Huawei Mate X: Release date and feature rumours

 

 

 

Huawei’s Mate X is coming soon – but will their first foldable justify the price-tag? Read on to find out more.

When will the Mate X be released?

It’s not too far off! Huawei recently announced that the Mate X will arrive sometime between June and August this year. Now we play the waiting game.

*Actually plays Hungry Hungry Hippos*

 

 

How much will the Mate X cost?

Remember when £1000 seemed like a lot of money for a phone? Welcome to the hot mess that is 2019, buddy. 

Early reports suggest the Mate X will cost around £2000.

That’s a huge chunk of cash in anyone’s book. Except for Ronaldo. Ronaldo could buy a thousand of these and throw them all in the sea without batting an eyelid.

To be fair, every prominent company with a foldable in the pipeline has admitted the first iterations will be experimental, luxury devices.

Huawei even suggested people should wait a couple of years for foldable technology to mature and prices to come down. Weird flex, but okay.

Get it? Flex! BECAUSE IT FOLDS AND THAT, YEAH? I’ll get my coat.

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What does it look like?

It looks ruddy bloody good, actually. While the initial response to the Samsung Galaxy Fold was muted, the Mate X and its all-screen design was praised universally from the off. 

Here are a couple of photos we grabbed at Mobile World Congress 2019.





You need to see it in motion to appreciate its beauty though. Check out Huawei’s official announcement video here.

 

 

What about its features?

Huawei’s decision to have the device open outwards has given them the upper hand in their hype-war with Samsung.

When folded, the Mate X looks and works like a normal smartphone, with a razor-sharp 6.3-inch OLED screen on the front. But what’s this?! Flip it over and you’ve got an extra 6.6-inch display to play with too. So many activities.

When you open it up, it extends to an 8-inch display. Plus it’s only 5.4mm thick, so not only is it versatile, it’s among the leanest tablets available.

It’s also got a little one-handed grip for those lying-on-the-sofa-eating-Wotsits** moments. ie. my every waking hour.

Even though it’s twice the size of a regular smartphone, Huawei claim the optimised dual 4,500mAh batteries will manage a full charge in under an hour. Very impressive.

When it comes to overall performance, it’ll be up there with the fastest mobiles on the market. The Kirin 980 chipset (seen in the Huawei Mate 20) is an absolute monster, and that, coupled with its Balong 5000 5G modem, could make it the most future-proof phone of 2019.

They’ve also decided to move their fingerprint reader to the on-button, which is both exceptionally logical and forehead-slappingly obvious when you think about it.

 

 

What’s the camera setup like?

The 4 Leica cameras will offer similar quality to other top-of-the-range Huawei phones.

It’ll have some device-unique features too. Now when you’re taking a portrait photo of a friend, they’ll be able to see themselves in the back screen. 

Huawei says this makes ‘portrait photography a real collaboration between the photographer and their subjects’. 

We say this is likely to lead to intense debates about the fleekness of your friends’ eyebrows. Make of that what you will.

How hyped are we about it?

Very. The Mate X is the most exciting of the first wave of pure foldables and we can’t wait to see how it does in benchmarking. This could be a genuine gamechanger.

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You might also like:

- Us! Cover your gadgets with Protect Your Bubble in under three minutes online*

- Samsung Galaxy Fold: The release of the Samsung Galaxy Fold is only a matter of weeks away. Read on for all the key info about this fancy, foldable device.

- Mobile tech of the near future: Check out the amazing gadgets we saw at Mobile World Congress in 2019.

 

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** Other maize-based cheesy snacks are available.