Mobile World Congress is the perfect setting to unveil something like this, and that’s what Huawei has done with the new Huawei Mate X. Of course, nobody besides the Huawei President and CEO demonstrated it but they did share more intricate details about it.
Phablets have filled the gap between smartphones and tablets, but their cumbersome size makes them an inconvenience to carry around. Foldable displays provide an advantage of easily adjusting based on the use case, and now they’re coming to smartphones.
Does the Huawei Mate X blur the line to solve both problems?
Huawei-proofing the Mate X for the future
Wondering which is the front and back of the Huawei Mate X? The front has the full display with 6.6-inches, while the rear side has the LEICA cameras housed in a hand-grip bar. Unfolded, the full display is on the outside that measures 8-inches diagonally with a 2480 x 2200 px resolution.
Connectivity is not undermined, as Huawei has included 5G support inside the smartphone. This definitely puts them at an advantage to ensure that their line of smartphones works across the globe. For a company that also makes 5G equipment, it’s a sure-fire bonus for consumers. Known as the ‘Balong 5000’, this is the 5G modem chipset that sits inside the smartphone.
It’s not a smartphone when there are no cameras and Huawei has brought their latest LEICA triple camera system. Since they’re embedded into the bar, the arrangement on the Huawei Mate X serves a dual purpose of being both the front and rear cameras. You’ll need to have it folded to take
| Screen size | Unfolded: 8 inches Folded: 6.6 inches for front panel, 6.38 inches for back panel |
| Storage | 512 GB (expandable with 256GB NM card) |
| RAM | 8 GB |
| Battery | 4500 mAh (on both foldable sides) |
| Cameras | Leica triple camera system: 40 MP (Wide Angle Lens) + 16 MP (Ultra Wide Angle Lens) + 8 MP (Telephoto) |
Taking what they’ve implemented with the Mate 20, Huawei is powering the Mate X with the same Kirin 980 chipset SoC. The same high-performance and power-efficient cores with the NPUs and GPUs are all there.
Powering something like this would definitely require a large battery. Huawei has packaged in two large cells each providing 4500mAh of battery power, combined with 55W Huawei SuperCharge.
The foldable display also requires that apps will have to be bigger in file size to accommodate visual assets. Huawei has that covered with built-in 512GB storage packaged inside this foldable phone. You can expand the storage with a special NM card that is sold separately.
Other details
The Huawei Mate X also has Dual SIM support. Other good news is that you can use both 5G and 4G simultaneously if you have 2 different SIMs.
The Huawei Mate X is still powered by Android 9 (Pie) but slightly modified to the Huawei EMUI theme.
When it comes to the price, be prepared to spend at least $2,500. The Middle East already has 2 countries with 5G networks, but they lack consumer devices for people to utilize them. It’s going to be a race to who’ll have it available post-mid-Summer.
