On the afternoon of March 20, 2025, Huawei's spring new product launch conference kicked off amid great anticipation. The editor of China Exportsemi is also watching the full name online. In the editor's opinion, what is highly anticipated is Huawei's new flagship mobile phone that has been warmed up by the video, Yu Chengdong's reckon this is a "product that others can't imagine"; In the speculation of the majority of netizens, this may be a mobile phone with a "scroll screen" or a "telescopic screen...... However, the release of the Huawei Pura X does give people some mixed emotions. It has highlights, but it also has regrets. The highlight is that it does experiment with some new designs and features; Unfortunately, these innovations do not seem to be enough to meet the market's expectations for a "revolutionary breakthrough".
Pictured: Huawei's wide-screen Pura X, the first to adopt a 16:10 screen ratio
As one of the industry leaders, Huawei's every move has attracted much attention. With the continuous development of the folding screen mobile phone market, consumers' novelty of it has gradually faded, and the market has begun to face the challenge of "aesthetic fatigue". In this context, can Huawei's Pura X wide folding screen mobile phone stand out in the highly competitive market with its unique innovation and advantages, rekindle the enthusiasm of consumers, and become the focus of industry attention? Below, the editor of China Exportsemi will try to analyze for you:
1. The status quo of the folding screen market: growth is slowing down, and innovation is under pressure
In recent years, the folding screen mobile phone market has experienced a period of rapid growth, but now the growth rate has slowed down significantly. According to data from DSCC, a market research institution, global shipments of folding screen mobile phones will be 3.8 million units in 2024, a year-on-year decrease of 18%. This reflects that consumers' freshness of folding screen mobile phones is gradually fading, and the market has begun to enter a "period of aesthetic fatigue". In such a market environment, the launch of Huawei's Pura X is undoubtedly a bold attempt to break the market deadlock and rekindle consumer interest.
2. Huawei's Pura X's innovation highlights and market positioning
The innovation of Huawei Pura X is mainly reflected in its unique wide folding screen design and the HarmonyOS 5.0 system. This phone uses a 16:10 screen ratio, with an inner screen of 6.3 inches and an outer screen of 3.5 inches, which is the widest screen ratio among the current folding screen phones. This design not only gives people a new visual experience, but also provides a wider field of view in actual use, especially suitable for movie-watching, reading and browsing. In addition, Pura X is equipped with the HarmonyOS 5.0 system for the first time, which improves performance by 40% and supports the in-depth adaptation of more than 120 head applications. At the same time, it also introduces the AI eye movement page turning function, which realizes automatic page turning through eye tracking technology, which is the first of its kind in a folding screen mobile phone.
Huawei's Pura X is positioned primarily at high-end consumers, especially business professionals and tech enthusiasts who are highly interested in new technologies and experiences. Its price ranges from 7499 yuan to 9999 yuan, reflecting Huawei's strategic layout in the high-end market. However, high-end positioning also means higher consumer expectations, which requires Pura X to make significant breakthroughs in innovation and experience in order to truly impress the target consumer group.
Figure: Huawei Pura X wide-screen mobile phone released, starting at 7499 yuan
3. The gap between consumer expectations and actual experience
Before the release of Huawei Pura X, Yu Chengdong personally previewed and declared that this is a "product that everyone can't imagine", which has whetted the appetite of consumers. However, when the product was unveiled, it failed to fully meet consumers' expectations for technological innovation. Many consumers originally speculated that the new product could be a more disruptive form of innovation such as a scroll screen or a retractable screen, but although the Pura X's wide folding screen design is unique, it has failed to achieve a qualitative leap in hardware technology. This gap between expectations and actual experience has made some consumers disappointed with the performance of the Pura X.
4. Industry competition and Huawei's challenges
In the foldable screen mobile phone market, Huawei is facing fierce challenges from competitors such as Samsung. Samsung has an early layout in the field of folding screens and has deep technology accumulation, and its folding screen mobile phones are favored by many consumers. The innovation of Huawei Pura X this time is mainly focused on the form and software ecology, and the lack of breakthroughs in hardware technology may disappoint consumers, and it is not excluded that some people will have a rejection mentality because of this. In addition, the shipment volume of the overall folding screen mobile phone market is not high, and in 2024, the proportion of small folding screens in China's folding screen market will only be 36.7%, which indicates that the market acceptance of small folding screens still needs to be improved. Whether Huawei's Pura X's wide folding screen design can change this status quo still needs to be tested by the market.
5. Future outlook: two-wheel drive of innovation and ecology
Although Huawei Pura X has certain shortcomings in hardware innovation, the editor of China Exportsemi believes that its role in the HarmonyOS ecosystem is crucial. As the first mobile phone to be fully equipped with HarmonyOS 5.0, it marks the full entry of Huawei terminals into the HarmonyOS era. The performance improvement, ecosystem expansion, and deep integration of AI technology of the HarmonyOS system are the core of Huawei's future competitiveness. In addition, Huawei also plans to launch the HarmonyOS computer in May, and further optimize the functions of the HarmonyOS version of WeChat, Douyin Mall and other applications. These actions show that Huawei is paving the way for the future development of foldable screen phones through software and ecosystem innovation.
6. Conclusion: Attempts to innovate and the continuation of expectations
All in all, the release of Huawei Pura X is an important attempt in the foldable screen mobile phone market. Although it has not fully met the expectations of consumers in terms of hardware innovation, its breakthrough in form design and software ecology has provided new ideas for the development of folding screen mobile phones. For Huawei, Pura X is not only a product, but also a strategic layout in the high-end market and technological innovation. In the future, Huawei needs to increase R&D investment in hardware technology, achieve more breakthrough innovations, and further optimize the software ecosystem and user experience, so as to remain invincible in the highly competitive folding screen market and truly win the hearts of consumers.
In today's rapid development of the semiconductor industry, folding screen mobile phones, as representatives of cutting-edge technologies, have an important leading role in the innovation and development direction of the entire industry. The exploration of Huawei's Pura X undoubtedly provides valuable experience and inspiration for the industry, and also points out the direction for the innovation of folding screen mobile phones in the future. We look forward to Huawei's ability to bring more surprising products in the future, promoting the continuous development and progress of the folding screen mobile phone market and the entire semiconductor industry."
