Huawei's Mate X3 Folding Phone Is Going Global
The Mate X3 launches in the UK and Europe following an earlier release in China.
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Huawei launched a duo of flagship phones for 2023 in its native China in earlier this year, and now it's bringing them to international markets. The Huawei P60 series launches in the UK from today starting at £1,200, while the Mate X3 will go up for sale on May 26 for £2,000 with preorders starting on Huawei's online store today. There is no US release planned.
Both phones represent impressive feats of engineering as is typical of Huawei smartphones, but neither will have Google apps and services as a result of US sanctions. This also means each of the phones runs on a 4G version of last year's Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processors.
Mate X3 foldable
The Mate X3 is Huawei's foldable phone flagship for this year. Similar to Google's upcoming Pixel Fold and Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 4, it has a book-style foldable design, which allows it to transform from a 6.4-inch phone when closed into a 7.85-inch tablet when open. Despite the presence of two screens, the Mate X3 weighs 239 grams (8.4 ounces) and is 5.3 millimeters thick, making it lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro Max and thinner when unfolded. This also means the Mate X3 is the lightest commercially available foldable phone -- a title Huawei clinched previously with the Mate XS 2. For reference, the Galaxy Z Fold 4, Samsung's version of this type of foldable, weighs 263 grams and has a thickness of 6.3mm when unfolded.
In terms of performance, the Mate X3 runs on that Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 4G processor, which is backed up by a 4,800mAh battery and a range of charging options such as 66W wired charging, 50W wireless charging and 7.5W reverse wireless.
The international version of the Mate X3 is similar to the version launched in China, with a few major changes including the OS system (EMUI VS HarmonyOS) and lack of Satellite communication capability, which is a China-only feature at present. You can read in more depth about the Mate X3 here.
Huawei offers the P60 Pro globally in two color options. This one has a pearl-like finish.
Huawei P60 Pro
The standout feature on the P60 Pro is its camera, as you can probably infer from the design. This time however, Huawei is focusing on the phone's low-light performance, even referring to its camera module as the "Eye of The Light." The main camera is a 48-megapixel one with a variable aperture that lets you physically adjust the focal length. It's complemented with a 48-megapixel telephoto lens that Huawei says is capable of 10x tele-macro closeups and an impressive 200x digital zoom. There's also a duo of 13-megapixel cameras for the ultra-wide and selfie cameras.
Apart from the camera, the phone features a 6.7-inch AMOLED display, a 4,185 mAH battery backed by a range of charging options (88W wired, 50W wireless) and an IP68 rating, as well as Huawei's new kunlun glass, which it says is far more durable than standard hardened glass. The phone comes in both 8GB and 12GB RAM variants, with 256GB and 512GB of storage, respectively.