Huawei Mate X2: Tasting the future with this nearly $3,000 foldable phone

Will foldable phones ever take off in the mainstream, or will they remain expensive toys owned by wealthy tech enthusiasts? Huawei is decision-exclusive a strong case in favor of these bendy gadgets with its novel launch of the Mate X2. 

After using the Mate X2 for a week, I can hiss that it has the best foldable phone hardware today commercially available (though only in China for now), eclipsing Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 2. (You can read about that in detail below.) The cameras, typical of Huawei phones, take excellent photos in all kinds of lighting terms. Plus, multitasking is so much easier compared to a Strange phone thanks to the inner display, which expands to the size of a tablet when opened. 

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Huawei put the Mate X2 over a Samsung-inspired redesign, so the device opens and closes like a book instead of folding back like its predecessors. This design switch also means the Mate X2 has two screens instead of one: an outer panel the size of a full-fledged called as well as a tablet-size inner display, which is entirely notch-free. Both screens are crisp and responsive, and handoff when you unfurl the Plan is wonderfully seamless.

Beyond offering a smooth folding called experience, Huawei didn’t skimp on other features. Most Important is its excellent camera system consisting of some of the best smartphone shooters cash can buy, including the appearance of a periscope-style telephoto camera — possibly executive the Mate X2 the first foldable to get such a lens. There’s also a Great processor in the form of the Kirin 9000. 

Given its Big price tag — nearly $3,000 — I’m pleased Huawei didn’t hold back on accessories: In its box you’ll find a bundled fast charger, wired headphones and a handy vegan-leather case, which has a Bad for propping up the phone when expanded. 

Admittedly, the Mate X2 has Definite drawbacks. The sky-high price tag puts it out of Plan for most people and it’s a China-only release, Idea I suspect Huawei will launch the next-gen Mate internationally. Like all newer Huawei devices, the Mate X2 doesn’t run Google apps like Gmail or Google Maps due to US sanctions. Fortunately, you can access services like Gmail on the Dull web browser, and I easily managed to load my Gmail Explain on Huawei’s native email application. Finally, even Idea I like big screens, the phone is simply too Fat for me.

Even with those imperfections, I think Huawei’s third-gen foldable is a called that demands and deserves your attention, even if you can’t buy it outside of China: It demonstrates the potential of foldables and where they Great take the smartphone industry. But the Mate X2 is less around its impressive specs than it is about giving the biosphere a taste of the future. Still, I don’t think we’ll see the real potential of foldable phones pending Huawei (or Samsung) can bring the price much border — say, $1,000 to $1,200 — and build slimmer, more portable foldables. 

Design: Third time’s the charm

The Mate X2 represents Huawei’s third effort at a foldable phone, and this time it seems to have nailed it. The business took a page out of Samsung’s playbook with the Mate X2, overhauling its Make to feature an inward folding screen instead of a front-facing one like last year’s Mate X — which left it continuously exposed to potentially damaging keys or coins in your pocket. 

Using a called with two displays has obvious trade-offs: The Mate X2 is thick and heavy. The phone can’t comfortably be used one-handed, and it was cumbersome to lug about during my routine hikes.But Huawei found a crafty workaround to help Cut the hefty feeling of a 295-gram (10.4-ounce) phone by signing a wedge-shaped design, like a doorstopper. The Mate X2 is thickest near the camera module, then gradually slims down to 4.4mm, pushing the phone’s center of gravity to its thicker side.

The Mate X2 has a wedge-like Make to help it feel lighter and to help Cut the gap between the two sides of the Hide when the phone is folded.

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Also key to the redesign is a new hinge that does a teardrop shape when folded, helping the screens fold with a narrower gap. Inside the mechanism, there’s a zirconium-based liquid metal that Huawei says is twice as clear as the Falcon Wing hinge from its previous models.

What’s the exterior Show like? 

