Huawei’s new foldable Pocket S combines a familiar design with a lower price
Almost a year after Huawei announced its first folding clamshell in the form of the P50 Pocket, it’s back with a sequel. Called the Huawei Pocket S, the new device has the same foldable form factor as the P50 with a circular notification display and camera bumps on the outside. But the new phone comes with one less external camera, a lower processor and a lower starting price of 5,988 (about $818) versus ¥8,988 (about $1,228) for the P50 Pocket.
That price means the Pocket S neatly undercuts its main folding clamshell competitor, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 4 (which, according to China, cost around £7,499 or $1,025). Gizmochina). But ongoing US sanctions against Huawei mean the Pocket S will face technical limitations, including a lack of support for 5G networks. And if it ever gets released outside of China, don’t expect any Google apps or services to be available natively.
Furthermore, the basis of the Pocket S is the same as that of the P50 Pocket. There is a 6.9-inch internal foldable display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and a resolution of 2790 x 1188. Huawei says it can survive 400,000 folds. It’s paired with a small circular 1.04-inch external display that can serve as a camera viewfinder, display notifications, and more. But you only get two rear cameras (a 40-megapixel main camera and 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens) this time without the P50 Pocket’s gimmicky 32-megapixel ultra-spectrum camera. The Pocket S also has a step-down midrange Snapdragon 778G processor this time around, unlike the flagship Snapdragon 888 in the P50 Pocket.
The P50 Pocket saw a worldwide release announced just over a month after its original launch in China last year, so it’s pretty safe to assume the Pocket S will eventually do the same. in china, GSMArena reports it goes on sale from November 10.