Huawei's trifold phone is proving popular among Apple iPhone fans in Beijing
BEIJING — Many of Apple's affluent iPhone users in China are just as interested in Huawei's pricier trifold phone, CNBC found during spot checks at stores Friday, the day the iPhone 16 and Mate XT launched in the country.
Out of 10 people CNBC talked to on Friday, eight said they are interested in both the new Huawei and Apple phones. CNBC talked to five individuals at each company's store during a workday morning.
Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has sought to rebuild its smartphone business after U.S. sanctions in 2019. Huawei ranked fourth by China smartphone market share in the second quarter, according to Canalys.
U.S.-based Apple dropped out of the top five, giving domestic players the top five spots for the first time, the data showed.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,199, and the iPhone 16 at $799. Huawei's trifold Mate XT starts at the equivalent of more than $2,800.
The price gap was even more apparent on online platforms selling secondhand goods.
The Huawei Mate XT was selling for 50,000 yuan to 60,000 yuan ($7,100 to $8,520) on second-hand shopping platform Xianyu as of 1 p.m. Friday afternoon. The Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max was selling for 10,500 yuan to 16,300 yuan, the site showed.
Earlier in the day, the listed resale Mate XT price was 19,000 yuan, while the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max was selling for 9,999 yuan, the site showed.
People in Beijing lined up as early as 5:30 a.m. to get the new iPhone when doors opened at 8 a.m.
But there were no lines outside Huawei stores in Beijing and Hefei, a smaller city west of Shanghai. The Chinese company started delivering the new phones at 10:08 a.m. to people who had reserved the trifold device.
During the 1 hour and 20 minutes that CNBC was at the Huawei
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