Huawei's dual-folding smartphone becomes a 10-inch tablet

According to several "accidentally" leaked photos, Huawei has unveiled the Mate XT Ultimate Design. The foldable smartphone has three displays and two hinges. This triples its size when unfolded to tablet format.

A smartphone with three display sizes

When folded, the Mate XT is a classic smartphone with a 6.4-inch display - only slightly thicker and heavier. It measures 12.8 millimetres and weighs 298 grams. You can choose to unfold the foldable just once. You then have a 7.9 inch screen at your disposal. If you unfold it completely, you have a 10.2-inch tablet in your hand. The resolution is then 3184 × 2232 pixels. The aspect ratio is therefore 16:11 and the screen-to-body ratio is 92 per cent.

Unlike conventional folding smartphones, there is no display on the back. Thanks to the folding mechanism, the Mate XT has a continuous screen with two folding sections. According to the manufacturer, it is robust, stable and extensively tested. Huawei covers the back with leather.

Variable aperture and optical zoom

According to Huawei, the Mate XT is the first foldable with a variable aperture. With the 50-megapixel main camera, you can choose between f/1.4 and f/4.0. However, Huawei is currently the only manufacturer to offer this on its smartphones.

In addition, there is an ultra-wide-angle camera and a periscope telephoto camera, each with a resolution of 12 megapixels. The focal lengths converted to 35 mm format - 24 mm, 13 mm and 125 mm - result in an optical zoom of around 5.5x. A digital magnification of 50x is possible. The front camera delivers selfies with 8 megapixels.

Equipped for the Chinese market

The Huawei Mate XT is equipped with 16 gigabytes of RAM. The manufacturer offers a choice between 256 and 512 gigabytes and 1 terabyte of internal memory. HarmonyOS 4.2 is used as the operating system. The lack of Google services should be less of a problem in China than in Europe. Huawei has not provided any information on the chipset used, but recently relied on its own Kirin chips. In any case, it supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2.

The battery of the Mate XT has a capacity of 5600 mAh. The smartphone draws up to 66 watts when charging via the USB-C port - wirelessly and with the right charger, it draws up to 50 watts.

The Mate XT can establish connections via the Chinese satellite network Tiantong if there is no mobile network available on the ground.

Millions of pre-orders

In China, Huawei is selling the Mate XT Ultimate Design from 19,999 renminbi. At the time of writing, this is the equivalent of around 2500 euros. With customs duties, taxes and other costs, I reckon the price will be around 3,000 euros - if the smartphone ever comes to Europe. The manufacturer has not yet commented on this and will only be selling the smartphone in China from 20 September. But quite successfully there. By the time this article was published, over 4.3 million pre-orders had already been received on the first day.