Mate X: Looks like Huawei's $ 2600 foldable 5G phone has three screens

Huawei wants his turn in the folding phone projector, and with the Mate X, he makes a convincing audition – but expensive. The main competition: Samsung Galaxy Fold The phone, which has two screens, six cameras in total, unfolds in the center to open on a 7.3-inch tablet. Huawei Mate X – which is pronounced "ex", does not feature "ten" – has three ways to use an 8-inch screen, three cameras and an interesting design that provides you with a base that can be entered for use at a hand.

The Mate X at $ 2,300 (converted to $ 2,600, £ 2,000 or AU $ 3,660) is also 5G compatible, while the $ 1,980 Galaxy Fold will be offered in 4G or 5G configurations. Huawei will start selling the Mate X in mid-2019, while Samsung's Galaxy Fold will be available for sale from April 26th. Huawei has not yet announced a carrier partner.

Foldable phones offer a chance to shake up the cabotage industry while effectively doubling the screen space you need to use on your phone. Because foldable phones are hybrids of phone tablets, they can be sold at a higher price, which represents a significant revenue stream for companies seeking higher profits in a slowing market. But this new era of flexible displays also represents the wild west of phone design: a phone can fold inward or outward, center or on two sides, or even lean around your wrist like a watch. At this early stage, businesses determine what a foldable phone means. At this moment everything is allowed.

Huawei's vision for the Mate X is that of a phone that you use primarily in its "closed" position, but that opens when you want to be entertained or more productive. There is a screen on the back that could be useful for taking selfies: The four rear cameras of the phone were designed with Leica code.

The configuration of the "main" screen is a 6.6-inch screen that Huawei thinks you will use the most. Unfold it outward to get an 8-inch Edge-to-Edge OLED screen without a notch (there is a camera, though). Once folded, the back is a slightly smaller 6.4-inch screen and a side bar with the rear camera group. In the open position, the sidebar becomes a grab handle, which Huawei calls lightly the "Falcon Wing" design because of its rounded shape. The idea is to hold the Mate X of one hand and use your other hand to type and slide. Close the phone and close one side with the handle to make it look flat. And yes, there is still a flexible hinge.

My colleague Roger Cheng spent time with the phone, noting that even though the phone is big, it is light, but it will certainly be a two-handed experience. Here are his thoughts:

As expected, Companion X closes, with a minimal gap between the two sides of the phone. Folding the phone is a bit scary, and the movement is a bit steep, but Huawei's CEO, Richard Yu, says it's been tested 100,000 times. When it is closed, the phone knows which side of the device you are facing. It will automatically turn around when you face it.

For a device of this size, it seems to be pretty light. The spine housing the camera works as a very good ergonomic handle when unfolded. But good luck folding it with one hand – I almost dropped it. Once folded, it seemed a bit thick. There is an inevitable congestion.

The applications seem to work correctly. As with the Galaxy Fold, the phone automatically moves your app to the big screen when you unfold the screen. I've seen CNN, Chrome and YouTube on the device, all going smoothly and taking advantage of a bigger screen.

The demonstration unit that they show has three cameras. But the finished phone will have a fourth camera that will be shown with the P30 next month.

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Huawei Mate X is a foldable phone with 5G

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Huawei has also created a case that will cover the sides and the back of the Mate X in its folded form, leaving an open window for the 6.6-inch screen. In some countries, the case may come in the box.

5G speeds are an important conversation topic for Huawei, and the Mate X uses the Kirin 980 internal processor and the Balong 5000 5G modem chip. Currently, Huawei says that the Mate X will download content four times faster than the current 4G connection, about 1 GB in 3 seconds. the Oscar nominee movie Roma on Netflix is ​​under 700 MB to download, which theoretically would download to Mate X in about 2 seconds.

The Mate X has a higher battery capacity than the Galaxy Fold, with a capacity of 4,500 mAh distributed between two batteries, one on each side of the folding screen. The Samsung Galaxy Fold has a total capacity of 4,380 mAh between its two lobes. As we know from testing, raw capacity gives you the edge, but we will not know what the best performance is until we test it side by side.

More specifications Huawei Mate X

• Setup 1: 6.6-inch front screen (2480 x 1148 pixels resolution)
• Configuration 2: 6.38-inch rear screen (2480 x 892 pixels resolution)
• Setup 3: 8-inch indoor OLED display (2480 x 2200 pixel resolution)
• 512 GB of storage, 8 GB of RAM
• Fingerprint reader integrated into the power button
• Huawei SuperCharge 55W. 30 minutes charge for 85% autonomy (from scratch)
• Split screen mode
• Preview for selfies so you can see what you look like before taking the picture
• Color: interstellar blue

Huawei has a lot of details on the phone, and we'll update this article as we learn more at the official launch of Mate X on Sunday. But for the moment, Huawei comes after the Galaxy Fold, in order to generate even more buzz than his rival number 1.

First publication on February 24 at 5:45 pm PT.
Updated 6:51 PT: Clarify clarify the screen settings, three cameras.
8:14 PT: Adds other impressions.