Daily Authority: ???? New outwards foldable

???? Good morning! Happy Earth Day! Kiss a tree, turn off a light bulb, dim your TV a little, and, hardest of all: try and keep your plants alive!

Huawei foldable

Huawei’s been as close to Samsung as any major manufacturer in releasing foldable smartphones, just a step or two behind.

Now, Huawei is back at it again, announcing a launch date for April 28 for the Mate XS 2, and what looks like the return of the outside-folding foldable. It’s been awhile!

• Huawei first put out its out-folding Huawei Mate X as just the second foldable from a major manufacturer, going with the alternative out-folding design versus the inner-folding approach.
• That was followed up by the Mate XS in the same style back in 2020, again aiming to avoid needing an outer screen and sticking with using one screen in both folded and unfolded options.
• And then Huawei went for something more conventional by copying Samsung’s in-folding, book-style design for the Mate X2, which was a 2021 release.
• Another conventional style came with the P50 Pocket, the clamshell much like the Galaxy Z Flip and Moto Razr.
• Now Huawei is seemingly going back to the out-folding foldable.
• There’s no guarantee of that yet, but that’s what the teaser invite image and the naming convention suggests.

What’s coming:

• Huawei announced on Weibo that it will be holding a launch event on April 28 for the Mate XS 2.
• What will be interesting, if we stick with the out-folding thought line, is how Huawei might be beefing up the protection for the device.
• The concern was around durability: our reviewer Kris Carlon dropped the Mate XS but it held up, but the concern is more like how the always-exposed screen would hold up through the everyday lifestyle and rough and tumble.
• We didn’t get many long-term reviews because Huawei didn’t sell the original XS outside of China.
• And there’s no saying this will launch outside of China either.
• But ultra-thin glass protection on the outside? A new and better Falcon Hinge? What else could Huawei bring?
• (Sadly, as always, it’s worth reminding Huawei won’t be bringing Google Mobile Services to it, with the ongoing US ban still …ongoing. So, you get Huawei Mobile Services and App Gallery.)

What it means:

• Ok, a new Huawei phone in China only isn’t exactly a shot of caffeine directly into your veins. It’s nothing like the surprise CNN Plus service’s failure inside just one single month. (More on that below).
• But, the news of the HP foldable laptop yesterday shows that foldable tech is still being refined and proven.
• The waiting game now is really if Apple will release a foldable device at all. It doesn’t need to, exactly, given the iPhone is doing very well thank you very much.
• But people love the Z Fold 3. I keep seeing it in the wild, and a new poll on the site shows just over half of you have seen someone with some kind of foldable.
• It all means the Fold 4 (and Flip 4) are pretty hotly anticipated.

Roundup

????????‍????‍???????? OnePlus Ace launched: You’ve seen this before, and will see it again, even if the Ace is limited to China (Android Authority).

Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor.