Hot on the heels of news about a revolutionary new folding smartphone that may (or may not) be coming soon, Huawei has teased a less revolutionary new folding phone that is definitely coming soon. Through a video trailer shared on its official Weibo social network page, Huawei has shown the Huawei Nova Flip, which has a different take on the current “big cover screen” trend.
In the video, the Nova Flip is shown folded and unfolded, with the former orientation revealing a small, square cover screen display. This is unlike the current crop of compact folding phones like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 and the Motorola Razr 2024, which have large screens on the outside that take up the majority of the panel. The idea is to increase usability when the phone is closed, as both apps and widgets can be used.
The Nova Flip’s cover screen takes up about a quarter of the closed phone’s front panel, so at best, you’ll see widgets rather than apps. Next to it are two cameras and a flash, but details on the specifications have not been revealed yet. In other views, we can see a power button, which likely includes a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, a USB-C connector, and the hinge design.
In the video Huawei leans heavily into two things: tactility and color. The phone is clearly a lime green color, and the hue is used throughout the video. We’d expect Huawei to introduce more colors, but green may end up being the star of the show and likely one of the brightest options, too. Otherwise, it’s all about the satisfying clack sound and the accompanying feeling you get when snapping the phone shut.
This isn’t Huawei’s first compact foldable. It started out making the P50 Pocket in 2022, a luxuriously designed folding phone with a small circular cover screen. It’s not the first outing for the Nova name either, and it has previously been used on more affordable devices. It’s therefore likely the Nova Flip will compete with the Razr 2024 more than the Galaxy Z Flip 6’s price. It won’t be long before the Nova Flip is officially announced, as Huawei has confirmed it will be fully revealed on August 5 in China.
