Almost nearly a year since it announced the Mate Xs, Huawei is back with a new foldable device called the Mate X2. The foldable smartphone comes with a new folding design that differs from that of its siblings. It also has Huawei’s most powerful mobile processor, two high refresh rate displays, and a Leica-branded camera setup that surpasses that of the Mate 40 Pro. However, all these features have resulted in a high price tag.
Huawei Mate X2 Design
Huawei has ditched the outward fold design of the Mate X and Mate Xs for an inward folding design. This switch in design means that the Mate X2 has two displays – an outer screen that looks like a smaller and flat version of the Mate 40 Pro’s own screen and an inner display that is devoid of a notch or punch hole. It also means that the device has a new hinge design. Huawei says it used zirconium-based liquid metal for the hinge system.
A more interesting part of the design is the Seamless Foldable Design. The right half of the device slopes inwards while the left part slopes in the opposite direction. Huawei says that the advantage this brings is that the phone is perfectly balanced whether unfolded or folded even though the point of balance is no longer at the center. Another advantage this design brings is that there are no gaps when the device is folded unlike in the case of the Galaxy Z Fold 2.
Huawei finishes the design by providing the Mate X2 with four different color finishes. There is Glaze White, Black, Crystal Blue, and Crystal Pink.
Huawei Mate X2 Specifications
The Huawei Mate X2 has a 6.45-inch OLED external screen that has a pill-shaped punch hole at the top left corner for two front-facing cameras. The display has a 2700 x 1160 resolution (456 ppi), a 90Hz refresh rate, and a 240Hz touch sampling rate.
The inner display is 8-inches in size when unfolded and boasts a 2480 x 2200 resolution (413 ppi) and a P3 wide color gamut. It is also an OLED panel and has a 90Hz refresh rate but its touch sampling rate is lower at 180Hz.
There is a Kirin 9000 processor under the hood along with 8GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of storage. Huawei has added support for storage expansion (256GB max) via its proprietary NM card slot.
The Mate X2 has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, stereo speakers, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, dual-frequency GPS, an infrared sensor, and a USB 3.1 GEN1 Type-C port.
Huawei ships the phone with EMUI 11 based on Android 10 out of the box. However, it says it will be upgraded to HarmonyOS in April. It also revealed that the top 200 apps have been optimized to take advantage of the phone’s form factor. Users will be able to minimize apps into bubbles, open two instances of an app for better multitasking, and more.
Surprisingly, there is no support for a stylus which would have given it an upper hand over the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2.
There is a 4500mAh battery capacity inside with support for 55W fast wired charging. Unfortunately, there is no support for wireless charging. Huawei ships the phone with its 66W SuperCharge charger.
Huawei Mate X2 Camera
The camera configuration of the Huawei Mate X2 is unmatched when it comes to foldable smartphones. The main camera is a 50MP f/1.9 RYYB sensor with OIS and it comes along with a 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera, a 12MP f/2.4 telephoto camera with OIS, and an 8MP f/4.4 RYYB periscope camera that also has OIS and brings 10x optical zoom. The phone also has 100x digital zoom and a 2.5cm super macro mode.
The Mate X2 has a 16MP front-facing camera but users can take super selfies with the rear cameras when the device is unfolded. In this mode, the external display serves as the viewfinder.
Huawei Mate X2 Price and Availability
The Mate X2 is not cheap even in Huawei’s home country. The base model is priced at RMB 17,999 (~$2785) while the 512GB RAM version is RMB 18,999 (~$2940). It will go on sale in China on February 25 and will come with a Huawei SuperCharge charger, a Type-C data cable, a pair of Type-C earphones, and a leather protective case included inside the box.
Huawei also announced a bunch of accessories for the Mate X2. There is a case with a kickstand that is priced at RMB 299 (~$46), an RMB 399 (~$62) car mount that allows you to use the device in its unfolded state, a windowed case that is priced at RMB 399 (~$62), and a leather sleeve case that is RMB 699 (~$108).
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