Xiaomi Delays The Release Of Its Foldable Smartphone Over Market Insecurity

Foldable smartphones are expected to be the technology trend for the year 2019. Samsung and Huawei have both showcased their first devices capable of folding into half. These handsets are the Galaxy Fold and the Mate X respectively. While the former was deemed ready for sales a few weeks ago, incidents questioning the smartphone’s durability surfaced online. This led to Samsung recalling the units in a bid to fix the issues plaguing them. While the market waits patiently for the Galaxy Fold to show up again, the major blow of the incidents seems to have been suffered by Xiaomi. 

The Chinese smartphone OEM showed off its foldable smartphone in a series of teasers and videos over the past few months. It was also reported the device could make its way into the market in a few months at half the price of the Galaxy Fold and the Mate X. However, due to the increasing market insecurities over Foldable Smartphones, Xiaomi seems to have pushed back the release of its foldable handset.

Investors in the Xiaomi supply chain, had revealed that while the launch of the device was earlier planned in the month of June, our original source claims it has been postponed for later in the summer. This will allow Xiaomi to further test their foldable device. 

Due to the unfortunate incidents with the durability of the Samsung Galaxy Fold, and the following negative sentiments regarding foldable smartphones; Xiaomi is delaying the release, and further testing their product, and also making sure that the insecurity over the Galaxy fold failure will not impact the sales of their foldable device. Our source claims that the company may wait till another manufacturer releases a foldable device, before they unveil the phone in its entirety. 

The company was claimed to have sourced foldable displays from the display maker Visionox. A patent for a foldable Xiaomi device was also discovered around the same time. The rumoured handset by the company is also expected to feature the Snapdragon 855 SoC, up to 8GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage.

Also read: OnePlus 7 Unboxing And Hands On Video

The major attraction with the foldable Xiaomi smartphone is claimed to be its price. Our source told us that the device could retail at half the price of the already announced handsets from Samsung and Huawei, retailing in at about US$ 999 and arriving in India at a lucrative price tag of Rs 74,999. 
The handset is now expected later in the Summer, possibly after Samsung re launches the Galaxy Fold, and while Huawei Mate X is also expected in the month of July.