While many technology journalists were wrapping up their coverage of a notable phone launch in the West last week, Huawei was busy breaking new ground in its home country of China.
The company showed the local press a new foldable film, the likes of which we have only seen in science fiction so far. And I got to spend some time with it personally.
The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design is the world’s first ‘tri-fold’ foldable phone. Teased by company CEO Richard Yu in a July interview, the XT combines the sensibilities of the company’s inward-folding Mate X5 and outward-folding Mate XS 2 into a single device.
When closed, it resembles a conventional 6.4-inch smartphone, but at maximum expansion the screen can grow into a fully realized 10.2-inch tablet.
These types of first-generation products usually come with some pretty noticeable compromises, and while this new form factor is not immune to criticism, putting it into practice has immediately put to rest one of my biggest concerns: the hinge (or rather, the hinges ).
When I first got my hands on Huawei’s debut foldable tablet – the original Mate Fortunately, subsequent foldable products from the company have solved this problem, but my assumption was that Huawei would have to go back to the drawing board to make the Mate XT a reality. How wrong I was.
The ‘Tiangong Hinge’ feels incredibly solid and offers nice tension without being too stiff to easily manipulate into the form factor you’re aiming for. At the same time, it’s not so loose that you have to worry about it collapsing or unfolding under its own weight.
This is made all the more impressive by the incredibly thin profile the XT possesses when fully expanded into its tablet form, clocking in at just 3.6mm at its thinnest point (that’s thinner than the current thin folding champ, the Honor Magic V3).
The Mate XT actually delivers the user experience that foldable products have always promised us
As for the LTPO OLED panel itself, while it doesn’t match the company’s MatePad tablets with stylus support or an IP rating for water and dust resistance, it does boast an attractive 144Hz dynamic refresh rate, pleasing colors, and a more competent contrast and viewing angles than I expected.
The real magic, of course, lies in the XT’s ability to morph through three discrete form factors: the 6.4-inch phone (with a 2232 x 1008 resolution), a 7.9-inch dual-screen setup (with a resolution of 2232 x 2048) – reminiscent of foldables such as the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 – or the full-size 10.2-inch tablet mode; taking advantage of the panel’s overall 2232 x 3184 resolution.
The Mate XT actually realizes the user experience that foldables have always promised us, solving the problem of having to carry multiple devices at once. Pair a mouse and keyboard, and chances are you can work without a laptop with such a design.
With two apps running in split-screen mode while a third remains mobile within a floating window, the device’s Android-based HarmonyOS 4.2 user experience is excellent for multitasking.
Granted, Huawei isn’t the first to give us a triple foldable phone, but even previous examples from the likes of TCL have only made it as far as the concept stage. The big difference here is that the Huawei Mate XT is actually coming to market – it’s now available in China.
As you can imagine, the cost of innovation for a device like this isn’t cheap. With the already high asking price of existing single-hinge foldable models like the £1,749/$1,799 Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the £1,799/$1,899 Galaxy Z Fold 6, it shouldn’t surprise you to hear that the Mate XT is even more attractive. mouth-wateringly expensive.
It costs CNY¥19,999 (about £2,135 / $2,820) for 16GB RAM and 256GB storage, although there are also two tiers above that, with the full-featured 16GB RAM/1TB version costing CNY¥23,999 (£2,560) . /$3,380). And don’t forget that those direct conversions to UK and US figures usually underestimate the real price in the West.
But even with the astronomical price tag attached to this first-generation foldable double-hinge, just an hour after launch it reportedly already had more than 2.7 million pre-orders.
The latest claims at the time of writing state that that figure has since risen to over 6 million (Huawei has also confirmed to us that it is ready to produce the XT at that scale, if necessary).
Of course, pre-orders don’t equate to sales at a 1:1 ratio, but they at least confirm commitment and demand for a new product like the Mate XT; so much so that the main rivals in the foldable space (namely Google, Honor, OnePlus and Samsung) will undoubtedly take notice.
Furthermore, Tech Advisor sources have confirmed to us that the company is planning an international release sometime in the first quarter of 2025, meaning direct competition with the foldable major players in Europe and North America will emerge relatively quickly.
Naturally, Huawei’s continued lack of native access to Google apps (including the Play Store) will exclude casual users. But this device would probably only be of interest to enthusiasts, for whom the solutions required to access Google should not be a big problem.
Either way, it feels like Huawei is onto something with this new triple design, and it could herald a new era for foldable devices.