The Mate X is ready to go but market conditions are not appropriate. Three months won't change much in key areas of the design but from a marketing perspective, if the market conditions change, a September launch will have far more impact than a June launch.
More months for testing is a valid justification (especially as there is no real competition at the moment) and avoids them having to mention component bans etc.
Three months could come in very handy though for testing Ark OS on the device.
The official Huawei spokesperson has spoken. Thanks for the facts bro.
The Mate X is ready to go but market conditions are not appropriate. Three months won't change much in key areas of the design but from a marketing perspective, if the market conditions change, a September launch will have far more impact than a June launch.
More months for testing is a valid justification (especially as there is no real competition at the moment) and avoids them having to mention component bans etc.
Three months could come in very handy though for testing Ark OS on the device.
Holy shit, the Wall Scum anal-yst market spin drivel is strong with this one!!!
Perhaps you are unaware of the market conditions I mentioned. There is little or nothing to gain in releasing now.
No competition. Component supply issues. Government regulatory issues. Potential new OS to test.
Moving to September (conditions permitting) will pit the X (and the Mate 30 series) against the Note 10 and the iPhone 2019 refresh. That makes far more sense from a marketing perspective as neither Apple nor Samsung are likely to have folding options and Apple almost certainly won't have a 5G option (and 5G marketing will be a fever pitch by Christmas).
"No competition"
An SNL skit couldn't make this up....
Firstly. The CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Unit (not a spokesman) said the Mate X could ship 'tomorrow' if need be (this was before Trump's executive order).
Secondly. The Mate X has already been in the hands of select media outlets for early evaluation - without any of the issues that affected the Fold.
If they have decided to delay the roll out for testing, try to put that into perspective. Try to apply a minimum of common sense and reach a conclusion as to why they are delaying the launch by three months.
That's what I did. No more. No less.
Thirdly: "no competition" - please enlighten me as to where the competition is. Right now, there isn't any and that is precisely why they can re-plan but this time taking into account current realities. Realities that simply weren't there when the original launch window was set.
You might consider changing your AI moniker to Huawei PR b7.
It's far removed from PR. I said from the start that folding phones would have to prove themselves in the market in terms of durability. The initial efforts will live or die by that factor alone although there are others. That applies to Huawei too.
The difference, with regards to some others, is that I just don't automatically assume this delay is related to the Samsung style issues and have pointed out where they might be. That's not PR, it's balance and common sense.
If there are doubts, and I do have some, they are related to other issues. That is because the issue of the fold itself requires real world use and we have to wait for that. For example the Mate X is an expensive flagship in a new generation of folding phones. This delay will see it ship (conditions permitting) after the release of the next Kirin SoC. That SoC might have an onboard Balong 5000 (no one knows at present) which is a marketing problem IMO as the Mate X is due to ship with the current Kirin SoC.
A company announces a new type of product. A type thatvmany see has bein difficult to produce. Another company announces a simile app product , and gives them out to reviewers and writers a month. Or so, before release. That product quickly runs into severe problems relating whatvthecproduct’svtechnologybis. The company puts the release back because of those problems, several times. The other company then states, and yes they did, they they too are delaying their similar product. Why? Because of some unrelated reasons? No, because they carefully evaluated what happened to their competitor, and got cold feet about their own introduction. So they’re going to look at their product and tear it apart to see what they likely missed in the design or materials that might also result in embarrassing publicity.
thats why it was withdrawn. It’s also what happens when two companies try to rush out a product in some misguided attempt to get ahead of the herd.
so, there’s the same interesting question we’re thinking about with Samsung: Why wasn’t this major flaw caught in beta product testing before they were sent out for review, and imminent release, with at least, hundreds of thousands already being produced for all of those advance orders? Now, I’ll admit that because Huawei quickly decided to not release this, and hadn’t yet sent any out for public review, we don’t know if there’s a fatal flaw like that of samsung’s. But I can’t imagine the screen on the outside design being reliable and scratch resistant for very long.
