Better than the Samsung Galaxy Fold? Maybe. More expensive? Definitely
The Huawei Mate X is shaping up to be the foldable phone that fixes our concerns over the yet-to-be-held Samsung Galaxy Fold but expects to pay more for it.
We got to see the Mate X smartphone and its folding Falcon Wing hinge in action, and although Huawei wasn't ready to let us touch it, we know a lot of details.
For one thing, it'll be expensive. It cost €2,299 (about $2,605, £1,996, AU$4,769) with 512GB of internal storage and 8GB of RAM. It's been in the works for three years, according to Huawei, and will launch in the UK on EE, Three, and Vodafone this year.
It's poised to be one of many foldable phones at MWC 2019. But from what we've seen so far the Huawei Mate X holds a lot of promise, claiming to be 'the world's fastest foldable 5G phone.' Here's what we saw.
The foldable 8-inch Huawei Mate X screen
The Huawei Mate X folds out into an 8-inch Android tablet, with a 6.6-inch screen on one side and a 6.4-inch (technically 6.38-inch) screen on the other when folded up. Its screen size seems just right for what we've envisioned from the future of foldables.
This OLED display is bigger than Samsung's Fold, which is 7.4-inch unfolded with a folded 4.6-inch bezel-heavy screen... on just one side. Huawei knows it has a winner here in terms of size, one that Samsung can't address until the Fold 2.
When the Huawei Mate X is unfolded, there's no notch or corner cutout for the camera, either. Huawei's first foldable phone has a bezel-reduced FullView display.
The way it folds is a little different, too. The 8-inch screen folds so that it splits into two, broken-down displays face the outside. Samsung's phone folds inward, with an extra small outer screen.
Dimensions and grip
Huawei calls its sophisticated-looking folding hinge the Falcon Wing hinge, and it allows the Mate X to lay completely flat, measuring just 5.4mm thin. The company says the hinge has 100 components inside of it.
For comparison, this foldable phone is thinner than an iPad when it's laid out in tablet mode. Apple's only managed to get its form factor down to 5.9mm thin.
There is a prominent grip on the Mate X that Huawei says is an 'ergonomic curvature'. It's made a good case for why this grip exists: firm, secure holding in the hand.
Really, the grip exists for another good purpose: it's where a lot of the major components are stored. The camera system is here, so is a 2-in-1 fingerprint sensor/power button.
The Huawei Mate X will come in an Interstellar Blue color, according to the company, but you'll only see it on the thin top and bottom, and on the back unfolded. It'll also have a case to protect those screens, although we don't yet know if the case will be included for free.
Specs and battery life
Huawei claims to have the world's fastest foldable 5G phone, and that's not a claim as to how fast you can unfold and fold this thing. That's what it sounded like at first.
No, the company proudly claimed that "5G is on" in its super-charged Kirin 980 chipset, another knock to the fact that the Galaxy Fold will have a 4G LTE at its lofty starting price. Samsung didn't even mention the price of the 5G version.
It has the world's first 7nm 5G chip and sports a quad 5G antenna design, which can reach speeds of 4.6Gbps. You can download a 1GB movie in three seconds, says Huawei.
The company touts that these speeds are 10x current 4G LTE capabilities and it's able to pull them off in 2019 because it's in the middle of building 5G networks, so it's able to do live testing.
The battery life, despite the 8-inch screen size, is massive at 4,500mAh. It seems to be broken up into two parts, like the Galaxy Fold.
It's a bit bigger than Samsung's battery capacity, but then again the screen is larger, so it should even out.
The Mate X should also break records for charging. Huawei's 55W SuperCharge tech not only surpasses the 40W charging in the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, but it can also reach 85% battery life in just 30 minutes.
The camera system
Huawei didn't go into detail regarding how many cameras the Huawei Mate X has, but its camera system is located in down the spin hinge, which ends up with a USB-C port at the bottom.
The ideas behind the camera system on a foldable are impressive. You can finally see yourself when you take a selfie with the main camera; not having to choose between blindly snapping a pic with the better rear camera and using an underpowered lower-megapixel selfie camera.
Likewise, when someone else is taking a photo of you, you can primp and adjust your hair with a live view. Using the 6.6-inch screen, you can see what they see on the 6.4-inch side. This is a real-world use case of a foldable phone for average consumers.
Huawei is known for undercutting Samsung, Apple, and other top-tier smartphone makers on price. But it'll actually be more expensive than the nearly $2,000 Galaxy Fold.
Obviously, the tech inside is expensive, and the fact that it touts 5G means it's pricey. Huawei needs to convince us its software is as good as or better than Samsung's, which looks to make multitasking as easy as possible in tablet mode.
We're also interested in finding out about the bendable screen durability. How does it hold up? Does the plastic cover scratch easily? Two outer screens seem prone to danger, even with a case.
We still don't have the official release date. The Samsung Fold comes out on April 26 so Huawei may be itching to compete with this first true foldable phone sooner rather than later in 2019.
We're just as eager to know if you'll be able to buy it in the US, where Huawei phones aren't sold due to government pressure over potential spying (or at least they're not easy to buy from reputable retailers in America).
Durability remains our biggest question, along with availability besides the newly announced EE, Three, and Vodafone carrier details. We'll have more on Huawei's first foldable in the coming days, as we're bound to hear a lot of additional details at MWC 2019.
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