Huawei's tri-fold phone gets 2.7 million pre-orders ahead of Apple's iPhone 16 launch

BEIJING — Huawei has received more than 2.7 million pre-orders for its tri-fold smartphone, its website showed on Monday.

The Chinese company began pre-orders for its Mate XT midday on Saturday. That was more than two days ahead of Apple's planned iPhone 16 launch early morning Tuesday Beijing time.

Huawei had previously announced it would launch a new product at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The company has yet to share a price for the Mate XT. The device is set to officially being sales on Sept. 20.

Apple fell out of the list of top five smartphone vendors in China in the second quarter, according to Canalys. It was the first time that domestic players held all five spots, the firm said.

Huawei ranked fourth by market share with 10.6 million smartphones shipped, according to Canalys.

The firm only shared shipments for the top five vendors. Apple shipped 10 million phones in the first quarter.

Huawei already sells folding and flip phones, as do its Chinese competitors. Apple has yet to expand into those categories.