Ahead of the official launch of MWC on Monday, Huawei has revealed their brand-new, the world fastest foldable 5G phone – the Huawei Mate X.
The announcement comes less than a week after Samsung released their own answer to a foldable device, the Galaxy Fold.
I’m rarely left speechless at a device announcement – but when seeing the Mate X in person for the first time – wow.
When folded the device is huge smartphone with a 6.6-inch display, with a 6.38-inch screen on the back. When opened, it turns into a tablet with a 8-inch screen. Besides the 6.38-inch display there is a narrow strip which contains the Leica camera system (something which we know very little about still), but also the curvature of it acts as an ergonomic grip when the device is unfolded.
When fully-unfolded the Mate X is just 5.4mm thick – which makes it slimmer than your regular tablet. And with the help of the ergonomic grip, it’s also comfortable to hold and use in just one hand.
Once folded together the device measures just 11mm thick.
The folding design has been made possible using a revolutionary falcon wing mechanical hinge design. This supports the 180-degree movement and allows the screen to be perfectly flat when unfolded. When folded together the two halves of the screen fit snugly into the frame.
On the side of the Mate X you’ll find the power button which doubles up as a fingerprint reader, something which we now consider standard on devices.
In terms of what drives this incredible device, well Huawei have another world first as the Mate X contains a 7nm 5G Balong 5000 chipset and modem. This means the device will operate at the top end of the 5G spectrum with speeds capable of reaching 4.6Gbps – this would allow you to download 1GB move in just three seconds.
Powering the Mate X is a dual battery setup which adds up to 4,500mAh of power. Not only this, but it also supports Huawei’s brand new 55W SuperCharge capable of reaching 85% charge in just 30 minutes.
One of my favourite features, and honestly the funniest I’ve seen on a phone in recent years is the mirror feature whilst taking a picture. This works by allowing the person you’re taking a picture of to see themselves on the back screen – something which I honestly don’t know is that useful, but a cool and quirky feature nonetheless.
On launch, Huawei will also be selling a full cover case the offer full protection, but still allows full use of its features.
So how much does all of this ground-breaking tech cost? Well it’s not cheap that for sure. It will set you back a cool €2,299 which converts to around $2,600, £2000 or AU$4,770 for the 512GB of internal storage and 8GB RAM, although Huawei has hinted at further variants down the line.
In the UK, the Mate X will be available with Vodafone, EE and Three when launched later in 2019.
* I attended MWC as a guest of Huawei