Huawei might not be the first manufacturer to announce a foldable smartphone but its Mate X takes the crown in other areas.
Announced at a pre-MWC event in Barcelona, Huawei claims the Mate X is the fastest foldable 5G phone. It is also the thinnest and most expensive. Before we get to the price, let’s take a look at the features of the device.
Mate X Design
The Mate X has what is called “Falcon Wing Design”. Unlike Samsung‘s Galaxy Fold, it folds completely flat with no visible gap. Huawei says the hinge system used in the phone is patented and has over 100 components.
When unfolded, the Mate X is 5.4 mm thick – thinner than the Apple iPad Pro 2018, and when folded, it is just 11 mm thick. The device weighs 295 grams. There is no audio jack but there is a USB type-c port. It also has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner that doubles as the power button.
Worried that the phone is fragile? Huawei has a specially made case for it that offers full protection.
Mate X Specs
The Huawei Mate X has a large 8” screen with a 2480 x 2200 resolution and an 8:7.1 aspect ratio when unfolded with pretty thin bezels and no notch or “cliff” like the Samsung Galaxy Fold. When folded, It becomes a dual display phone – one side is a 6.6-inch (2480 x 1148) 19.5:9 display while the other is a 6.38-inch (2480 x 892) 25:9 display.
The Mate X is powered by the Kirin 980 paired with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. It has dual SIM support (nano only) but only SIM 1 supports 5G. You can also swap out the second SIM card for Huawei’s NM card (256GB max.). The 7nm Balong 5000 modem brings 5G support to the device.
There are three cameras on the back of the Mate X which also double as the selfie cameras. The cameras were co-developed with Leica and are made up of a 40MP wide-angle lens, a 16MP ultra-wide angle lens, and an 8MP telephoto lens. You can take a picture using the main display while the subject is visible in the secondary display that is facing them.
Just like the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the Mate X also has its battery split into two but for a total capacity of 4,500mAh. Huawei has also debuted its new SupercCharge fast charging technology which supports up to 55W. Huawei claims the new SuperCharge will allow you to charge the device from empty to 85% in just 30 minutes! This is the fastest charging technology on a device at the moment, dethroning OPPO‘s SuperVOOC 50W charging.
The Huawei Mate X runs EMUI 9.1.1 based on Android 9 Pie. It has NFC, dual-frequency GPS, Bluetooth 5.0.
READ MORE: Huawei targets to ship 250 million smartphones this year and 300 million units in 2020
Price and Availability
The Huawei Mate X is priced at €2299 (~$2607). It comes in Interstaller Blue and will be available from the middle of 2019.
