50 megapixel main camera, 8 megapixel periscope lens, 12 megapixel long focus lens, and all three lenses support OIS optical anti shake.

In terms of battery configuration, mate X2 is standard, equipped with 4500ma battery, and supports 55W fast charging. According to Huawei's official introduction, Huawei mate x2 can fill 80% of the power in half an hour. According to the evaluation of some digital bloggers, its endurance level is similar to Huawei mate 40 pro in general.

On the adaptation of folding screens, Yu Chengdong said that he has cooperated with the R & D and design personnel of major platforms. At present, top 100 applications are 100% adapted to large screens, top 1000 applications are 95% adapted to large screens, and top 3000 applications are 80% adapted to large screens.

Matching proportion of Huawei folding machine

At the same time, Yu Chengdong announced that starting from April this year, Huawei's flagship mobile phones can be upgraded to harmonyos (Hongmeng OS), and Huawei mate x2 will be the first to be equipped with Hongmeng OS.

In general, Huawei mate x2 has brought many bright spots compared with the previous two generations of folding machines, especially focusing on the problems of the previous two generations of crease damage, continued voyage and poor protection in design.

However, the real rival of Huawei mate X2 is Samsung's Galaxy fold2.

From many product data, Huawei and Samsung have little difference in hardware configuration, but there are still disadvantages on the screen. Samsung's folding machine uses ultra-thin flexible glass, while Huawei's mate x2 still uses the CPI film material of Samsung in the early generation of folding machine, so the screen performance is not superior.

In terms of software ecology, Huawei mate x2 has already supported intelligent multi window mode and multithreaded task work, which is similar to Samsung Galaxy fold2. However, the actual experience still needs follow-up inspection.

Supply is limited, one machine is hard to get

Huawei mate X2, as the third generation of folding screen mobile phone, may return to the situation that one machine is hard to get.

Before that, the launch of mate X and mate XS, Huawei's first and second generation folding screen mobile phones, caused a big rush to buy. Due to the former two generations of folding machine products are still in the grinding period, product volume is small, coupled with the market response, once the market speculation out of print.

At the beginning of March 2020, only in the past five days has Huawei made an appointment for mate XS, and the number of appointments for Huawei mall, Jingdong, tmall and Suning e-buy has exceeded 1.2 million.

Some scalpers even raise the price by six times. According to the sales price of some second-hand platforms, Huawei mate XS, which was originally priced at more than 10000 yuan, has even been fired to more than 60000 yuan. Now, with the release of Huawei mate X2, the second-hand price of the first two generations of folding machines has declined. However, judging from the selling price of Jingdong, the price of the first two generations of folding machines is still as high as 20000 yuan, which is higher than its original price of 16999 yuan.

Price of Huawei mate XS in Jingdong

It can be predicted that Huawei mate x2 will also usher in a new round of rush buying.

According to the number of reservations in Huawei's official mall, by the time of publication, the number of reservations for Huawei mate x2 had reached 3 million.

According to Tencent shenzhen.com, relevant mobile phone supply chain sources said that Huawei has placed about 200000 orders for mate x2 in the supply chain, which is the output of mate x2 in the short term. However, considering the limited number of Kirin 9000 chips, many people in the industry expect that the final production of mate x2 folding screen mobile phones will be about hundreds of thousands.

It can be seen that under the pressure of the supply chain, the shipment volume of mate x2 may be further reduced, and it will be more difficult for users to seize this new folding machine, and at the same time, they need to pay a higher price.

Even mobile phone dealers will pay a higher price than the official price. A Zhongguancun mobile phone seller said in an interview with Tencent that high-level dealers have taken away most of the profits. Previously, Huawei's mate x folding screen mobile phones were able to sell for 70000 yuan, and the purchase price may be more than 60000 yuan or 70000 yuan.

In the past period of time, the news of the sale of Huawei's P-Series and M-series mobile phones spread like wildfire. The market has raised a big discussion about Huawei's divestiture of mobile phone business, which has also shaken Huawei's suppliers and dealers.

From Huawei's insistence on launching folding mobile phones, it is also showing its determination to mobile phone business.

According to the information released at present, Huawei folding mobile phone is equipped with Kirin 9000 processor. From the market point of view, such a scarce chip will greatly enhance the value of Huawei folding machine.

Huawei mate x2 double rotating water drop hinge design, tuyuan Huawei press conference

However, according to the feedback from the previous two generations of folding machines, the evaluation of Huawei's folding machine is different, and the novel design of the folding machine makes people shine. However, in reality, there are many deficiencies in the use experience, performance and ecology of Huawei's folding machine. Whether Huawei's folding machine can be recognized by consumers still needs market test.

Folding screen mobile phone is difficult to popularize in a short time

According to the latest research report released by strategy analytics, a third-party research organization, the global shipment of foldable smartphones will grow from less than 1 million in 2019 to 100 million in 2025.

Strategy analytics folding machine trend forecast

However, it is still too early to discuss the market popularization of Huawei folding machine at this stage. At present, there are still many immature places for folding machine.

First of all, the folding machine still has difficulties in technical difficulty, especially the durability of folding screen, hinge and rotating shaft is still a problem. Compared with the current OLED full screen mobile phone, the OLED structure design of folding screen is more complex, and the material performance requirements are higher, which also leads to the low yield of folding mobile phone.

Folding machine is still a long way away from the real popularization of the market, and the technical factors that determine its cost, especially the screen cost, still need to be reduced.

Omdia, a research organization, also said that the main challenge for the foldable OLED market is the reliability of displays, specifically the case, touch sensors and polarizers.

According to 36 krypton, some people in the mobile phone industry said that due to the complex process of folding screen, the yield of folding screen is very low, far less than 20%. Samsung folding machine mass production, but also rely on a large number of shop as the basis.

It can be said that whether it is hardware or software, the experience of folding mobile phone has not yet reached a mature stage.

For this reason, at the mate x2 launch, Huawei also upgraded the previous smart split screen to smart multi window, which can preview floating window, single application multi task, suspension storage and other operations, making full use of the 8-inch screen.

Huawei smart multi window task display, tuyuan Huawei press conference

Folding mobile phones are becoming more and more flat. With the cooperation between Huawei and other major platforms, the application adaptation problem of folding screen may be further improved.

It can be seen that only by improving the yield of folding screen, improving the complex process, and further reducing the cost of materials, can it be possible to expand the production and let more consumers buy folding mobile phones.

At present, the folding technologies of Xiaomi, oppo and vivo have been exposed. According to foreign media teme, glory will also launch magic x on folding phones, which is quite similar to Huawei mate X Series folding machines.

The development of folding mobile phone is also exploring many possibilities of mobile phone form. As far as the future evolution trend of mobile phone is concerned, folding mobile phone, cloud mobile phone and even full screen mobile phone all represent the possibility of future mobile phone form, and domestic major mobile phone brands are not willing to miss these trends.

Although the performance of folding mobile phone in the market is not really popular, the mobile phone industry reform and technological dividend brought by folding mobile phone do exist.

For Huawei, folding mobile phone is not only a comprehensive display of its own strength, but also shows that it attaches importance to consumer business.

Huawei's current supply chain dilemma has not been solved, and the overall shipment volume is declining. In this case, focusing on folding machines with high unit price and limited quantity may be the best choice.