It’s no secret Huawei’s been working on a successor to its first foldable smartphone , the Mate X, and now we have a new report that claims the next-gen successor could be launched by the company some time during the second half of 2020.

As per reports, Huawei is working on the phone and a small volume trial production of components has already begun. The company is reportedly doing so to ensure that there are no issues with durability when the phone is finally launched.

To remind users, the Mate X was launched earlier in 2019, but faced delays and could only launch in November as the company worked hard to ensure that the units it was putting out were of satisfactory build quality.

A report by DigiTimes claims that some of Huawei's suppliers including those for hinges and panels have begun small-volume trial production for components needed for the new foldable model, said the sources. It further goes on to add that Taiwan's hinge makers, seeing promising potential from the foldable smartphone segment, have initiated capacity expansion projects.

While the report does mention a mid-2020 time frame for the second-gen Huawei Mate X, it cannot be ignored that previous reports had suggested the smartphone could be unveiled at MWC 2020.

The smartphone is expected to bring an improved design with itself, with a better hinge mechanism as well as a better display. Earlier, there were reports that we could also see a Mate Xs before the eventual launch of the next-gen Mate X. The Mate Xs could come with a Kirin 990 5G processor at the heart of it, and may well be unveiled during MWC 2020 in Barcelona.

As for the next-gen Mate X also being called as Mate X2 by many the foldable phone could bring a similar design to that of the Samsung Galaxy Fold and will as such will not fold outwards but inwards. There could also be a full-sized screen on the inside and then a smaller display on the outside for notifications or selfies, claim media reports.

This primary display is expected to be between 6.5-inches and 6.9-inches in size, but the phone itself would have a much smaller footprint when folded to be kept inside the user’s pocket.

But that’s not all. Earlier last month, a patent had emerged that showed Huawei’s working on a device that folds like the Motorola Razr. But unlike the Razr, this phone appeared to have two displays, with the second one likely to be used for viewing notifications.