8:00 36Kr Briefs | Unitree Technology's market value returns to 200 billion yuan; Tim from Media Storm stated in his iPhone Duo review that the device is too hot to grip; Luo Yonghao denies promoting Chicecream

Today's Hotspot Guide

• HYROX China: Full refunds for all relevant athletes
• Kimi releases AI solutions for the financial industry
• Fed Chair responds to interest rate hikes: U.S. inflation remains excessively high for an extended period
• Apple, Samsung and Google are investigated on the same day
• Ministry of Commerce: Chinese and US economic and trade teams are maintaining close communication on issues including tariff reduction

TOP 3 Major News

The humanoid robot concept sector rallied amid volatility, with Unitree Robotics' market value returning to 200 billion yuan

On September 17, the humanoid robot concept sector trended upward with fluctuations. Guansheng Co., Ltd., Beite Technology and Tianhai Electronics hit the daily 10% up limit. Unitree Robotics once rose by more than 7% during intraday trading, and its market value returned to 200 billion yuan. On the news front, a report from Counterpoint Research shows that the global shipment of humanoid robots in the first half of 2026 exceeded 22,000 units, representing a year-on-year growth of nearly 300%, and the top five vendors are all Chinese manufacturers. (Jiemian News)

MediaStorm Tim Reviews iPhone Duo: Too Hot to Hold

Recently, MediaStorm tested Apple's first foldable iPhone Duo. In the video, Tim stated after the assessment that from the perspective of a digital content creator, it is hard to say this device is worth the purchase. He also pointed out in the review that the iPhone Duo has problems in folding mechanism, screen and other aspects. In particular, the AppleCare service for iPhone Duo is extremely expensive. Compared with other Apple models, he suggested Apple fans choose Apple's conventional bar smartphones. Tim mentioned in the video that the temperature of iPhone Duo is controllable under daily use scenarios, but when recording videos or running high-load tasks, the area under the phone camera generates extremely severe heat. He bluntly stated that iPhone Duo is one of the hottest smartphones he has ever tested. At present, Apple's strategy seems to be to unleash the full performance of the A20 Pro on the iPhone Duo, but after analysis, Tim believes that Apple will definitely cut down the performance in subsequent software updates to ensure user experience. (Kuai Technology)

Luo Yonghao Denies Promoting Chicecream

On September 12, Luo Yonghao posted on Weibo after trying Mr. Wildman ice cream at the airport, saying "It tastes far worse than Chicecream, and I miss Chicecream". Three days later, the news that Chicecream had changed its new owner and would appear at the Tianjin Ice Cream Expo on September 16 was made public. Later that day, Luo Yonghao posted another Weibo talking about the past controversies of Chicecream such as "cannot be melted by burning" and "take it or leave it". On September 16, Chicecream officially announced the brand restart.

After several consecutive time points emerged, some netizens began to question whether Luo Yonghao's previous evaluation of Mr. Wildman and subsequent mention of "missing Chicecream" were related to this restart of Chicecream. Luo Yonghao has publicly denied this for many times, one of his responses said: "According to the news, that is an industry event that was arranged long ago." The reporter later reviewed multiple versions of public materials released by the 28th China Ice Cream and Frozen Food Industry Expo since July, and found that the public clues of Chicecream's participation in this exhibition were far earlier than September. On July 27, in a version of the exhibition hall map released by the official public account of the Ice Cream Expo, "Chicecream" was clearly marked at T919, N6 Corridor, more than a month earlier than Luo Yonghao's Weibo post on September 12. (Yicai Global)

Cutting-edge AI

Kimi Launches AI Solution for the Financial Industry

36Kr learned that on September 17, Moonshot AI released the Kimi financial industry solution. This solution supports one-stop access to over 10 data sources, comes with 9 built-in professional financial functions and 5 security and compliance measures, boasts institutional-level data modeling and report delivery capabilities, and fully covers core business scenarios including position morning briefings, earnings report comments, project screening, in-depth research and portfolio review. It can reduce the data processing work that used to take days to complete to an hourly level, enabling professionals to focus on analysis and decision-making.

