Huawei announces P50 Pocket foldable flip phone will be unveiled on December 23rd

Huawei announced today on Weibo (via Pandaily) that its new flagship product launch winter conference will take place on December 23rd. On that date, the company said that it will announce the Huawei P50 Pocket which is believed to be a foldable phone that shuts vertically like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 and the Motorola Razr. 

The new Huawei foldable flip phone will supposedly sport a next-generation hinge from Zhaoli Technology. It contains fewer parts making it not as expensive and more reliable compared to the hinges used on previous generations of flip phones. Some who have seen the device say that there are no creases on the display, which have become the bane of the modern foldable handset.

According to images on Huawei's verified Weibo post, the P50 Pocket will be available in White and Gold. A leaked image of a protective case for the device indicates that the back of the P50 Pocket will have two large camera lenses in the back, similar to the design of the Huawei P50. Volume rockers and the power button are on the right.

Other products that we expect to see announced a week from Thursday include the Huawei Watch D. As we mentioned just the other day, a leaked image of the device's box revealed that the timepiece will be able to provide blood pressure readings, and will be powered by HarmonyOS. Also, a possibility to be unveiled at the event could be Huawei's Bluetooth glasses.

Huawei has already released three variants of foldable phones. The Mate X and Mate XS both folded outward to reveal their larger tablet-sized display. Because the screen folded outward, the two panels that created the larger display were available for use as smaller "exterior" screens when the device was closed. Earlier this year, the Mate X2 was launched with a design similar to the Galaxy Fold 3.

The Mate X2 closes like a book and features a 6.5-inch front cover display and an 8-inch tablet-sized screen. As for the P50 Pocket, we could see a 6.5-inch to 6.7-inch 21:9 display when opened. Will it support 5G? Huawei socked enough Kirin 9000 chips away for the foldable Mate X2 to offer 5G support for that model. But if it didn't keep enough inventory of the chip for the P50 Pocket, it might have to resort once again to a 4G version of the Snapdragon 888 which it used on the P50 series earlier this year.

As you probably know, the U.S. government's export rules prevent any foundry using American technology to build chips from shipping any cutting-edge chips to Huawei without a license from the U.S. Commerce Department.