Huawei and Apple unveil new foldable phones as chip supply tightens

In short: Huawei and Apple both announced new foldable smartphones, highlighting growing competition and ongoing pressure in the global chip supply chain.

What's going on

Huawei unveiled its first new smartphone chip in six years, called the Kirin 9050 Pro. The company said the chip shows it can keep building key parts despite US export restrictions. Huawei also introduced a new triple-fold phone, the Mate XT2, starting at $2,980.

A phone “chipset” is the main bundle of electronics that makes a smartphone work, like the engine and control system in a car. Huawei said this new chipset supports on-device AI, meaning some AI features run directly on the phone instead of sending requests to a faraway data center.

Apple also entered the foldable phone market with its first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, starting at $1,999. Apple is late to this category since Samsung and Huawei have sold foldables since 2019. Analysts expect Apple’s move to boost interest in foldables, but early production is expected to be limited due to Apple’s quality and durability requirements.

The announcements come as the industry faces a “memory chip crunch,” which is a shortage of the chips that store data and help devices run apps smoothly. Separately, major chipmakers Intel, TSMC, and Samsung signaled support for ASML’s next-generation chipmaking machine, a tool that helps make more advanced chips but costs about $400 million.

What to watch

Watch whether foldable phones become more common or stay a high-priced niche. Also watch how chip shortages and export restrictions affect how many devices companies can actually build and ship.

Source: Financial Times