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Huawei Mate X triple threat: Foldable phone with 5G, lots of cameras

A phone that transforms into a tablet. Blazing 5G speeds. Is this the future of phones?

Andrew Lanxon
Andrew is CNET's go-to guy for product coverage and lead photographer for Europe. When not testing the latest phones, he can normally be found with his camera in hand, behind his drums or eating his stash of home-cooked food. Sometimes all at once.
Andrew Lanxon
huaweimatex1
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Huawei has stepped into the folding phone arena with the Mate X, a transforming device which folds from an 8-inch tablet into a 6.6-inch, 5G-equipped phone.

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2 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Huawei's folding phone arrived a little over a week after Samsung announced its own transforming device, the Galaxy Fold. It's interesting to see the two companies' different approaches. 

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3 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

The key difference between Huawei's folding phone and Samsung's is that Huawei's folds back on itself, keeping the screen on the outside. Samsung's however, folds in on itself like a book closing.

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4 of 35 Roger Cheng/CNET

CNET's Roger Cheng managed to go hands-on with the Huawei Mate X. (That's the CEO of Huawei's consumer group, Richard Yu, behind him.)

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5 of 35 Roger Cheng/CNET

The version with 512GB storage and 8GB RAM is coming in mid-2019 for 2,300 euros.

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6 of 35 Roger Cheng/CNET

Here's a close-up of the camera strip on the back. You can see three, but there are really four -- one's hidden until Huawei launches its P30 in March.

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7 of 35 Roger Cheng/CNET

Just keep looking.

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8 of 35 Roger Cheng/CNET

There's a "wing" on the side that serves as a grip.

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9 of 35 Roger Cheng/CNET

Unfolded, the Mate X is basically a tablet.

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10 of 35 Roger Cheng/CNET

While it's too early to say which approach is "better", Huawei's method means you get a full-screen phone on the outside on both sides. 

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11 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Samsung's method of folding the main screen away inside itself means the phone has to have a second, separate screen on the outside to display information. 

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12 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

When folding the phone, the larger tablet display wraps around the hinge, so you have one screen in three configurations.

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13 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

The phone detects the bend and the software automatically snaps the screen into a phone mode.

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14 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Folded into the 6.6-inch mode, this is still a big phone.

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15 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

This "main" display has a 2,480 by 1,148-pixel resolution, which looked quite sharp from our brief time seeing the device. 

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16 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

It uses Huawei's Kiring 980 processor.

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17 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

The display stretches right to the edges in both phone and tablet mode.

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18 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

On the other side of phone mode is a camera module, which forms a ridge in tablet mode that should make it comfortable to hold. 

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19 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Huawei hasn't given many details about the cameras on the phone, but it does have a a Leica logo, so I have high hopes for quality images. So far the demo unit we've held has three cameras, but a fourth hidden camera is planned to be shown off with the P30 next month.

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20 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Of course, selfie lovers are well catered to.

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21 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Unexpected benefit: Folding phones don't need a stand.

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22 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

The phone looks a little chunky when it's folded.

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23 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

There's USB-C charging on the bottom.

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24 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Opening the phone back out is a simple process.

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25 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

As it snaps back flat, the software recognises the movement...

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26 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

...and springs back into full tablet mode. Even in this brief demo, it was a seamless experience.

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Neat stuff, huh?

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28 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

With 5G on board, Huawei promises data speeds four times faster than 4G. That's enough to download 1GB of data in three seconds.

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29 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

The big question: With the screen folded around on itself like this, how well is it protected from knocks and bumps?

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30 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

The Mate X folded flat.

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31 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

It's a slender device.

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32 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Flat as a pancake. 

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33 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

There's that USB-C port again. 

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34 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Huawei reckons you'll spend most of your time using the Mate X in phone mode and only unfolding if you want a big-screen experience -- when watching a film, for example.

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35 of 35 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's consumer business, shows off the Mate X at its press conference debut. 

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