When we were shown foldable smartphones a year ago, we were very happy, thinking that now we will heal. But the first impression did not go further. Well, foldable smartphones would still cost normal money. But at a price of more than two thousand dollars, you expect them to at least work and not break. Manufacturers do not benefit from this situation either. For example, Huawei this year launched the second generation of its foldable Mate X on sale. Now it became clear that even with a price tag of 200,000 rubles in Russia, the company still loses money on it. And now we know exactly how much money she is losing on this device.
The smartphone is good, but the price …
How much is Huawei Mate Xs
Today it is a smartphone Huawei that is the most expensive among its kind. Its price in Russia is 200,000 rubles. This is a lot, not only for a regular smartphone, but even for a folding one.
For comparison, Samsung Galaxy Fold can be bought for 137,000 rubles, and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip – for 110,000 rubles. The difference is too significant to be overlooked. You can buy the Fold, and take the top Huawei Mate 30 Pro for change. This is for understanding the price difference.
Huawei Mate Xs is a real financial problem
What do you think, is $ 60 million a big sum? On the scale of any construction site of the century, probably not, but for the ordinary mind this is a lot. Mate Xs loses about so much Huawei on sales.
Consumer Products Group CEO Huawei Richard Yu told reporters in China that the company lost between $ 60 million and $ 70 million despite the Mate XS retailing at 16,999 yuan (roughly $ 2,408). And even the fact that the phone is in high demand does not help. This suggests that the company is ready to incur losses in order to stimulate demand for foldable smartphones.
'After the cost of the folding screen is reduced, it will be possible to make a profit. While its cost is high and the entire smartphone is also too expensive, 'said Richard Yu.
Perhaps this is how the company is trying to stimulate production and improve technology. If few foldable smartphones are produced, it will be difficult to hone the production process, gain experience and understand where and what you can save on.
An additional plus of a large number of sales is the feedback that users will give. Including when they will contact the service for warranty repair.
The fact that the company is trading at a loss is a promising investment. Over time, it could make Huawei a leader in foldable smartphones.
How much does Huawei Mate Xs cost to manufacture
The same Richard Yu talked about when foldable smartphones will cost like regular ones. He named the approximate timeframe and stressed that in order to reduce the price, one must first recoup the huge sums that were spent on the development of new technologies.
Richard Yu with Huawei Mate X.
He did not name the exact cost of production and development, but one can imagine it. While companies normally spend billions of dollars on development per year, inventing something really new costs a lot more.
But now we have received an answer to how much the company earns from its clamshell. It turns out that she only loses.
When the foldable smartphone was introduced Huawei
The first Huawei Mate X was shown at the MWC 2019. Then I was lucky and I was able to touch this smartphone as one of the first journalists. I was even able to shoot a short video about him. To be honest, Huawei I was very impressed with the Mate X and was scary but fun to bend it the first time.
Much has changed since then. The company could not launch this gadget on sale in any way, they imposed sanctions on it, other models came out, but there was still no X. Then he appeared and somehow very quickly followed Huawei Mate Xs. Which became a mystery for many, because there were not so many changes.
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Should you buy a foldable phone
On my own behalf, I would say that you shouldn't give up everything and run after a novelty yet. I've already talked about the pros and cons of buying a foldable smartphone. Of course, everyone will decide for themselves, but I'll wait.
Perhaps very soon we will see a Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 or something similar, but with a good display and sufficient performance. If such a moment comes, then it will be possible to talk about buying.
I said exactly “if it comes”, as this may not happen and foldable smartphones may become a dead end branch. Something like this happened with the outgoing cameras. But they didn't spend as much money on the development of driving cameras as they did on folding smartphones.