A day ahead of the launch event, the Huawei Mate X appeared online, giving us an idea of what to expect when the phone comes to life. And indeed at the MWC 2019 event, the Chinese vendor took to the stage to launch its first foldable smartphone as well as show it off to those present at the event.
The Mate X comes a few days after the launch of Samsung Galaxy Fold, another foldable smartphone that has attracted plenty of attention both in the good and bad ways, with the latter case heightened by the $2000 asking price.
Contrary to Samsung’s approach of separate inward-folding cover displays that leave a big notch on the inside and a sizable gap between the folded parts, the Mate X comes with a single 8-inch OLED screen with no notch or cutout and wraps around the device from the outside, ending up with what seems like a much thinner and more appealing take on foldable phones.
The use of a Falcon Wing Mechanical Hinge is what ensures that the folded parts of the Mate X do not leave a significant gap in between. When folded, the device turns into a dual-screen handset with a 6.6-inch 19.5:9 panel that boasts a resolution of 2480 x 1148 pixels and another 6.38-inch 25:9 panel with a resolution of 2480 x 892 pixels.
These screens have little bezels to show off. When folded, the Mate X provides an amazing smartphone-like experience and when unfolded, the tablet experience you get is also great.
Here are the rest of the Huawei Mate X specs
- Unfolded: 8-inch AMOLED foldable display (2480 x 2200, 414ppi)
- Folded: 6.6-inch 19.5:9 AMOLED display (2480 x 1148) + 6.38-inch 25:9 AMOLED display (2480×982)
- Kirin 980 processor
- Balong 5000 5G modem
- 8GB RAM
- 512GB expandable storage, up to 256GB
- Tri-lens main camera: 40MP (wide-angle) + 16MP (ultra-wide) + 8MP (telephoto)
- 4500mAh battery
- Android 9 Pie with EMUI 9.1.1
- Extras: 5G connectivity (1GB movie in 3 seconds), 55W Huawei SuperCharge (85% in 30 minutes), NPU, NFC, Fingerprint in power key, USB-C, Bluetooth 5.0, etc.
At the launch event, Huawei did confirm that its foldable smartphone, which is also the company’s first to offer 5G connectivity, will begin selling in Europe in mid-2019 priced at €2,299.
Looking at the asking price of the Mate X coupled with what seems like design defects, it’s hard to see the phone becoming a mainstream device. Still, it’s great to see smartphones with different form factors begin creeping into the market because they are essentially the future.
When it arrives, the Huawei Mate X will be sold in an interstellar Blue finish.
Related: How to hide apps on your Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Huawei and Honor Android device
