The Galaxy Z Flip 3 didn't have any real competitors. It's the only clamshell foldable smartphone that's being sold at scale. Huawei did showcase its own clamshell foldable but it was only limited to China initially.
Not anymore. Huawei has now released the P50 Pocket foldable smartphone across the globe. Anybody who's interested in a device of this form factor now has two options. However, the experience that they'll get for the money will be significantly different.
Huawei P50 Pocket is coming after the Galaxy Z Flip 3
The Huawei P50 Pocket was first released in China last year. It's a clamshell foldable that operates much like the Galaxy Z Flip 3. The device folds down the middle and has a cover display on the top half.
The Chinese manufacturer took a slightly different approach and went for a circular cover display underneath the similarly-shaped camera cutout. Its powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, the same as the Galaxy Z Flip 3, with up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of RAM. It doesn't have support for 5G, though. The 6.9-inch foldable display has a 120Hz refresh rate with 1188×2790 pixel resolution.
Huawei wants to compete with the Galaxy Z Flip 3 globally. It has now launched the P50 Pocket worldwide. The device is available for pre-order in markets across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia and Latin America. Huawei won't be launching the device in the United States since it's effectively banned from the country.
The Huawei P50 Pocket is priced at €1,299 in Europe. It is significantly higher than the €829 asking price of the Galaxy Z Flip 3 on the continent. There's a good shot that in all markets where the P50 Pocket is released, it will cost more than the Galaxy Z Flip 3.
Let's not forget that even though the P50 Pocket runs on Android, it doesn't have access to Google Play Services. Users won't have access to the Google Play Store and any Google services like Gmail, Google Maps or YouTube. Not much trouble for the Galaxy Z Flip 3 after all.
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