The folding phone will be priced at 2,499 euros ($2,710) for its premium model and goes on sale worldwide next month, said Yu, as Huawei pushed the price frontier for the most expensive smartphones even higher. The launch was streamed from Barcelona, where the Mobile World Congress was due to be held this week before it was cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Sony, meanwhile, showcased its newest Xperia 1 device as the Japanese company - which lies outside the top 10 smartphone makers by sales - targeted its niche audience of high-fidelity video fans.
FOLDING RACE Samsung Electronics, the world's top smartphone maker by volume, narrowly beat its Chinese rival in the folding race last year, but its launch was delayed after testers encountered problems with the screens.
The South Korean company is persevering with foldable technology and this month showed off a device shaped like a make-up compact that unfolded to look like a traditional smartphone.
The Mate XS, like last year's Mate 30 smartphone, will lack access to a licensed version of Google's Android operating system after the United States effectively barred its companies from supplying Huawei last year. Huawei is offering users access to its own app store instead, but Yu said it remains committed to the Android ecosystem and to its longer-term partnerships with Google and other US companies.
"We believe technology should be open and available for everyone," Yu said in his keynote speech. Huawei also launched a speaker developed with French audio specialist Devialet, the first tablet in its Mate range and two new notebooks - a top of the range Matebook X Pro and Matebook D with 14-inch and 15-inch screens. Huawei plans to hold a launch event for the P40, a 5G smartphone, in Paris next month, said Yu.