There is a lot of speculation there but that's fine. However, there are facts out there too. An executive of Huawei Consumer Business Unit stated the Mate X could ship 'now' (this after the Samsung problems). I can't find the link as it was a comment made during an interview. 'now' isn't a direct quote. The actual word might have been 'tomorrow' and was referencing the fold mechanism itself.
One of the known reasons for the original June/July window was the testing and 5G calibration required for carriers:
The Mate X has been used as a daily driver by some Huawei employees for a while now. It is Richard Yu's work phone.
All of that is factual.
Then there is the entity list which is an added complication that might well be a factor along with others I mentioned further up.
Now, if anything pops up in this extra testing, the window is obviously there to give them time to deal with it. It is literally impossible to discover a major (Samsung like) group of problems and get them fixed in time for a September launch - unless they do what Samsung itself seems to have done and rush the release. Something which is exactly what they said they don't want to do and hence the delay to September. That is pure common sense so speculation (if we are going to speculate) should necessarily include other, more logical, points. One of them is the officially recognised alternative to Android that they might have to release and three months could go a long way in improving testing on a totally new phone.
As for phones not being sent out for public review, phones were actually made available (as I stated above). They were not official review products because the release was still not due but people did actually get to use them in non-controlled settings. Here is an example:
They didn't suffer the same problems as Samsung and we are talking about a brief hands on either.
On the subject of scratching. Clearly the screen won't be as scratch resistant as a glass screen but I have not seen a single claim by anyone, anywhere that that was even the objective. Users will simply have to take that factor into account before purchasing such a device and reviewers will definitely focus long and hard on this point so we will have a pretty good idea of what to expect. That said, there is zero reason to believe scratches will be an issue if common sense care is taken into account. On the other hand there is every reason in the world to think scratch resistance was one of the very first things to be evaluated, along fold durability, drop resistance etc. More common sense.
Of course real world usage (as I made clear the moment it was reported on here at AI) will be the final truth on the subject but - today - we should be supposing that scratch resistance passed the testing the phone was expected to achieve. Once again, if reputation, is what they want to conserve, there is no way they will be able to design a better solution AND get it through testing AND into production in three months so we should be speculating instead on other more likely areas.
That isn't to say nothing can go spectacularly wrong. So wrong as to put the release on permanent hold. Speculation can include that because after all, speculation can be wild after all. The point is that right now it isn't really warranted as there are other contributing factors in play that more sense at this point in time
This is why I don’t always post links to things I know to be true, because I can’t bookmark every comment or fact I read everywhere. And sometimes when I do, because I think I’ll need it in a discussion, when just a week later, I get a 404 when I tap on the bookmark.
having said that, another Huawei official did say that they decided to hold it back fo more testing after what happened to samsung’s Model. And as far as this very few models Huawei seems to have Kent to non reviewers, like the Samsung models, not all are going to break. I also believe that I said that the Huawei “solution” of having the hinge on the outside was a better solution for bendability. But yes indeed, it will scratch.
as far as scratching goes, it certainly is a major problem. People are not going to take care of their devices any more than they ever have in the past. They will put them in their front and rear pockets. The screens will get smashed and gauged. They will put them down on unclean and uneven surfaces. So maybe the first week or two, they will be careful, as those given the phones to use. But then they will get tired of being so much more careful with these than they were with their previous models, and they will have problems.
rhe fact that these phones are so thick will be a problem as well, because this pickets will be even less roomy with these phones inside, making scratching even more likely.
you can try to minimize this problem, but it is a real one, and it’s a serious one. Even fingers sliding around the screen will eventually scratch.
You added something to your post on the OS so I will expand a little on that.
It's important to remember that we are simply speculating on the OS.
When you copy/pasted 'we can do it in six to nine months' you failed to follow through to the source link. If you had done that, you would have also seen Richard Yu saying, in the same piece, that they could release it 'this year'.
