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Samsung senior vice-president of product marketing Justin Denison speaks on stage about the new foldable phone during the Samsung Unpacked product launch event in San Francisco, California on February 20, 2019. Photo: AFP

Think US$1,000 iPhones are expensive? Get ready for US$2,000 foldable smartphones

  • The first of these new premium offerings, unveiled at the MWC trade show, will begin sales from the end of April

Get ready for the era of US$2,000 smartphones.

Just months after Apple’s lacklustre iPhone sales in China were blamed on their thousand-dollar price tags, Huawei smashed the record with its 5G-ready foldable Mate X model retailing at 2,299 euros (US$2,600), while Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Fold will start from US$1,980.

Smartphone vendors are offering models that are now powerful and big enough to challenge personal computers in functionality, with foldable phones being touted as a laptop alternative and with a price tag to match. The first of these new premium offerings, unveiled at the MWC trade show, formerly known as Mobile World Congress, will begin sales from the end of April.

Many consumers are suffering from sticker shock, going by comments on social media. Huawei’s Mate X has attracted many comments online from Chinese consumers who said that the US$2,600 price tag is unaffordable. The average monthly salary of white collar workers across 37 major Chinese cities is about US$1,200 as of June 2018, according to a report by recruiting firm Zhilian Zhaopin.

“It took our engineers three years to make the hinge in action for the seamless folding experience,” Huawei’s mobile chief Richard Yu Chengdong said in Barcelona after the official price of the Mate X was announced, explaining why the price cannot come down.

Samsung senior vice-president of product marketing Justin Denison speaks on stage about the new foldable phone during the Samsung Unpacked product launch event in San Francisco, California on February 20, 2019. Photo: AFP

The line between PC, tablet and smartphone would likely blur further with this new class of super-premium phones. This may have the biggest impact on laptop and desktop sales. Worldwide PC shipments fell 1.3 per cent to 259.4 million units in 2018, according to Gartner, the seventh consecutive year of decline.

Unlike the earlier generation of flip phones or folding phones like the Nokia Communicator, the new generation of foldable phones can fold like a wallet and fold out on its long edge into something like a mini-tablet. Royole, a Chinese technology unicorn that makes the world’s thinnest full-colour flexible display, unveiled a foldable smartphone in November called “FlexPai” with a top-end model retailing for 12,999 yuan.

Still, foldable phones may need some time to gain in popularity given the likely production shortages and high costs, according to Zaker Li, a Shenzhen-based senior research analyst at IHS Markit.

“The current pricing of foldable devices is outrageous and only targets a small group of consumers,” Li said. “I believe many people want to have one, but we are more concerned with how many people will eventually pay to have it.”

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