(Bloomberg) — Huawei Technologies Co. added a thin new handset to its lineup, offering Chinese consumers a direct competitor to Apple Inc.’s iPhone Air.
The new Huawei Mate 70 Air measures 6.6mm thick and costs 4,199 yuan ($590), significantly undercutting the $999 iPhone Air on price but failing to match its extreme thinness. Apple introduced the Air branding to its smartphone lineup for the first time with the new phone launched alongside its iPhone 17 generation this fall — and Huawei is openly going against it by adopting the same moniker.
China’s smartphone makers have shown a greater willingness to confront Apple (AAPL) this year. Xiaomi Corp. moved up the release of its latest flagship lineup and rebranded it to match Apple, with the Xiaomi 17 and 17 Pro series giving users better specs at lower prices than Apple.
Even so, Apple’s latest devices are selling better than the company’s prior generation in China this year, and that may be cause for more of its competitors to offer up fresh alternatives.
Huawei, the longtime leader in China’s premium mobile segment and the country’s strongest rival to Apple over the years, did not immediately jump into the fray last month when every other local phone maker rushed devices out. And instead of trying to take on Apple’s top-tier device, its Mate 70 Air is targeted at the more design-conscious demographic that the iPhone Air would appeal to.
For its thinness, Huawei’s Air handset makes fewer sacrifices than Apple’s ultrathin phone. The Mate 70 Air has a 7-inch display, stereo speakers and a large 6,500mAh battery. Running Huawei’s in-house operating system, the new phone is available to pre-order in China via the company’s online store, with deliveries starting Nov. 11.
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