UPDATE: Last fall, China's Huawei confirmed that it's working on 5G foldable phones. Now, the company is nearly ready to show them off.

During an event in Beijing today, Huawei Consumer Business Group CEO Richard Yu said the company plans to launch its 5G foldable handsets at mobile phone industry trade show Mobile World Congress (MWC), which takes place next month in Barcelona.

"We look forward to seeing you in Barcelona in February, where we will launch the world's first 5G smartphones with foldable screen," Yu said, as Android Police reported.

MWC 2019, which runs from Feb. 25 to 28, is shaping up to be extremely exciting. Huawei is holding a press event prior to the show on Feb. 24, where we expect to see the Huawei P30. As PCMag's Lead Mobile Analyst noted in his MWC 2019 preview, "Huawei phones are essentially illegal here, but we'll cover the launch because Huawei is such a massive player everywhere else."

Meanwhile on the foldable phone front, China's Xiaomi just yesterday showed off a double-folding smartphone prototype it's considering mass producing. Two sides of the device can be folded backwards, transforming it from a tablet to a smartphone. Samsung also recently unveiled a concept folding phone, which opens like a book.

Original Story (10/19/18): Samsung isn't the only company working on foldable phones. Huawei confirms that it too has one in the works.

"We are working on foldable phones," Richard Yu, the CEO of Huawei's consumer business told Digital Trends. "Foldable 5G phones," he added.

Yu hinted that the upcoming product will arrive next year when US carriers begin rolling out mobile 5G networks across the country. He also suggested to Digital Trends that the company's foldable handsets will have a large screen size.

"Before the foldable phones, we are introducing the Huawei Mate 20 X," he said. The Mate 20 X, which goes on sale next week, sports a huge 7.2-inch display, which will make it hard to fit in your pocket. A foldable phone, however, could sold that problem by letting you bend the screen like a wallet.

Yu revealed Huawei's foldable phone plans as rival Samsung is gearing up to unveil its own product, possibly as soon as next month. Over the years, the Korean vendor has been showing off its flexible OLED displays, and it appears the technology may finally be ready for the commercial market.

"It's time to deliver," Samsung's mobile business CEO DJ Koh told CNBC in September. Koh has said the company's own product will function like a tablet when unfolded, but he wants to make sure it's not a one-off gimmick. The goal is to make the product available globally as opposed to only in South Korea.

If foldable phones can live up to the hype, then expect a new era of smartphone design. Microsoft has also been rumored to be working on a "pocketable" Surface device that features a foldable screen. But that device reportedly uses a hinge to create the folding effect.