Nebius to raise prices of partial GPU computing power starting from October 1st

On September 17, according to the notice sent by Nebius to its customers, the company will raise the prices of some on-demand GPU computing power starting from October 1. The hourly prices of H100, H200, B200 and B300 GPUs will be increased from $3.85, $4.50, $7.15 and $7.85 to $4.50, $5.40, $8.50 and $9.50 respectively, with increases of about 17%, 20%, 19% and 21% accordingly. In addition, the price of AMD EPYC Genoa CPU will rise by 25%, and the price of Genoa memory will increase by about 41%. (Jiemian News)

OpenAI is reportedly close to solving another "Millennium Prize Problem" and may conquer the Hodge Conjecture

On September 17, according to reports, OpenAI has been close to solving another mathematical puzzle among the "Millennium Prize Problems" — the Hodge Conjecture. Employees of OpenAI predict that this problem is likely to be solved soon. The Hodge Conjecture is one of the seven "Millennium Prize Problems" proposed by the Clay Mathematics Institute of the United States, and anyone who solves any of these problems can receive a $1 million bonus. (Jiemian News)

Big Companies / Major Events

AITO withdraws from Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance stores, customer service responds: no relevant information can be disclosed at present

News on the afternoon of September 17 shows that multiple media reports indicate that a number of dealers have received notifications from Huawei that starting from January 1 next year, AITO will officially withdraw from Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance and Huawei's exclusive stores. The report states that dealers will independently choose to act as agents for the Huawei, Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance or AITO brands at that time. AITO will retain its existing delivery centers to support automotive after-sales services and deliveries. If dealers choose to only operate the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance brand, they will remain under the direct sales model.

Up to the time of publication, Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance has not issued any response regarding this matter. Huawei customer service stated that there is no relevant information available for disclosure at present, and it is recommended to follow Huawei's official channels for the latest updates. (Sina Tech)

CATL plans to invest 1.4 billion yuan to build a new annual production capacity of 40,000 tons of lithium carbonate in Ya'an

On September 17, the Management Committee of Ya'an Economic and Technological Development Zone recently released the first public notice on the environmental impact assessment information for the CATL Ya'an lithium salt production base project. The total investment of the project is 1.4 billion yuan, and it is planned to build annual production capacities of about 40,000 tons of lithium carbonate, 30,000 tons of lithium dihydrogen phosphate and 130,000 tons of thenardite. It is worth noting that the currently published content is only the first public notice of the ecological environmental impact assessment information, indicating that the project is still in the early stage of environmental assessment information disclosure. The public notice does not disclose the construction period, capital source, raw material supply plan and expected operation time, nor does it mean that the project has obtained the EIA approval or officially started construction. When contacting the liaison of the project construction unit by phone this afternoon, the relevant person stated that it was not convenient to disclose specific information. (National Business Daily)

U.S. Stock Market Close: Nasdaq and S&P 500 Index Rise Over 1%, AI Hardware Stocks and Chip Semiconductor Stocks Surge Sharply

The three major U.S. stock indexes closed higher collectively, with the Nasdaq up 1.69%, the S&P 500 Index up 1.14%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.61%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 3.14%.

AI hardware stocks and chip semiconductor stocks posted sharp gains, and Direxion Daily Semiconductors Bull 3X Shares ETF surged 10.44%. Arm rose more than 8%, Intel rose more than 7%, Western Digital and AMD rose more than 6%, Micron Technology rose more than 5%, SK Hynix, Dell Technologies and Marvell Technology rose more than 4%, NVIDIA, SpaceX, Seagate Technology and Qualcomm rose more than 2%. (CLS)

Zhou Hongyi Regrets Investing in Nezha Auto, Says He Will No Longer Invest in New Energy Vehicles

On September 16, Zhou Hongyi, founder of 360 Group, said in a media interview that he will no longer invest in new energy vehicles, stating bluntly that "I have already suffered a loss once, and I will not enter this sector again". In 2021, 360 announced plans to invest a total of 2.9 billion yuan in Nezha Auto. After the full implementation of the investment, it held a 16.59% stake, becoming the largest shareholder outside the management team, with an initial investment of 1.9 billion yuan. Zhou Hongyi stated at that time that the cooperation between 360 and Nezha Auto was not only a capital partnership, but also a deep-level strategic tie-up. (Blue Whale News)

GPU rental prices rise by up to 21%, cloud computing service provider Nebius surges over 9% in pre-market trading

Cloud computing service provider Nebius announced that it will raise the prices of a number of on-demand computing resources starting from October 1, among which the latest NVIDIA GPUs see the largest increase.

