Huawei nova's first small foldable model is coming soon, is the low price aimed at Xiaomi Honor?

On February 22 this year, Huawei held a much-anticipated "Huawei Pocket 2 Fashion Ceremony" for Pocket 2 in Sanya, Hainan.

Huawei, Samsung, Honor, Motorola, Xiaomi, vivo, OPPO...More and more folding screen mobile phone manufacturers are launching their own small folding screen products. Huawei Pocket series, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip series, and OPPO Find N Flip series have proven the value of small foldable products with their sales performance.

As the new global folding screen leader, Huawei will naturally not miss the opportunity to further consolidate its position in the small folding screen market.

Recently, information about Huawei’s nova series of small foldable phones has been exposed again. Judging from the news, the appearance design of this new phone is very Pocket 2 style, and there are also many highlights in terms of performance, imaging and system. While further enriching Huawei's product line, the new phone is expected to become Huawei's cheapest phone to date. Foldable screen phone.

Prior to this, Huawei has launched three small folding screen products, namely the P50 Pocket released in 2021, the Pocket S released in 2022, and the Pocket 2 released at the beginning of this year. We can clearly see the progress curve of each product. This time the nova series of small folding mobile phones (hereinafter referred to as: nova Flip) may be expected to gradually transform Huawei's small folding mobile phones from niche fashion items into flagship products that have entered the mainstream.

To enter the lower market, Huawei will lower the price of small foldable products

In early July, digital blogger @fixfocusdigital exposed information about nova Flip, revealing the first foldable model in Huawei’s nova series The screen adopts a vertical folding solution. The new phone will be released in early August. It is positioned as a relatively low-priced mass-market model. The price is expected to be higher than the nova series candy bar models, but lower than the Pocket series. The price range is expected to be 5,000~6,000. between yuan.

Source: Weibo

Although the positioning is slightly discounted, the overall materials used by novaFlip are not ambiguous, and some components will use the same specifications of hardware as the flagship product. Based on the recent layout of Huawei's flagship models, novaFlip is likely to be equipped with the same processor as the Pura 70 Beidou Satellite Message Edition: Kirin 9010E.

It is worth mentioning that a mysterious new Huawei phone happened to have passed the national quality 3C certification some time ago. The phone model is PSD-AL00 and supports 66W fast charging. Industry insiders speculate that this is likely to be novaFlip. Although the charging efficiency is not as good as that of many candy bar machines, it is already a very good performance among folding screen products. It is at the same level as the charging specifications of Honor Magic V Flip and Xiaomi MIX Flip.

Source: China Quality Certification Center

In addition to performance and charging, the external screen design of novaFlip has been greatly upgraded compared to the Pocket series, mainly reflected in the screen size. It is reported that the external screen size of novaFlip will be increased to between 3-4 inches. The increase in screen size will greatly enhance the playability and practicality of small folding mobile phones.

The external screen size has always been a controversial point for Huawei’s small folding phones. The external screen size of Pocket 2 is 1.15 inches, while the highest of competing products has reached the 4-inch+ range. You can call the small round screen the iconic design of the Pocket series, but the importance of external screens to small folding phones is With continuous improvement, users need a larger external screen to handle daily operations such as WeChat replies.

In other aspects, Huawei has always attached great importance to the imaging capabilities of its products. For example, Pocket 2 is equipped with four rear cameras, including a 50MP main camera, 12MP ultra-wide angle, 8MP telephoto and 2MP super spectrum lens. Among them, the telephoto lens supports triple zoom, which can help users capture satisfactory distant views in dark light environments.

Source: Huawei

Although no specific camera configuration information of nova Flip has been exposed yet, considering Huawei’s past upgrade strategy on the nova series, Xiaolei boldly speculates that nova Flip will be very popular. It may have three full-focus XMAGE cameras, which can meet users’ all-round shooting needs from daily recording to professional creation.

At present, the configuration of nova Flip in all aspects has basically reached the level of current mainstream small folding phones. Coupled with the cost-effective pricing and the brand effect of Huawei’s folding screen, I believe it will attract many new users to join the folding industry. screen camp, stabilizing Huawei’s already leading share of folding screens.

To get rid of the niche positioning, what else does novaFlip have to do?

According to the current exposure information, nova Flip has obviously jumped out of the product positioning of Pocket 2 and moved towards a route that is more in line with the needs of the mass market. In Xiaolei's view, price and external screen design are two key factors that influence users to choose small foldable phones. There is no problem with the tone of nova Flip. The next suspense may be to what extent the price can be reduced, and how to pass it. Software adaptation makes full use of the enlarged external screen.

Compared with Huawei’s own products, nova Flip naturally has unique product advantages, but if it wants to go further in the folding screen market, nova Flip may have to refer to the respective highlights of other competing products.