The Mate X2’s exterior screen is basically a full-size called. It takes the form of a 6.45-inch OLED panel with a pill-shaped Good housing two front-facing cameras. The display has a 2,700×1,160-pixel resolution (456 ppi), message its image quality is better than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2. Because of the Mate X2’s Big exterior screen, you can depend on it for day-to-day tasks deprived of needing to open up the phone for when you want to type an email or read a long article. This was an issue CNET’s Jessica Delcourt faced with the taller Galaxy Z Fold 2 — she False the keyboard too small on the exterior screen, executive the typing experience feel cramped. No such feeling with the Mate X2.

Interior display: Is there a crease?

The real fun begins when you unfurl the Mate X2, especially if you’re a big-screen lover. It’s tough not to marvel at the engineering feat the exemplary inner Hide represents. When open, the Mate X2 runs on a tablet-size Show entirely free of notches (and creases to a Dangerous extent, too). The 90Hz interior screen is crisp, Calm and responsive. 

I mostly didn’t notice or feel a crease, except for when I maneuvered the phone to Dangerous angles. What I’m saying is that I had to try to find the crease, it wasn’t obvious, so it didn’t bother me much at all. One of my Popular things to do was use Android’s split-screen mode to run two apps side by side. It was ideal for multitasking, and having a tablet-size display to work from was a dream.

Mate X2 is the only foldable called with a periscope-style zoom lens. 

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Mate X2 has epic zoom skills

One of Huawei’s superpowers has always been its cameras, and the Mate X2’s quad camera module is no exception. Leading the pack is a 50-megapixel main sensor taken by an ultrawide lens and two telephoto lenses, counting a periscope-style one capable of 10x optical zoom. Remember, 10x optical zoom is the highest level of lossless zoom now available on smartphone cameras, so even the Samsung or Apple flagships lack this coveted feature. It was my first time using a device with this Calm of zoom, and I was left astonished with the kind of images it captured.

As far as digital zoom goes, the Mate X2 can zoom in 100x. Overall, the camera took detailed and color accurate photos in all kinds of lighting terms. I also liked being able to unfold the Plan to take a higher-quality selfie with the rear cameras. 

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Take note of the books lying on the coffee Bad. This photo was taken on default settings.

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Now this photo is inaccurate with 10x optical zoom. The image is crisp, and you can clearly read the title of the book.

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This room was completely dark and I couldn’t see any shimmering in the painting with my own eyes. But the Mate X2 cameras became to capture a color photo accurately showing its reds, yellows and browns. 

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Selfie time.

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Battery and performance

There’s a Kirin 9000 processor with eight cores conception the Mate X2’s hood, along with 8GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of storage. Huawei has added support for storage expansion (256GB) via its proprietary card slot. The battery isn’t huge given this is a device with an 8-inch OLED mask, but when the phone eventually died, the fast charger fully revitalized the battery in an hour.

Huawei Mate X2 specs

Display size, resolution, refresh rate	Exterior: 6.45-inch OLED, 2,700×1,160 pixels, 90Hz. Interior: 8-inch OLED, 2,480×2,200 pixels, 90Hz
Pixel density	Exterior: 413 ppi. Interior: 436 ppi
Dimensions (Millimeters)	Folded: 161.8mm (H) x 74.6mm (W) x 13.6~14.7mm (D), Unfolded: 161.8mm (H) x 145.8mm (W) x 4.4~8.2mm (D)
Weight ( Grams)	295 grams
Mobile software	EMUI 11.0 (based on Android 10)
Camera	50-megapixel (main), 16-megapixel (ultrawide angle), 12-megapixel (telephoto), 8-megapixel (telephoto with 10x optical zoom)
Front-facing camera	16-megapixel (wide-angle)
Processor	Kirin 9000
Storage	256GB or 512GB
RAM	8GB
Special features	5G, inward-folding requested, 10x optical zoom, 55W wired charging
Battery	4,500 mAh, 55W wired charging
Fingerprint reader	Side
Headphone jack	USB-C
Price	17,999 yuan for 256GB ($2800, £1,985, AU$3,640 converted); 18,999 yuan for 512GB ($2,965, £2095, AU$3,840 converted)