Chinese tech conglomerate Huawei launched a new version of its flagship foldable smartphone on Monday, as it seeks to defend its ‌lead in the domestic market for premium handsets against Apple and Xiaomi, both of which, in the coming days, will be looking to extend their foothold into the domain.

The new Mate XT2 folds out twice to open into a tablet-sized screen, apart from featuring Huawei’s new Kirin 9050 Pro chip.

As per Huawei, the tech conglomerate’s chip’s design allows the newly launched device to deliver more computing power while using less electricity, helping the company overcome American restrictions on access to advanced technology.

Xiaomi launched a rival foldable phone later on Monday. Apple, now headed by its new CEO, John Ternus, will unveil its latest iPhone series on Wednesday (September 9), with high expectations that the new product will also be a foldable one.

Coming back to the Mate XT2, it features a redesigned folding mechanism and improved water ‌resistance, ⁠as well as an optional screen that prevents people nearby from seeing what is displayed.

It also has upgraded cameras and delivers 42% better overall performance than its predecessor, based on company tests.

Huawei, which does ⁠not sell any of its products in the United States due to sanctions, leads China’s smartphone market. In Q2 2026, its market share stood at 22.6%, ahead of Apple’s 18.1%, ⁠according to consultancy IDC.

Xiaomi, on the other hand, dominates 12.4% of the Chinese market.

Huawei is even more dominant in folding phones, accounting for 68% ⁠of shipments in China in the second quarter, according to Smart Analytics Global, a US-based research company.

However, the venture, in the first half of 2026, reported a 36% ‌profit plunge, with soaring input costs and heavier spending on research and development outweighing the business’ revenue growth.

Huawei’s net profit for January to June fell to 23.81 billion yuan (USD 3.54 billion), accelerating from a 32% drop in the same period in H1 2025, while revenue rose 9.6% to 467.82 billion yuan.

Huawei is currently standing at a crossroads. While it is pushing itself aggressively to reduce reliance on foreign technology and expand its in-house AI ⁠computing and chip capabilities, taking lessons from years of US export restrictions, the drive, along with rising memory chip prices, has weighed on the Chinese tech conglomerate’s profitability, with the consumer business division (including smartphones) being the worst-affected one.

Huawei’s research and development spending, in H1 2026, rose 25.2% to 121.38 billion yuan, equivalent to 25.9% of revenue, as it stepped up investment in AI, communications technology, smart devices, and intelligent automotive solutions.

The company’s cost of making its products, on the other hand, rose 12.4%, faster than revenue growth, while administrative costs also increased sharply.

American sanctions and export controls, since 2019, have restricted Huawei’s access to advanced chips and Google’s Android operating system. In 2021, the phenomenon resulted in a 29% fall in annual revenue. Since then, the Chinese tech conglomerate has been rebounding on the profit front.

It has also poured investment into developing domestic alternatives in chips, software, and AI computing infrastructure. In 2025, the company’s revenue rose 2.2% ⁠to 880.9 billion yuan, its second-highest annual total after a record 891 billion yuan in 2020.

In 2026, the tech conglomerate has promoted AI-focused telecoms products, new computing hardware, and smart-driving technology while launching new smartphones, tablets, and wearable devices in China and overseas.