The outer screen size of a small folding phone is not bigger, the better, the most important thing is the interactive experience. For example, Honor Magic V Flip and vivo X Flip have explored the external screen function to a deeper level, showing sufficient practicality in a limited size, and truly allowing the external screen of small folding mobile phones to play its due role.

Source: Lei Technology

Although the circular mini secondary screen on the back of Huawei Pocket 2 can also be used to display wallpapers, avatars and other information, it is an interesting way to play. But today, this mini OLED screen is obviously not enough. Whether nova Flip can be used in both practical and interesting ways while increasing the size of the external screen will largely determine the sales of nova Flip.

With the popularization of AI technology, the use of AI in folding screen products has gradually become a trend. When the newly released Xiaomi MIX Flip and the recently released moto razr 50 series were announced, AI was highlighted. From the screen to the image to the functions, almost everything is empowered by AI. Although AI is now very popular in mobile phones and people are no longer as fresh about it as it used to be, many AI functions can indeed bring users a better mobile experience.

In terms of performance and battery life, small foldable phones usually lag behind flagship candy bar phones in core performance due to their small body space. However, there are always manufacturers that can break through the limitations, and Xiaomi MIX Flip is the most representative one. In the compact body, Xiaomi has packed a third-generation Snapdragon 8 processor and a 4780mAh large-capacity battery. The theoretical performance is the strongest among small folding screen mobile phones. Even ignoring the folding screen form of this phone, Its top-notch performance also puts it among the ranks of Android flagships.

Source: Xiaomi

As for the high cost performance that nova Flip focuses on, there are players who have done it even better than it. Compared with large folding, small folding is less technically difficult to implement, equipped with a smaller screen size and lower cost. For example, Nubia Flip, which gave up its flagship configuration, even made the small foldable product priced at 2,000 yuan, which greatly lowered the purchase threshold for folding screens.

Of course, price is by no means the only factor that affects consumers’ purchase of small foldables. Otherwise, Nubia Flip would have become the world’s best-selling product. But what Xiaolei wants to say is that price is definitely the primary factor in consumers’ purchase decisions. Huawei’s current global folding screen market share is already far ahead. If nova Flip, which is positioned to increase volume, can slightly sacrifice profit margins, the effect may be even more amazing. .

External screen interaction, price, performance, user experience... Folding screen mobile phone manufacturers are betting on showing off their skills, and the highlights of each product are different. If it is obviously unrealistic to require nova Flip to benchmark in all aspects, what Huawei needs to do may be to build a comprehensive small folding phone if the cost allows, and then create its own point of difference in a certain direction, such as having a flagship experience The cheapest Huawei foldable screen phone.

Written at the end

For a long time, small folding screen mobile phones have been controversial products. Many people think that it violates the original intention of folding screen products. It can neither achieve a display area comparable to that of a tablet, nor can it achieve the same display area as a tablet. It has to bear the shortcomings of foldable screen durability and hardware configurations that are weaker than conventional flagship products of the same period. It is a "beautiful little waste" with more gimmicks than practical value.

Even so, small folding mobile phones are still gradually opening up in the market through their price advantages and compact product form. However, it is not easy for small folding mobile phones to continue to grow steadily this year.

Counterpoint Research report shows that in the first quarter of 2024, the sales of horizontal folding screen mobile phones in the Chinese market increased by 91% year-on-year, while the sales of vertical folding screen mobile phones fell by 1% year-on-year. Market data shows that large folding screen devices in the horizontal folding form more favored by consumers.

Source: Counterpoint Research

在小雷看來，小折手機銷量下滑其中一個原因是美感疲勞。從三星率先推出小折疊螢幕手機開始，小折疊最典型的產品打法就是走顏值和時尚單品路線。華為、OV等品牌的小折疊產品，或多或少都走了類似的路線。而榮耀、小米這樣的新入場者，則在嘗試用大外屏、強性能等方式，為小折疊產品帶來一些差異化。

從產品參數來看，小雷認為nova Flip應該也是走榮耀、小米類似的路線，試圖打造區別於Pocket 2時尚裝飾屬性的大眾化產品，以滿足更多消費群體的需求，這對華為折疊螢幕產品出貨無疑是一個的巨大幫助。

折疊屏雖然不是市場出貨主力，但一直是高階產品的代表。可以預見的是，在2024年的小折疊螢幕市場上，華為nova Flip會承擔很大一部分的年度出貨量指標，對緊隨其後的三星、榮耀來說會是不小的挑戰。今年下半年的折疊屏市場也會迎來更激烈的競爭。現在，華為已經出招，就看其他頭部品牌們如何接招了。

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