(Yicai) Dec. 12 -- Chinese phone maker Xiaomi today accused the consumer products chief at Huawei Technologies of misrepresenting the facts about its rival’s new foldable screen technology.

Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei's consumer business group, misled the public with a comment about Xiaomi’s “dragon bone” hinge technology in a recent public address, the Beijing-based company said in a statement today. Huawei has yet to respond.

In a video circulating online, Yu referred to “dragon bone” technology when complaining about patent infringement at a recent Huawei event, though he did not mention any company by name. “Some directly copied and even named it themselves,” Yu said.

In August, Xiaomi launched the Xiaomi Mix Fold 3, its latest foldable handset with a screen hinge called “dragon bone.” The screen hinge consists of almost 200 components with a three-element structure and 14 micro-hinges.

“Dragon bone” was an entirely new and self-developed proprietary technology, Xiaomi said in today’s statement, adding that it is completely different from the waterdrop hinge that Shenzhen-based Huawei uses in its foldable phones.

Foldable handset shipments are expected to hit about 18.3 million this year, an increase of 43 percent on last year, while making up just 1.6 percent of the smartphone market, according to TrendForce.

The market for foldable handsets is in a stage of technological maturity and developing consumer usage scenarios, said Guo Tianxiang, senior analyst at market researcher IDC China. Though the segment is growing, due to its relatively small overall base it does not yet make much of an impact on the overall mobile phone market, Guo added.

Editor: Emmi Laine