As for the option of releasing with Android anyway (due to the three month extension), this has been looked at from different perspectives on many sites. There is nothing really clear to be gleaned as opinions are mixed due to the fact that no one truly knows what the consequences of an Android ban might be. We are literally in uncharted territory here.
All we can do is speculate. There have been all kinds of rumours flying around. One even suggested that the new Huawei OS is already being tested on a million devices and that Oppo, Xiaomi (?) and Vivo were also involved.
Those two may be stretching credibility although the first one claims Richard Yu as saying that the new OS could see the light of day as early as autumn.
What is for sure is that the new OS name is currently being registered around the world. Perhaps another reason to delay a launch.
Unless they’ve been working on this OS for several years, which they must have been, it’s not going to be very robust. One thing in its favor in China is that so many Chinese use just those one, or two apps to do most everything, so the major problem of not having a stable of a vast number of apps to start out with may not be as much of a problem than it will be elsewhere, outside of China. Samsung hasn’t been able to get Tizen off the ground because no one is going to bother writing for the OS.
The Mate X is ready to go but market conditions are not appropriate. Three months won't change much in key areas of the design but from a marketing perspective, if the market conditions change, a September launch will have far more impact than a June launch.
More months for testing is a valid justification (especially as there is no real competition at the moment) and avoids them having to mention component bans etc.
Three months could come in very handy though for testing Ark OS on the device.
The official Huawei spokesperson has spoken. Thanks for the facts bro.
The Mate X is ready to go but market conditions are not appropriate. Three months won't change much in key areas of the design but from a marketing perspective, if the market conditions change, a September launch will have far more impact than a June launch.
More months for testing is a valid justification (especially as there is no real competition at the moment) and avoids them having to mention component bans etc.
Three months could come in very handy though for testing Ark OS on the device.
Holy shit, the Wall Scum anal-yst market spin drivel is strong with this one!!!
Perhaps you are unaware of the market conditions I mentioned. There is little or nothing to gain in releasing now.
No competition. Component supply issues. Government regulatory issues. Potential new OS to test.
Moving to September (conditions permitting) will pit the X (and the Mate 30 series) against the Note 10 and the iPhone 2019 refresh. That makes far more sense from a marketing perspective as neither Apple nor Samsung are likely to have folding options and Apple almost certainly won't have a 5G option (and 5G marketing will be a fever pitch by Christmas).
"No competition"
An SNL skit couldn't make this up....
Firstly. The CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Unit (not a spokesman) said the Mate X could ship 'tomorrow' if need be (this was before Trump's executive order).
Secondly. The Mate X has already been in the hands of select media outlets for early evaluation - without any of the issues that affected the Fold.
If they have decided to delay the roll out for testing, try to put that into perspective. Try to apply a minimum of common sense and reach a conclusion as to why they are delaying the launch by three months.
That's what I did. No more. No less.
Thirdly: "no competition" - please enlighten me as to where the competition is. Right now, there isn't any and that is precisely why they can re-plan but this time taking into account current realities. Realities that simply weren't there when the original launch window was set.
You might consider changing your AI moniker to Huawei PR b7.
It's far removed from PR. I said from the start that folding phones would have to prove themselves in the market in terms of durability. The initial efforts will live or die by that factor alone although there are others. That applies to Huawei too.
The difference, with regards to some others, is that I just don't automatically assume this delay is related to the Samsung style issues and have pointed out where they might be. That's not PR, it's balance and common sense.
But but with no competition how is anyone supposed to release a foldable phone?!!?!
These foldable phones are just rushing to market because Apple patented this years ago. Reminds me of the edge display failure and the galaxy gear watch failure.
You lost me there. No one is saying they won't release a folding phone. The question is releasing at the most appropriate time for maximum effect.
The “most appropriate time for maximum effect” being when they can actually make one that doesn’t split or crack after its been folded/unfolded four times.
Once again, facts are entirely absent from the discourse.