Under the new pricing, the rate of H100 increases from $3.85 per GPU-hour to $4.50 per GPU-hour, representing a rise of about 17%; H200 goes up from $4.50 to $5.40, marking a 20% increase; B200 climbs from $7.15 to $8.50, with an increase of nearly 19%; NVIDIA B300 records the largest absolute increase, rising from $7.85 to $9.50 per GPU-hour, up by roughly 21%. The price adjustment also involves pure CPU computing. The rate of AMD EPYC Genoa CPU is raised by 25% from $0.012 per vCPU-hour to $0.015; the Genoa memory rate is increased by about 41% from $0.0032 per GiB-hour to $0.0045. Nebius' U.S. listed shares further rise by more than 9% in pre-market trading. (CLS)

Evergrande Auto Exits Automobile Manufacturing, Its Battery Trading Business Generated RMB 8.73 Million Revenue in the First Half of the Year

On the morning of September 17, Evergrande Auto disclosed in its 2026 interim results announcement that the Group has adopted a number of plans and measures to ease liquidity pressure and improve its financial position.

The Group has completed its exit from automobile manufacturing, and implemented a strategic transformation to an asset-light business model based on the retained proprietary technologies related to electric vehicle batteries and automobile manufacturing. In addition, the company is in discussions with the joint and several liquidators of China Evergrande Group (in liquidation), which is the company's parent company and largest creditor, on the overall restructuring of the Group's debts, the vast majority of which are owed to China Evergrande Group (in liquidation), its subsidiaries and other related parties of the company. (National Business Daily)

Fed Chair Responds to Interest Rate Hike: US Inflation Has Remained Too High for an Extended Period

The United States Federal Reserve announced on September 16 local time its first interest rate hike in more than three years, and forecast that there would be another rate hike before the end of the year. The Federal Open Market Committee unanimously approved the rate hike decision, and newly appointed Fed Chair Kevin Warsh also voted in favor of the move. This marks his first policy shift since taking office. Warsh assumed his post in late May. When US President Trump nominated him, he had expected Warsh to cut interest rates.

Speaking at the press conference after the monetary policy meeting on the reasons for the rate hike, Warsh said, "US inflation is too high and has lasted for a long time, and today's monetary policy action will help push inflation back to the committee's 2% target in a more timely manner." (CCTV International Current Affairs)

Apple, Samsung, Google, Under Investigation on the Same Day

According to the press release published on the official website of the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) on the local 16th, the US International Trade Commission has passed a voting decision to launch an investigation into certain electronic devices that apply specific audio technologies. The investigated targets include Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics, Samsung Electronics America and Google.

The above press release shows that this investigation originates from the complaint submitted by BoomCloud 360 Inc., a company based in Encinitas, California, the United States, on August 14, 2026, and the company also submitted supplementary complaint materials on August 31, 2026. The supplemented complaint alleges that some electronic devices equipped with specific audio technologies are imported into the United States and sold in the U.S. territory, which are suspected of infringing part of the claims of the patents held by the complainant, violating the provisions of Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930. The complainant requests the ITC to issue a limited exclusion order and a cease-and-desist order. (China New Finance and Economics)

China's monetary policy adheres to a self-oriented approach, and the foreign exchange market continues to maintain steady operation

Does the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike have an impact on China's macroeconomy and the direction of its monetary policy? Since August, the international financial market has continued its volatile trend, the RMB has shown a steady and slightly strong performance with two-way fluctuations against the US dollar, China's foreign exchange market has maintained steady operation, and cross-border capital has maintained net inflow. Wang Yifeng, deputy director of Everbright Securities Research Institute, said that after this Fed rate hike, although the inversion of China-US interest rate spread has widened to some extent, considering that the market had relatively full expectations for this in the early stage, the US Treasury yields have risen significantly recently. This rate hike is a precautionary one, reflecting the Fed's desire to rebuild market confidence against the backdrop of persistently high inflation. Last month, the People's Bank of China pointed out in the Q2 monetary policy implementation report that this round of rate hikes by major overseas economies has brought more changes in interest rates and liquidity rather than a reversal of policy orientation, and the impact may be smaller than in previous cases.

