(Yicai) Sept. 11 -- Scalpers are seeking as much as CNY100,000 (USD14,060) for the latest handset from Huawei Technologies, the Chinese tech giant’s first dual-folding, triple-screen phone.

That is a five-fold markup on the official starting price of CNY19,999 (USD2,810) for the Mate XT Ultimate Design, which Shenzhen-based Huawei launched yesterday and will be available from Sept. 20.

Resellers on Xianyu, Alibaba’s second-hand goods app, have generally listed the Z-shaped foldable smartphone for 50 percent more than its official price.

High demand and limited supply have led resellers to jack up the prices. Huawei began taking pre-orders on Sept. 7 and as of noon today, nearly 5 million people had signed up. But due to the high technological requirements for making such a phone, the initial production is limited, a phone dealer told Yicai, adding that only about 100,000 units are in stock, with future production dependent on sales.

The Mate XT comes in three versions: one with 16 gigabytes of random-access memory and 256GB of storage, the second with 512GB of storage for CNY21,999, and the third with 1 terabyte of storage for CNY23,999.

Apple, Huawei's biggest rival in China, released its next-generation iPhone 16 lineup on the same day, with prices ranging from USD799 to USD1,599. The new iPhone will also launch on Sept. 20, with its markup on Xianyu within CNY1,000 (USD140).

Apple's share of China’s premium phone market (those priced at USD600 and above) was 52 percent in the second quarter, but its shipments fell 7 percent from a year ago, closing the gap with second-placed Huawei, according to data from market researcher Canalys. Huawei’s shipments of high-end models surged 82 percent, giving it a 30 percent market share.

The Mate XT signifies a major push by Huawei into the premium smartphone market.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev