{"id":13838,"date":"2022-09-03T14:51:01","date_gmt":"2022-09-03T14:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/09\/03\/china-is-all-in-on-foldables-and-honors-ceo-thinks-the-rest-of-the-world-is-ready-too\/"},"modified":"2022-09-03T14:51:02","modified_gmt":"2022-09-03T14:51:02","slug":"china-is-all-in-on-foldables-and-honors-ceo-thinks-the-rest-of-the-world-is-ready-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/09\/03\/china-is-all-in-on-foldables-and-honors-ceo-thinks-the-rest-of-the-world-is-ready-too\/","title":{"rendered":"China is all in on foldables \u2014 and Honor\u2019s CEO thinks the rest of the world is ready, too"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/9\/2\/23326730\/honor-magic-v2-foldable-international-china-release-app-market<\/a>
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Honor is planning to release its second foldable next year, and unlike the Honor Magic V<\/a>, the company hopes to actually release the device outside of China. Honor\u2019s CEO, George Zhao, confirmed the plans in an interview with The Verge <\/em>ahead of this year\u2019s IFA trade show in Berlin and said the company expects to launch its next foldable device in the first quarter of next year. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made the decision that next year, in Q1, we\u2019ll bring our latest foldable smartphone to international markets,\u201d including Europe, Zhao said. The CEO didn\u2019t confirm any specifics or details for the new device but indicated that Honor\u2019s major areas of focus for its foldables are making them thinner, lighter, and more affordable. <\/p>\n

A release in the first quarter of next year would come roughly a year after Honor debuted its first foldable device, the Honor Magic V<\/a>. The company is one of several Chinese smartphone brands that have recently launched foldables, alongside the likes of Oppo\u2019s Find N<\/a>, Xiaomi\u2019s Mix Fold<\/a>, and Huawei\u2019s Mate X devices<\/a>. <\/p>\n

A surprisingly large proportion of these devices have remained exclusive to the Chinese market, however. In the west, only Samsung and Huawei have made serious foldable pushes, and of them, it\u2019s arguably only Samsung\u2019s devices that have been worth considering<\/a>; Huawei\u2019s continue to be sold without Google\u2019s apps and services<\/a> as a result of ongoing US sanctions. The result is that Chinese customers simply have a much broader range of foldable devices to choose from.<\/p>\n

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Honor\u2019s Magic V is exclusively available in China.<\/em><\/figcaption>Image: Honor<\/cite><\/p>\n

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When I asked Zhao why Honor and other brands are prioritizing China for their foldables, he said that a much bigger proportion of popular apps in the country are optimized for foldable devices. That\u2019s because China has a unique Android app market that\u2019s dominated by domestically produced apps like WeChat, and it even has a special version of TikTok (named Douyin) in the country. The situation makes it easier to collaborate with developers to optimize their apps for new form factors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a very good relationship with the [China-based] app providers,\u201d explains Zhao, who says that this relationship means developers are willing to work with Honor to optimize their apps for foldables. Unlike in the rest of the world, where users download Android apps from the global Google Play Store, users in China access them via a number of app stores that are specific to the market.<\/p>\n

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