Industry experts said that China's monetary policy has adhered to the principle of prioritizing domestic needs for years, giving top priority to supporting domestic economic development. In recent years, the People's Bank of China has continuously pushed down the financing cost of the real economy through multiple rounds of RRR cuts and interest rate cuts. In August, the weighted average interest rate of newly issued corporate loans was slightly lower than 3%, about 0.2 percentage points lower than the same period of the previous year; the weighted average interest rate of newly issued individual housing loans was 3.1%, both remaining at historically low levels. Industry insiders said that China's export situation is highly certain, domestic inflation is running at a moderate and low level, and the impact of the Fed's rate hike on cross-border capital flows is controllable. China's monetary policy maintains loose liquidity, strongly supporting the financing demand of the real economy. The RMB exchange rate is highly resilient, and whether major overseas economies raise interest rates has little direct impact on the RMB exchange rate. (CCTV Finance)

Ministry of Commerce: China-US economic and trade teams are maintaining close exchanges on issues including tariff reduction

The Ministry of Commerce held a regular press conference on the 17th. He Yadong, the press spokesperson, said when responding to questions about the latest progress of the consultation on the arrangement of mutual tariff reduction involving 30 billion US dollars between China and the United States that the economic and trade teams of the two sides are currently maintaining close exchanges on relevant issues, and relevant progress will be released in due course. (Xinhua News Agency)

HYROX China: Full Refund for Relevant Athletes, Apology from Contestant

Recently, the HYROX China team sent emails to participants of the afternoon session of the Beijing Station event held on September 12, announcing that full refunds will be provided for the entry fees paid by "athletes who started the race before 14:40 on September 12 but failed to finish it by that time" and "all athletes in the starting batches from 14:40 to 20:40 on September 12".

On September 17, HYROX contestant Joanna Wietrzyk released a statement, offering her sincere apologies to Chinese spectators, participating athletes and the event organizing team for the incidents that took place during the Beijing Station competition. She has decided to retroactively withdraw from this event and forfeit the points she previously earned. (Jiemian News)

Google loses the ad tech monopoly lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice

According to the announcement released by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice has secured a major substantive relief ruling in the monopoly lawsuit (United States et al. v. Google LLC) against Google in the web ad technology (Ad Tech) market. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia reiterated in the judgment that Google's monopoly must be ended, the market constraints brought by its anti-competitive practices must be eliminated, and Google is prohibited from continuing to enjoy the monopoly power and profits it obtained illegally. The court explicitly rejected Google's defense that "ending the monopoly is not an appropriate goal in a monopoly case". (Sina Finance)

Musk Says Starship Is Expected to Send 10 Million Tons of Payload Into Orbit Every Year

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, stated that as the company's operation scales up, its Starship rocket will eventually be capable of delivering 1 million to 10 million tons of payload into orbit annually. (Sina Finance)

Bank of Korea: Foreign investors made net purchases of $400 million worth of South Korean stocks in August, ending a seven-month selling streak

Data released by the Bank of Korea on Thursday shows that foreign investors net bought South Korean stocks worth 400 million U.S. dollars in August, putting an end to the seven-month sell-off. The Bank of Korea stated that despite the renewed escalation of tensions in the Middle East and lingering market concerns about excessive investment in the AI infrastructure sector, market sentiment has improved boosted by the positive earnings reports of large U.S. technology companies, driving foreign investors to make large-scale purchases of local South Korean stocks. (The Financial Associated Press)

CATL's market value has shrunk by 100 billion US dollars, and bulls still remain firmly optimistic about its technological advantages

Even though CATL's market capitalization has evaporated by 100 billion US dollars in four months, the bulls are not swayed. According to Bloomberg, sell-side institutions still hold a positive view on CATL, with 47 analysts unanimously giving it a "Buy" rating. "In the past, many automakers have spared no effort to promote the 'de-CATLization' of their supply chains, but none of them succeeded," said Bing Yuan, Fund Manager of Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management. "It is extremely difficult to replicate CATL's technology and reliability. Smaller suppliers may be able to meet the demand for mass-market vehicle models, but flagship and high-end product lines will still rely on CATL." (Sina Finance)

National Radio and Television Administration: Radio and Television and Audiovisual Programs Using AI Must Be Added with Content Identifications

