At a 5G conference held in Shenzhen, Huawei finally launched its foldable Mate X smartphone. Huawei Mate X was first unveiled at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona back in February, as a direct competitor to Samsung’s Galaxy Fold.
However, back in July, the company stated that it was still optimising the foldable Mate X smartphone and would not release it without meeting quality requirements.
Huawei Mate X features a single 8-inch (2,480 x 2,200) OLED panel, which can be folded to give you a 6.6-inch main screen and a 6.36-inch secondary screen. The second screen is smaller as it houses a strip on the side to house the internals including the processor, cameras, and antennas.
Huawei Mate X features an attractive outward-opening design, compared to Galaxy Fold, whose screen folds in and offers a secondary screen on the outside. It is using the same polyimide protective film as the Galaxy Fold though.
Huawei has added a new physical button to unlock the folding display and make it easier to easily flip open the device in tablet mode. Huawei Mate X is powered by the Kirin 980 chipset with 5G support, thanks to the Balong 5000 5G modem onboard.
It was thought that the redesigned Huawei Mate X might come with an upgraded Kirin 990 5G chipset but Huawei revealed that this will arrive in 2020, called the Mate Xs.
Huawei Mate X has been coupled with 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, 4500mAh of battery, and a new TOF sensor, alongside a triple camera setup.
The triple rear camera setup includes a 40MP RYYB primary sensor, coupled with an 8MP telephoto sensor and a 16MP ultra-wide-angle lens. It supports up to 204800 ISO levels, OIS+AIS, and other camera features we find on Huawei’s current flagship phones.
Huawei Mate X foldable phone comes in a single 8GB+512GB variant, which has been priced at 16,999 yuan (roughly around £1871) in China. The device currently will only be available in China and goes on sale from November 15.
“Our strategy is based on carriers’ 5G roll out in different regions,” a Huawei spokesman said
“So far, Huawei has made the Huawei Mate X available in the China market on Nov. 15. A global launch plan is under review.”
