Foldable smartphones and 5G support are the trends of 2019. Huawei may become the first manufacturer to combine the two, according to an announcement from the CEO.
Huawei Foldable 5G smartphone is coming
The first folding smartphone with 5G support will be presented next month by Huawei, according to CEO Richard Yu. The Chinese manufacturer today unveiled its first 5G modem for smartphones, and says that it will soon be used in its own smartphone. At the Mobile World Congress 2019, at the end of February in Barcelona, the new device will be unveiled.
The 5G support comes from the Balong 5000 chipset, a 5G modem developed by Huawei itself. The device also receives a Kirin 980 chip, which is used in the Huawei Mate 20 and Honor View 20. Further specifications and details will only be heard next month.
Not the Huawei P30
The new device is probably not the direct successor of the Huawei P20. Foldable screens and 5G chips are still quite pricey and are only produced to a limited extent. According to sources, the Huawei P30 is not shown until the end of March, together with the P30 Pro and P30 Lite. These devices get an improved camera and smoother hardware, but still have to do without 5G support.
You can probably assume that it will be a very expensive smartphone. Recently all the prices leaked from the Galaxy F, the first folding smartphone from Samsung. It is expected to cost almost 2000 euros (approx. N820,000).
2019 will be an important year for 5G. In addition to Huawei, Samsung, OnePlus, LG, Xiaomi and other large companies are also introducing their first 5G smartphones in the coming months. That while the faster mobile internet is nowhere near available. In Nigeria, providers do not expect to offer a 5G network until 2020 at the earliest. The chances are that the new Huawei device will not be sold in Nigeria yet.