The State Council Information Office held the themed press conference series "Kick off the 15th Five-Year Plan" on the 17th. Relevant officials from the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) introduced the relevant situation of accelerating the high-quality development of radio and television and online audiovisual services during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. It was stated at the meeting that radio and television audiovisual is a key sector for the innovative development of artificial intelligence, as well as a fertile practice ground for the landing and application of artificial intelligence. At present, artificial intelligence technology has been widely applied in all links including planning, production, review, dissemination and service of different types of programs such as TV dramas, online dramas, micro short dramas, variety shows and animations, and artificial intelligence applications are extremely extensive across the industry.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, while continuing to deepen the innovative application of artificial intelligence in all links of the radio and television audiovisual sector, we will coordinate development and security, adhere to the principle that technology serves people and creation, actively guide and standardize the innovative application of artificial intelligence in the whole process of audiovisual content production, so as to ensure that there are clear rules for encouraging innovation and clear boundaries for standardized development. For example, radio and television audiovisual programs generated, produced and broadcast with artificial intelligence technology must be added with content identifications; key links of radio and television audiovisual program production and the content of finished programs must be subject to manual review and check; unauthorized AI distortion of programs is strictly prohibited. Artificial intelligence technology will continue to iterate and evolve, and the National Radio and Television Administration will continuously improve systems and norms, conduct scientific research and judgment, and implement targeted policies for different categories, encourage innovation in areas that should be opened up, and firmly hold the bottom line that must be guarded. (CCTV News)

The per-gram price of gold jewelry rises slightly, with Laofengxiang's per-gram gold price hitting 1300 yuan

On September 17, the comparison of domestic gold ornament prices shows that the domestic fine gold jewelry prices released by a number of gold and jewelry brands have increased compared with the previous day. Laofengxiang's quotation is 1300 yuan per gram, 5 yuan higher than the previous day; Laomiao Gold's quotation is 1293 yuan per gram, 3 yuan higher than the previous day; Chow Sang Sang's quotation is 1299 yuan per gram, 4 yuan higher than the previous day. (Jiemian News)

Japan's household assets rise to a record high of 2519 trillion yen

According to the quarterly fund flow report released by the Bank of Japan, as of the end of June, driven by the rise in stock prices, Japanese household assets increased by 11% year on year to a record 2519 trillion yen (16.1 trillion US dollars). Due to the rising value of stocks, household stock assets surged 47% to 486 trillion yen. (Sina Finance)

India Plans to Impose Fees on "Scan-and-Pay"

The world's largest retail fast payment system by transaction volume is set to usher in major changes. According to a report by New Delhi Television on the 15th, India plans to charge fees on transactions of more than 2,000 Indian rupees (100 Indian rupees are approximately equal to 7 Chinese yuan) made to merchants via the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), ending the era of zero-cost payments that has lasted for many years. As one of the key projects in India's digital public infrastructure sector, UPI has achieved remarkable development since its launch in 2016, with an annual transaction volume exceeding 240 billion. (Sina Finance)

UN Secretary-General Calls for Global Cooperation to Establish Guardrails for Artificial Intelligence

At a press conference held ahead of the start of this year's High-Level Week of the United Nations General Assembly, António Guterres said that artificial intelligence has enormous potential, but more and more AI developers have warned recently that its development speed has outpaced human cognition of its risks. Some developers have called for a suspension of AI development, while others have called for the establishment of guardrails. No country can ignore these concerns. Guterres stated that governments must take the primary responsibility first. Since the development of artificial intelligence and the risks it brings transcend national borders, global collaboration is indispensable. Isolated, unverifiable, and unevenly implemented voluntary moratoriums cannot solve the current problems. (Xinhua News Agency)

Iceland's stock market will introduce a central counterparty clearing mechanism in 2028

Nasdaq Iceland will roll out central counterparty clearing services for the Icelandic stock market, which is expected to cut the settlement and capital costs of market participants and improve market liquidity. The project is planned to be implemented in the first quarter of 2028. The exchange noted that this decision is one of the most significant developments of Iceland's securities market in recent years, as well as a key step in the continuous modernization process of the market. This reform will further connect the Icelandic market with international standards, meet investors' expectations, and enhance market resilience, operational efficiency and inclusiveness. (Sina Finance)

