Why Huawei’s Triple Folding Phone is a Game-Changing Form Factor
Huawei recently launched the world’s first triple-folding smartphone in the market, named the Huawei Mate XT. While folding smartphones have been on the market for a while now, Huawei’s Mate XT, priced at $2800, brings a refreshing change in the narrative with its triple-folding form factor along with the flagship experience with its hardware and software capabilities.
As per Richard Yu, Executive Director and Chairman of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, this device is now ready to rewrite the rules of the foldable smartphone market.
The New Form Factor:
The Huawei Mate XT has a foldable 10.2-inch 3K display, offering single, double, or triple screen modes for a flexible user experience. The LTPO 120Hz OLED panel folds down to a 6.4-inch conventional smartphone, 7.9 inches when two panels are unfolded, and a 10.2-inch elaborate screen when fully extended. In terms of thickness, the Mate XT attains the title of being the thinnest foldable smartphone at a minimum of 3.6mm when unfolded.
This new tri-fold form factor addresses the aspect ratio issues seen in dual-fold devices, which often display content with thick black borders or cropped sections due to non-standard aspect ratios like 23:18, like in the case of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold. Such aspect ratio is not optimized for most applications and video formats.
In contrast, the tri-folding screen extends into an expansive rectangular screen when unfolded, conveying an aspect ratio apt for content viewing, and on top of that, it’s a bigger screen than dual foldable. This form factor becomes a conventional smartphone when folded and an elaborate and functional tablet when unfolded.
The Mate XT comes in a red and black leather finish with gold trimming to give this premium-looking device an attractive look and feel. One of the standouts is its mechanism, which folds outward and is the first of its kind in the industry.
Camera and performance:
The smartphone is equipped with a versatile camera setup, having a 50MP main sensor with variable aperture (f/1.4 to f/4.0), a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and a 12MP periscope telephoto lens. For selfies, it features an 8MP front-facing camera. The rear camera offers an appreciable 5.5x optical zoom. Both the front and back cameras support shooting at 4K. This powerful camera array ensures high-quality photography in various conditions.
For performance, it comes with Huawei’s own Kirin 9010 silicon, which is a 12-core processor developed on a 7nm fabrication process. The strength of this silicon is on par with the likes of Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, ensuring that daily tasks and computations run smoothly and efficiently.
The operating system that it runs on is Harmony OS 4.2, Huawei’s operating system, which has witnessed a significant evolution over its timeline. To juice up the 5600mAh battery, a 66W fast wired charging support and a whopping 50W wireless charging support are also provided so that you can be assured that you don’t need to keep the phone on the dock for long. To charge your accessories, 7.5W reverse wireless charging is provided. USB 3.2 Gen 1, NFC, IR blaster, WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.2, a proper cooling mechanism along with high-grade vibration motors and speakers—all these are top-grade additions that promise to amp up your experience of using the smartphone!
Market impact and pre-orders:
The base variant with 16GB RAM and 256GB storage has been launched in China at around $2800, which converts to a whopping 2,36,000 INR here, positioning the tri-folding phone for the ultra-premium flagship market. But despite this, the Mate XT has garnered significant attention and excitement in the market, as evidenced by over 3 million pre-orders within days of its announcement. It stands as the most expensive phone in Huawei’s history, yet the high cost has not discouraged consumers. This overwhelming demand highlights the market’s readiness for innovative foldable designs and positions Huawei as a leader in this space.
Final Verdict:
Though the Huawei Mate XT is available for sale exclusively in China only, the very milestone that the company Huawei has established in the foldable smartphone technology is bold and appreciable. The phone offers a unique combination of a larger screen, enhanced portability, and cutting-edge performance. With its triple-folding design and high demand, the Mate XT is set to redefine the standards of foldable devices and capture a significant share of the market. As Huawei continues to innovate, it will be interesting to see how competitors respond to this groundbreaking device.
Source (in Chinese)
