In our Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 review, we praised the folding phone for its neat design, solid specs and decent cameras, and it got a spot on our best foldable phones list. But if you’ve been left thinking “I want something more luxury” then Huawei might have the answer.
Teased on Weibo by Huawei through the medium of a Harper’s Bazaar China photoshoot, the P50 Pocket appears to take the folding flip phone design and turn it up to 11. Not only does it appear to have a textured back in what looks like a gold color, it also has an intriguing circular external screen.
Much like the Galaxy Z Flip 3 has a small rectangular outside screen built into the camera module for showing notification and snippets of information, it looks like the P50 Pocket’s round display will do the same only look flashier; it reminds us of a Wear OS smartwatch face.
Translated from English via the power of Google, Huawei’s Weibo post seems to suggest that the design has been inspired by “light and shadow are intertwined, and all things live in symbiosis.” We’re not sure we buy into that hyperbole, but it’s certainly eye-catching and there is a hint of symbiosis between the camera module and the external display.
The small display sits nearly below the circular camera module, which seems to have three or four cameras (one of them could be a flash). This is an echo of the dual-circular camera module design of the Huawei P50, only with the second module being a screen.
How practical this circular external display will be isn’t clear. But it certainly looks neat and hints at the direction future foldable phones could take.
We might argue that the Huawei P50 Pocket isn't doing that much on top of the Galaxy Z Flip 3 other than make it a little flashier. Yet even small steps in foldable phone design can be intriguing. Take the Oppo Find N as an example: it’s an obvious Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 rival, but it's more compact and hints at a direction foldable phones could take.
However, the Huawei P50 isn’t designed to make it over to U.S. shores, thanks to the Huawei ban in the States. And it’s not clear if it’ll make it over to the U.K. or Europe either; the Find N is also limited to China.
But it's still an indication that foldable phones aren’t just a fad and are here to stay. Given they can foldable phones can boost productivity when out and about, that’s no bad thing. We just hope that as the tech matures we can get slimmer and more pocketable phones, as the likes of the Galaxy Z Fold 3 are still pretty chunky devices.
And the Huawei P50 Pocket could be followed into the foldable fray by the Honor Magic V.