ECB Governing Council Member Makhlouf: Interest rate hikes are possible at every policy meeting, and the October meeting is not excluded

Gabriel Makhlouf, member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, does not rule out the possibility of raising interest rates in October if necessary. Although there are no worrying signs that inflation is spreading to wages at present, officials will make decisions on interest rates based on actual conditions. (CLS)

Ongoing IPO Listings

AI data center developer Li'an is considering an IPO, planning to raise 500 million US dollars

AI data center developer Li'an is considering an IPO, planning to raise 500 million US dollars. (Sina Finance)

Investment and Financing

"DigeBot Robotics" Completes $400 Million Series C Financing

36Kr has learned that DigeBot Robotics has announced the completion of a $400 million Series C financing. This round of financing is led by Mirae Asset, with co-investments from Meituan Strategic Investment, government investment platforms including Hefei State-owned Investment, Nanshan Strategic Emerging Industry Investment and Jingquan Capital, investment institutions including Cathay Capital, Huamei International Investment Group Co., Ltd., GF Xinde, BeyondMoore, Xinchuang Phase II Fund under Qihang Investment, as well as continuous additional investment from many existing shareholders including GL Ventures, 5Y Capital, Linear Capital, Huangpu River Capital, Vertex Growth under Temasek, and Prosperity7. The proceeds of this round of financing will be used to strengthen the full computing power product layout of the Sunrise Chip, and build a full-link software platform that integrates data collection, model training, simulation verification and inference deployment.

"Xijia Medical" Completes Tens of Millions of Yuan in Pre-Series A Financing

36Kr has learned that Xijia Medical, a brain science AI company, has recently completed tens of millions of yuan in Pre-Series A financing. This round of financing is led by Sinocapital, with follow-on investments from Xi Venture Capital, Qinzhi Capital, Huichuang Medical and Xingfu Capital. The funds raised in this round will be mainly used for clinical research, market expansion and product iteration.

AI marketing startup "Profound" has completed a $180 million Series D financing round, with a valuation of $1.8 billion

36Kr learned that artificial intelligence marketing startup "Profound" recently announced that it has closed a $180 million Series D financing, bringing its valuation to $1.8 billion. This financing round was co-led by Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins. It is reported that Profound was founded in 2024 and is headquartered in New York. It has raised more than $335 million so far, committed to helping brands adjust their online marketing strategies to adapt to the trend that a growing number of consumers prefer to initiate web queries via AI chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT or Google's Gemini, rather than using traditional search engines.

AI startup founded by former DeepMind researchers is reportedly planning to raise $700 million in financing, with its valuation expected to reach $3 billion

On September 17, it is reported that the British AI startup Emulate is negotiating a $700 million financing round, with a pre-money valuation of approximately $3 billion. The company was founded by Jack Parker-Holder, Matthew McGill and Philip Ball, who once worked on the Google DeepMind world model team, and focuses on developing AI systems for simulating and predicting how the physical world operates. (Jiemian News)

Cool Products

Doubao In-Cabin Assistant Officially Launched, First Equipped on Roewe Jiajue 07

On September 17, Volcano Engine announced that the in-vehicle AI assistant "Doubao In-Cabin Assistant" was officially released. Vehicle owners can remotely control the vehicle, check the vehicle status, and push the itinerary in the conversation to the infotainment system via the Doubao APP. At present, Doubao In-Cabin Assistant has reached a cooperation with SAIC Motor. The Roewe Jiajue 07, the first model equipped with Doubao In-Cabin Assistant, is about to start pre-sales, and relevant SAIC Audi models will also be unveiled within the year. (Jiemian News)

Samsung is reportedly accelerating the advancement of its next-generation tri-fold smartphone, which is expected to be released as early as the end of this year or early next year

On September 17, according to reports, after Apple released its first foldable-screen iPhone Duo, Samsung is considering speeding up the launch process of its next-generation tri-fold smartphone Galaxy Z TriFold 2. The device is most likely to be released at the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027 at the earliest, while its previously scheduled release time was the second half of 2027. It is reported that the Galaxy Z TriFold 2 has been in development for several months, which may adopt a wider and shorter body and be equipped with an S Pen stylus slot. Samsung hopes to keep the price of the new phone at a level "almost the same" as that of the first-generation product. (Jiemian News)

Edited by 丨 Wang Haoyang