Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design: The world’s first triple foldable

Huawei has unveiled its most sophisticated smartphone in China, the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate. This device revolutionises the market by combining a tablet with a smartphone. It achieves this thanks to its 10-inch screen, which folds in two places to become the world’s first triple-folding device, offering two very convenient formats for the user in the same product.

As expected around the world, the Chinese technology company Huawei unveiled its most advanced smartphone yet, the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate, early this morning in China. It is the first gadget to combine a foldable screen with a double hinge to create a phone that folds on itself with a double hinge. It is the first device in the world to have two hinges, allowing for both internal and external folding at the same time.

When closed, in smartphone mode, it offers a standard 6.4-inch display. However, once it is unfolded, that panel transforms into a 10.2-inch screen, considerably larger than the 8-inch screen offered by folding book-style smartphones.

With this device, Huawei comes closer to the real concept of foldables: compact devices that turn into tablets. In addition, Huawei takes the lead in advancing to the next level of cell phones with flexible screens, surpassing other companies with several years of experience in the market.

Beyond the technological challenge of having three screens in a single device, its elegant design also stands out, with a vegan leather back available in two colors: red and black. In addition, it has golden details that highlight its elegance, a characteristic feature of Huawei designs.

Background

It should be noted that the Huawei The Mate XT Ultimate is the latest gem from the Chinese company, after a journey that the Chinese company began in February 2019 with the Mate X, its first foldable smartphone.

Those who have ever used that device may remember that it employed a different technique than the rest to fold: while all current foldable smartphones close like a book and need two screens (an external one, for when the phone is closed; and the internal, foldable and large screen), the Mate X and its successors used a single flexible panel, which instead of folding in on itself, folded outwards, always leaving the screen exposed.

Huawei stuck with this design for a couple of generations, then pivoted to the format most commonly used by its competitors (the booklet, with the internal screen protected by the case when the phone is closed).

What the Mate XT Ultimate offers

You could say that this model has partially returned to its origins: the 10-inch panel has two hinges arranged in opposite orientations, so that when the phone is folded, one part goes to one side and the other part goes in the opposite direction. This allows the device to fold on itself, but leaving a third of the screen visible to use when the phone is folded.

There are three ways to use the Mate XT Ultimate Design:

• One screen: The device folds completely for “traditional” use with a 6.4-inch screen.
• Dual mode: One of the screens opens to use the device as a foldable device, reaching 7.9 inches.
• Triple mode: All three screens are used to reach 10.2 inches.

Technical specifications

The device has a Kirin 9010 5G processor, the same one integrated in the Pura 70, manufactured in 7 nm and with eight cores.

It is accompanied by 16 GB of RAM, optimized for HarmonyOS 4.2. Internal storage can reach 1 TB in its highest version.

The battery is 5,600 mAh, with 66W fast charging, and 15W wireless charging.

The camera environment is also very competitive.

The Mate XT Ultimate Design is powered by Huawei’s XMAGE technology. On the back, it has a quad-lens module: the main sensor is 50 megapixels with 5.5x optical zoom, a 12 megapixel periscope and a 12 megapixel wide-angle. On the front, there is an 8 megapixel sensor for selfies.

Its price

In every aspect, the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design is a premium phone. Given the technology it integrates, it is an expensive device, but Huawei has also equipped it with the best of the current mobile market, which further increases its cost. In China it costs around US$2,908 at the current exchange rate, considering the 19,999 yuan of its launch price.

At this price, the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design costs more than twice as much as the new iPhone 16 Pro Max, which starts at $1,199.

Contributor to ReporteAsia.