Huawei Mate XT Ultimate hands-on review

2024-09-20

Huawei announced one of the most over-the-top devices in recent memory with its Mate XT - a tri-fold smartphone with a 10-inch folding screen that blurs the line between smartphone and tablet. We were naturally intrigued with its form factor and got the chance to test one out for a brief period.

The first thing that struck us with the Mate XT is its thinness. At 3.6mm in its unfolded state, Mate XT feels impossibly slender and that’s even more striking when compared to some of the mainstream horizontal foldables. Here it is next to a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 and a Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold for reference.

When folded all the way, Mate XT measures just 12.8mm – not that much more than the Z Fold6’s 12.1mm as you can see here.

Mate XT offers three screen sizes. A 6.4-inch single screen when folded, a 7.9” dual-pane when you unlatch one side, and a 10.2” size with both hinges fully opened.

The entire screen is an LTPO OLED with a 3,184 x 2,232 px resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, and a 16:11 ratio in its fully unfolded state. There’s a small cutout in the far left corner for the 8MP selfie cam.

There’s a pretty obvious screen crease that spans across both sides of the dual hinges. It feels like a generation or two away from the current batch of Chinese foldables which have minimized their creases to nearly indistinguishable levels. Other than that we can’t find many faults with the screen. It’s vivid, bright and the immense diagonal is great for content consumption.

Prop it up with the bundled case and its kickstand transforms the Mate XT into a portable monitor or sorts – a great way to watch TV series or YouTube during your lunch break.

Speaking of consuming media, many third-party Chinese apps like Douyin are already optimized for all three screen sizes on the Mate XT with seamless continuity. Videos and the app UI expand nicely to fill up the screen and we can only expect more apps to be optimized in the coming months.

Huawei’s keyboard also splits nicely in both unfolded states for more ergonomic typing.

Mate XT’s body is made from three distinct parts and two hinge mechanisms. The hinges feel solid with even tension and a firm snap at the end. You can position the hinges at any angle which allows you to place the Mate XT in a zig-zag position on flat surfaces. The entire device feels premium with the metal frame and the nicely textured faux leather back.

This is a hefty device and we found ourselves consistently resorting to two-hand usage. Mate XT is just a hair under 300 grams - not a device you'd want to use with one hand when unfolded. Then again it's not too bad considering the MatePad Pro 11 tablet is almost 150 grams heavier while offering a similar-sized screen.

In terms of ergonomics, the segment with the camera is a bit larger and heavier than the other two. The weight distribution is also not ideal as the device feels top-heavy.

We also have a few reservations in terms of durability. The screen is always exposed even when fully folded. The right side of the panel sticks out above the frame which leaves us questioning its lifespan. There’s no IP rating of any sort here which is expected with this form factor.

A quick word on the cameras – they look impressive at first glance. The 50MP main cam with a variable f/1.4-f/4.0 aperture is carried from the Pura 70 Pro and should snap great stills with a nice shallow depth of field. Huawei also added a 12MP dedicated periscope with 5.5x optical zoom and 12MP ultrawide covering the three main focal lengths of a flagship phone.

The phone is running on Huawei’s in-house Kirin 9010 chipset with 16GB RAM and 1TB storage. Performance seemed snappy in our brief time with the device but then again we weren’t really testing it to its limits.

Rounding out the specs is a 5,600 mAh battery with 66W wired and 50W wireless charging. It remains to be seen how this battery will handle powering the massive display.

With a starting price of CNY 19,999 ($2,800/€2,550), Mate XT is in a class of its own, and repairs are also definitely not cheap. As it stands, Mate XT will be available in limited quantities in China starting today and there’s no official word on a global launch for now.

A recent report suggests Huawei may ship upwards of 1 million Mate XT units which could imply a global launch but we’ll just have to wait and see if that holds up.