Huawei Technologies Co.’s Mate XT Ultimate Design might be challenging Apple Inc. AAPL in China, but its screen replacement could ironically set you back as much as a brand-new iPhone.
What Happened: China’s top smartphone maker Huawei has unveiled the cost of replacement parts for its dual-hinged, triple-screen folding phone.
The tri-fold phone which retails at around $2,809, could see owners shelling out an additional 7,999 yuan (about $1,125) for a replacement OLED panel if the folding screen incurs significant damage.
“This price is the preferential price that consumers can enjoy after choosing to recycle the old screen for free. If you do not accept the free recycling of the old screen, you need to pay 9,799 yuan,” the company stated.
The 9,799 yuan was around $1,378, at the time of writing.
See Also: Mark Cuban Praises Elon Musk’s AI Chatbot Grok For Answering Kamala Harris’ POV On Immigration: ‘I Think It’s Accurate’
Huawei does offer some cost-saving alternatives for screen repairs. A refurbished replacement screen is slightly cheaper at 6,999 yuan which is around $983.
Moreover, the company provides screen replacement insurance plans starting from 3,499 yuan (about $492) for a single screen replacement within the first year of purchase.
The screen replacement update was first noticed by The Verge.
Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox.
Why It Matters: The Mate XT Ultimate Design was launched by Huawei as a direct competitor to Apple’s iPhone 16 series.
The trifold phone, priced significantly higher than the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s $1,199 for 256 GB storage, marked Huawei’s intensified efforts to challenge Apple’s smartphone dominance.
The Mate XT, available in red and black, attracted 1.3 million orders within seven hours of opening reservations.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 16 series launch has disappointed many users in China due to its lack of AI features. The hashtag “iPhone 16 Chinese version doesn’t support AI yet” was trending on China’s social media platform Weibo after the tech giant’s “Glowtime” event.
Check out more of Benzinga’s Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.
Read Next:
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.