The last few days have been incredibly exciting and game-changing for the tech industry, especially smartphones considering all big brands launched their best phones to date. After Xiaomi and Samsung unveiled their flagships, Huawei set the stage on fire with the launch of its first foldable smartphone, the Mate X, on Sunday.
Huawei Mate X comes shortly after Samsung Galaxy Fold, which makes it natural to compare the two most popular foldable smartphones the industry has seen recently. But the Mate X has its own unique standpoints, with which Huawei is trying to set a name for itself in the niche category of smartphones before it actually takes off.
To that extent, Huawei has packed the Mate X with some incredible features to justify the uber-expensive EUR 2,299 (roughly Rs. 2,09,400) price tag for the 8GB RAM/ 512GB storage variant. Now let's take a look at what makes Huawei Mate X one of the most desirable phones out there.
Design
Foldable smartphones are only starting to take off and we've seen some new designs. Huawei's approach towards foldable smartphone wraps a large display on the exterior, which can be folded into a more compact display size. This is visually appealing as Huawei has managed to shrink bezels while keeping the large screen form factor.
Huawei claims the Mate X is "the world's thinnest foldable phone," measuring just 11mm thick when folded and 5.4mm in unfolded state. There's a bump on one side of the Mate X, which creates room for components like the cameras.
In folded state, users can choose to use either side of the phone. The front display offers a 6.6-inch OLED (1148x2480 pixels) screen while the rear one with a thick side bezel offers 6.38-inch (892x2480 pixel) OLED display. An 8-inch OLED display with 2480x2200 pixels and 8:7.1 aspect ratio gives users the generous screen real estate when opened – bigger than Samsung's 7.2-inch screen. On the side, Huawei has also added a fingerprint scanner integrated within the power button.
Speaking of the challenges while designing the Mate X, Huawei President Kevin Ho said: "We had to design the hinge to avoid layers like formation that one gets when one folds a book or a notebook. This was a big challenge and they had to use a sophisticated technology."
5G
The future is here. Even though telcos are still prepping for the new-age 5G bands, OEMs seems to getting ready for the next big thing. Huawei Mate X comes with Huawei Balong 5000 5G chipset based on 7nm modem, which can deliver up to 4.6/2.5Gbps downlink/uplink speeds on Sub-6GHz. The handset also boasts quad 5G antenna, supports SA as well as NSA network architecture. Huawei Mate X is not only future-ready, but also practical with the current infrastructure.
Battery
One of the biggest reasons why we think Huawei Mate X foldable phone is practical in today's world is the generous battery inside it. There's a 4,500mAh battery powering the smartphone, but we uncertain just how long the Mate X will last on a single charge.
But what really hit me is the 55W SuperCharge technology in the Mate X, which can power up the phone to 85 percent in just 30 minutes. As I've noted previously in my reviews, fast charging tech in smartphones must be standardised as it can counter the problems of battery life until a viable solution is made available. So, kudos to Huawei on that.
Cameras
Huawei smartphones are synonymous with great cameras. With examples like the Mate 20 Pro, P20 Pro and the upcoming P30-series, expectations are pretty high with Huawei phones in the camera department.
Huawei Mate X lives up to the expectations by offering triple-lens Leica camera setup, which works for both selfies and rear shooters. The setup includes 40MP wide-angle lens with 16MP ultra-wide-angle lens and an 8MP telephoto snapper.
Performance
Finally, rounding off the greatness of the Mate X foldable phone is a top-of-the-line powering specs to make sure the smartphone doesn't lag in operations. Huawei Mate X comes powered HiSilicon 980 chipset, which is paired with 8GB RAM and 512GB expandable storage. There are options like Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth v5.0, GPS/ A-GPS, NFC as standard.
Are you excited about Mate X?