The Mate X is the daily driver of the CEO of the company. Many employees are using it. It has been in the hands of tech journalists in uncontrolled environments.
These are facts. Facts presented in this very thread.
When people claim the Mate X hasn't been in the hands of journalists for example, or has been but only in controlled settings, when there is a video right here in the thread of a journalist giving her opinion in an uncontrolled environment (not a 10 minute hands on) what does that tell you?
It tells me that providing irrefutable evidence to those claims will not change their minds because their minds are already made up or they simply haven't read the thread. To the point that they made false claims in the first place and when you prove those claims to be baseless they will simply run off to the next false point and try to make us forget about the previous one. And so on. At worst they will try to use the evidence that disproves their claims as a PR exercise! Would you bet against someone making that claim again in this thread.
What counts is that readers have the information. That they have enough information to see what is out there and what is true or false. That is with reference to facts. Readers will decide.
When it comes to speculation, readers can decide which line seems more plausible and how the line is argued and form their own opinions.
'Splitting' or 'cracking' after four folds/unfolds definitely isn't relevant to the Mate X based on what we know so let's say the implication is baseless. One more for the list. Of course if you actually have something to support it you won't waste a second in presenting it. But then again if you had that, surely you would have posted it already.
Or you are replying to the wrong thread or your comment is one of those gratuitous drive by digs perhaps with a poor element of sarcasm thrown in but like I said, people will form their own opinions.
Take a look at some of the claims in this thread and how many actually stood up to scrutiny.
Apple has large numbers of this fall's iPhones that will be "daily drivers" for a whole lot of test engineers before release. Early production means that many of those are already in operation. That's just how the industry works. By the second Tuesday of September, this year the 10th, It is announced, and by that Friday, preorders start for delivery a week later.
Like clockwork.
If Huawei missed the ship date, the the Mate X wasn't ready.
Now your excuse is that Huawei needs to add its Hong Meng OS (ARK outside of China) to replace Android OS. That's at least believable, but that isn't what you were stating initially.
"The Chinese tech giant told CNBC and The Wall Street Journal that it was doing extensive testing to make sure the device was ready for consumers, and that the company was taking a “cautious” approach following the failed launch of Samsung’s own foldable device, the Galaxy Fold. The Fold debuted in April but shipment of the phone has been indefinitely delayed after devices reviewed by multiple outlets broke in a matter of days.
“We don’t want to launch a product to destroy our reputation,” a spokesperson for Huawei told CNBC."
But this is the rest of the story;
"Alternatively, the phone might ship with Huawei’s own mobile OS, which it’s been developing for years. A spokesperson for the firm told CNBC that it would prefer to go with Google’s software but added: “If we are forced to do it by ourselves, we are ready. We can do in the next six-to-nine months.”
Funny, but that's exactly what this AI story stated. Two sources, same report. Go figure.
Comments
having said that, another Huawei official did say that they decided to hold it back fo more testing after what happened to samsung’s Model. And as far as this very few models Huawei seems to have Kent to non reviewers, like the Samsung models, not all are going to break. I also believe that I said that the Huawei “solution” of having the hinge on the outside was a better solution for bendability. But yes indeed, it will scratch.
as far as scratching goes, it certainly is a major problem. People are not going to take care of their devices any more than they ever have in the past. They will put them in their front and rear pockets. The screens will get smashed and gauged. They will put them down on unclean and uneven surfaces. So maybe the first week or two, they will be careful, as those given the phones to use. But then they will get tired of being so much more careful with these than they were with their previous models, and they will have problems.
rhe fact that these phones are so thick will be a problem as well, because this pickets will be even less roomy with these phones inside, making scratching even more likely.
you can try to minimize this problem, but it is a real one, and it’s a serious one. Even fingers sliding around the screen will eventually scratch.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/14/huawei-will-delay-mate-x-foldable-phone-launch-until-september.html
https://www.techradar.com/news/the-foldable-mate-x-with-android-intact-to-launch-by-september-promises-huawei-exec