Huawei launches Mate Xs foldable smartphone

Tom Li

4 years ago

Huawei today launched its Mate Xs foldable smartphone, an improvement over the first-generation Huawei Mate X.

The Huawei Mate Xs is Huawei’s second-generation foldable smartphone. The display unfolds into a unified 8-inch display. Huawei has updated the display surface using a new double-layer optical polyamide, which it touts to be 30 per cent more durable than the previous generation. The hinge has also been made more durable and should snap much snappier.

Huawei didn’t disclose the age of the device at the event, but I didn’t see a visible crease at the hinge.

In contrast to most other smartphones that collapse the display onto itself, the Huawei Mate Xs folds outwards, exposing the display. When closed, the rear half of the display is disabled, leaving the front side for use.

The single speaker fires from the base. No, there isn’t a headphone jack.

Its camera array is composed of a 40MP wide-angle camera with an RYYB sensor, which means that it should have the same stellar low-light performance as the P30 Pro. The main sensor is flanked by an 8MP telephoto camera and a 12MP telephoto camera.

The Huawei Mate Xs has a vertical camera array. The fourth sensor is a time-of-flight (ToF) sensor.

In addition, the rear cover has been updated with a metal alloy that’s 30 per cent harder than titanium.

We don’t know the age of the device, but we couldn’t see a visible crease on the display at the hinge.

Internally, the system-on-chip (SoC) has been updated from the Huawei Kirin 980 SoC to the Huawei 990 SoC with an integrated 5G modem. According to the presentation, the Kirin 990 boasts 23 per cent faster processor performance, 39 per cent faster graphics, and 230 per cent uplift in neural processor performance. Other main hardware components include 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

When folded, the Mate Xs is just a tad thicker and longer than the Pixel 4 XL.

The phone comes with two batteries with a combined 4,500mAh capacity. It also supports 55W charging, which Huawei Chairman Richard Yu said can amp it up to 85 per cent in 30 minutes. Like its predecessor, the Mate Xs also supports reverse wireless charging.

The USB-C charging port is located at the underside of the thicker edge where the camera resides.

Although Google still isn’t talking to Huawei due to the U.S. ban, Huawei’s EMUI 10 is still based on an open-source version of Android, which is what’s installed on the Mate Xs. Because it lacks Google Play services, Huawei also heavily emphasized the growth of its App Gallery, an alternative to the Google Play Store.

Unfolded, the Mate Xs’ behemoth 8-inch display dwarfs the Pixel 4XL.

The Huawei Mate Xs will be available globally next month for $2,499 Euros. Huawei says that it’s still planning a potential Canadian release.