Yesterday we posted a report titled “Ahead of Apple’s iPhone 16 event, Huawei reveals that they’ve already racked-up 3 million Pre-Orders for their new Tri-Fold Mate XT Phone.” While the pre-orders were impressive, sales are likely drop off with its high price of $2,800+.  

Like the iPhone 16, Huawei’s Mate XT will also come with artificial intelligence features, such as text translation and cloud-based content generation, according to Tuesday’s presentation. Huawei’s CEO Richard Yu told CNBC: “We have spent five years striving for this.”

The Mate XT comes in red and black, in three storage options with prices ranging from 19,999 yuan ($2,809) to 23,999 yuan ($3,371). The device is 3.6 millimeters thick when unfolded, with a 10.2-inch screen.

The news that Huawei achieved such advanced technology helped bolster its sales in China, despite lackluster consumer spending overall. For more, read the full CNBC report.

BNN Bloomberg added that IDC analyst Arthur Guo said ahead of Huawei’s event that “It’ll be hard for trifold products to become a major growth engine for the foldable market given the high technical requirements, low yields, high prices and limited participants. Other phone makers are starting to decelerate investment in foldables, waiting for Apple to enter the fray and use its ‘strong appeal’ to attract consumers to the category.”

For Huawei, the prize may be bigger than just sales. Huawei has become a de facto symbol of national pride, after developing homemade chips that US trade sanctions were meant to prevent, and that patriotism has shown up in some of its bumper sales over the past year.

The company’s decision to set its trifold debut mere hours after Apple’s worldwide introduction of the iPhone 16 signals the company wants to own the innovation crown — at home in China, at least — and not allow Apple its usual honeymoon period after a new launch.