Days after we revealed that Chinese brand Honor is trying to enter the Australian market, the Huawei linked Company has revealed The Magic 2 an expensive foldable device that is less than 10mm thick.
The device is not cheap at US$1,254 or A$1,846 and that’s without an OLED display.
The business that is now owned by the local Communist Party controlled Shenzhen State Government, claim that they are targeting Apple with the new device.
“The product has only one targeted competitor — Apple’s topmost flagship phones,” Honor CEO George Zhao said in an interview ahead of the unveiling. “As strong as Apple is, it can’t fulfill all demands from consumers.”
Honor, once a sub-brand of Huawei Technologies mis not subject to the same bans and restrictions Huawei who was banned from supplying 5G gear to carriers in Australia.
The new foldable is powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 5G chipset.
Next week Samsung is set to brief media on a new range of foldable smartphones that are more expensive than previous models.
Foldables took only a fraction of the Australian smartphone shipments last year, but the potential is growing with Samsung claiming that foldables represent 12% of their total sales in Australia today.
More than 21 million foldable phones will be shipped this year and the category is on track to more than double by 2027, research firm IDC claims.
“Similar to the rise of electric cars, foldables have created a new arena in the smartphone industry,” Zhao said. Chinese smartphone consumers have long prioritized higher specifications and larger displays when making their purchase decision. Apple’s iPhone is one of the top-selling devices in the country, though the market is competitive enough for the leader in sales to change regularly.
Honor was the only major brand that grew shipments in Covid-stricken China last year as demand for Oppo smartphones slumped.
The company is mulling plans to sell the Magic V2 in overseas markets this year said Zhao.
ChannelNews understands that this is dependent on the sell in to Australian retailers and carriers.
ChannelNews understands that retailers have asked for significant marketing dollars before they will range the brand.
