Huawei Mate XT ULTIMATE DESIGN Official Trailer - First Triple-foldable. Huawei Mate XT ULTIMATE DESIGN starts accepting subscription orders at 12:08 pm on September 7. Photo: Screenshot from the Huawei Mate XT ULTIMATE DESIGN Official Trailer.

Technology giant Huawei's tri-folding smartphone, the Huawei Mate XT, started accepting subscription orders at 12:08 pm on Saturday, igniting a buying spree. 

In less than an hour, the online Huawei Mall reported more than 190,000 pre-orders.

As of press time, as many as 2.04 million people had pre-ordered the Huawei Mate XT on Huawei Mall. The website announced that the phone will officially go on sale at 10:08 am on September 20.

According to Huawei Mall, the phone is expected to come in two colours: red and black. So far, only the red colour has been showcased in the published images.

The tag of 'Huawei tri-fold' on China's social media Sina Weibo has attracted more than 59 million views as of press time, with many buyers displaying their excitement for the new handset.

Huawei started the registration and reservation for intended purchases at its Shanghai flagship store at 12: 45 pm on Saturday, with all slots filled by the afternoon, a representative from the Huawei Flagship Store at Shanghai Nanjing East Road -the company's largest offline store globally, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

"Both phone calls and in-store inquiries from buyers surged, after the launch of Huawei Mate MT version. The introduction of this new cell phone has significantly boosted foot traffic, with buyers particularly excited about the tri-fold phone," the representative said.

"While offline stores in Beijing have not yet started accepting pre-orders for the Huawei Mate XT, buyers' enthusiasm remains strong," a representative from a Beijing-based Huawei Authorized Experience Store told the Global Times on Sunday, adding more than half of the visitors to the store inquired about the Huawei Mate XT.

The Huawei Mate XT is scheduled to be unveiled on Tuesday, shortly after Apple's expected launch of the iPhone 16 on Monday in the US. 

In a recent post, Canadian research firm TechInsights revealed that global shipments of foldable smartphones saw an 85 percent year-on-year increase. Huawei remained to be the market leader in Q2 2024, followed by Samsung and Vivo.

The advancements of tri-fold smartphones can be attributed to the need for the materials that can provide a large surface area while being both light in weight and strong in tenacity, Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance for Alleged Internet Infringement, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Xiang said that it places exceptionally high demands on the underlying materials, supporting technology and design capability.