The Huawei P50 Pocket is coming later this month to take on the Galaxy Z Flip 3
Despite all of the issues that Huawei has to deal with its ongoing trade ban, that hasn’t completely stopped the company from releasing new devices. Earlier this year, we saw the Huawei P50 lineup introduced, and in less than two weeks, Huawei is set to debut another foldable phone.
Until the Galaxy Z Fold 3 was announced, many saw Huawei’s Mate X2 as the best foldable phone even without the ability to use Google’s apps and services. It offers a cover display that is not as narrow, making it more like a traditional smartphone. Plus, the crease down the middle isn’t as prominent as what you would find on Samsung’s offerings. But until now, Huawei has not ventured into the clamshell foldable smartphone space.
That’s all about to change thanks to the Huawei P50 Pocket, which is set to make its debut on December 23. Huawei didn’t provide any substantial information regarding the device, instead only showing a single teaser while confirming the name. Earlier this year, LetsGoDigital was able to create some 3D renders based on patents that Huawei was awarded. According to those renders, the phone will look pretty much like the Z Flip 3 and Motorola RAZR with its flip/clamshell design.
But where the P50 Pocket will stand out is on the cover screen. Instead of using it as a pseudo-window like how Samsung implements it, Huawei’s cover screen will be much larger. Presumably, you will be able to actually use apps on the outer screen, without needing to unflip the phone just to reply to a text or read an email. This is one area where we are still hoping to see Samsung push the envelope, despite making the cover screen larger on the Z Flip 3 compared to the original generation of Z Flip phones.
The company is calling this its “winter flagship”, but this is also the first time that Huawei has launched a phone this late in the year. Unfortunately, there has been no indication as to what power will be found under the hood. Huawei could release the P50 Pocket with its own Kirin 9000 chipset, or it could opt for a 4G/LTE-only chipset from Qualcomm if it wants to try and reach more users. No matter what the case is, Huawei could completely blow the foldable market out of the water with the P50 Pocket, but still won’t be able to bring it to the States.