The foldable Huawei Mate X is now delayed until November

Huawei has delayed the launch of its Mate X foldable smartphone until after September, the company told TechRadar on Thursday.

November is now the likely launch month for the device, the publication was told at a press event, two months later than the expected debut of the now remedied Samsung Galaxy Fold.

According to the report, the engineering team back in Shenzhen has since included a “slimmer lock button” that’s now flush with the phone, and “refinements” to the phone’s hinge system, which opens outwards.

The publication doesn’t comment on the reason for the delay though.

Originally, the phone was set to debut in June, but Huawei is confident the phone won’t miss the 2019 hype window.

A November launch date does seem more beneficial for Huawei, considering the Mate 30 could debut in September.

Call this a bumpy beginning to the foldable smartphone industry, but some in the industry still believe we could see as many as 50-million foldable smartphones shipped by the middle of the next decade.

But first these phones will have to actually debut at some point. And that seems like a bit of a challenge even for the big industry players.

Feature image: Huawei Mate X, by Huawei