Huawei has become the latest mainstream smartphone producer to reveal a folding smartphone, but the $2,600 Mate X takes a different approach from Samsung's recently-launched Galaxy Fold by putting the screen on the outside of the bend, rather than inside. Revealed at Mobile World Congress, the Huawei Mate X is billed as a 5G-supporting foldable smartphone. Using a "Falcon Wing Mechanical Hinge," the device can switch between a 6.6-inch smartphone with OLED displays on the front and rear to a larger 8-inch tablet. While the Samsung Galaxy Fold elects to put the screen on the inside of the bend, Huawei opted to place it externally, a decision that puts far less strain on the display from repeated bending. Such a move is also risky from a usability standpoint, as it means the screen is not as protected from other items, such as keys in a pocket, unlike the inward screen design. The 2-in-1 device is quite thin by modern smartphone standards, measuring 5.4 millimeters at its slimmest point when unfolded. However, a large "camera bump" section is located on one edge and going the entire width of the device. The device has a trio of cameras in said bump, and they are located only on one side of the device, with no sensors on the screen side when opened like a tablet. Users are able to take self portraits by folding the device and having the camera side face them, with the partial display showing the viewfinder right next to the cameras. Inside the Mate X is a Kirin 980 processor and the 7-nanometer 5G Balong 5000 chipset, claimed to offer up to 4.6Gbps download speeds, and will support both SA and NSA architectures. While few details have been revealed about its internals, it does include a "Fingerbutton Power Button" for waking the device and authenticating the user, as well as a fast charge capability offering to recharge up to 85 percent of the 4,500mAh battery in just 30 minutes. Arriving in June, the Huawei Mate X will start from 2,299 euros ($2,611), which is considerably higher than Samsung's sub-$2,000 device.<doc-sep>Huawei took the centre stage at MWC 2019 to unveil its first foldable phone. The Huawei Mate X comes with premium specifications, while also folding out to become a tablet, providing additional screen real estate. The phone, unarguably, pits directly against the Samsung Galaxy Fold, which was launched last week, and its design is very different than the Mate X, although it also unfolds to reveal a larger screen. These two are the first foldable smartphones that will be reaching the market this year. Huawei has been going against Samsung quite often recently, with the launch of the Huawei Nova 4 with its display hole for selfie camera design, soon after Samsung launched the Galaxy A8s with the same design in December last month. We pit the Huawei Mate X with the Samsung Galaxy Fold to ascertain which one fares better, at least on paper. Huawei Mate X vs Samsung Galaxy Fold price The Huawei Mate X price globally has been set at EUR 2,299 (roughly Rs. 2,09,400) for the 8GB RAM/ 512GB storage variant. The smartphone will go on sale from the middle of 2019, and will come in a single Interstellar Blue colour option initially. Samsung Galaxy Fold price has been set at $1,980 (roughly Rs. 1,41,300) and the phone will be offered in four colours - Green, Blue, Silver, and Black. The company notes the smartphone will be sold in both 4G LTE and 5G variants. According to Samsung, it will start selling the Galaxy Fold beginning April 26, 2019 in select countries around the world. There is no word on the pre-order details right now or exactly which markets will be receiving the device. If we were to hazard a guess, all major markets would be getting the Galaxy Fold, sooner or later. Huawei Mate X vs Samsung Galaxy Fold design The two phones are very different when it comes to design. The Huawei Mate X features two FullView Display panels in 6.6-inch and 6.38-inch sizes that jointly bring an 8-inch OLED FullView Display panel when unfolded -- without any display notch. Huawei claims that the Mate X has a patented hinge design with over 100 components. For photos and videos, the Huawei Mate X sports a two-in-one front and rear triple camera setup that is powered by Leica optics. Unlike the Huawei Mate X which has two screens at the front and back and folds out into a large screen, the Samsung Galaxy Fold comes with only one screen in the front. It opens and shuts like a book to reveal two screens inside. The phone comes with a wide notch holding two selfie sensors on the inside and a triple rear camera setup that sits at the back. There's another camera on the front - giving it a total of six cameras. Huawei Mate X vs Samsung Galaxy Fold specifications The dual-SIM (Nano) Huawei Mate X runs Android 9 Pie on top of EMUI 9.1.1, while the Samsung Galaxy Fold also runs on Android 9 Pie-but based on its One UI skin. The Huawei Mate X features two FullView Display panels in 6.6-inch and 6.38-inch sizes that jointly bring an 8-inch OLED FullView Display panel when unfolded -- without any display notch. The device, when folded, offers a 6.6-inch display experience at the front with a pixel count of 1148x2480 pixels and 19.5:9 aspect ratio. At the back, the Huawei Mate X has a 6.38-inch display with 892x2480 pixel count and 25:9 aspect ratio. The back display can also be used to capture selfies. When unfolded, the 8-inch display has a 2480x2200 pixels resolution along with an 8:7.1 aspect ratio. Huawei also took a dig at Samsung by showcasing at its conference that the Mate X offers an 8-inch display experience without a cutout where the Galaxy Fold provides a 7.2-inch display when unfolded with a cutout for the selfie camera. On the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the resolution of the larger 7.3-inch Infinity Flex Dynamic AMOLED panel is set at 1536x2152 pixels (4.2:3 aspect ratio), whereas the smaller 4.6-inch Super AMOLED panel includes 840x1960 pixels resolution (21:9 aspect ratio). Huawei Mate X vs Samsung Galaxy Fold processor and storage The Huawei Mate X has a HiSilicon Kirin 980 SoC, coupled with 8GB RAM. There is also the Huawei Balong 5000 5G chipset that comes as the world's first 7nm modem, capable of delivering up to 4.6/ 2.5Gbps downlink/ uplink speeds on Sub-6GHz. On mmWave, the chipset can deliver up to 6.5/ 3.5Gbps downlink/ uplink speeds. There is also a quad 5G antenna on the handset. The Huawei Mate X has 512GB of onboard storage that is expandable via microSD card (up to 256GB). Samsung hasn't revealed the processor on the Galaxy Fold, but it says that it is based on 7nm manufacturing process, tipping it is the Snapdragon 855 SoC. The smartphone also includes 12GB of RAM and 512GB of inbuilt storage (UFS 3.0) - there is no storage expandability. Samsung hasn't listed its 5G components as of yet. Huawei Mate X vs Samsung Galaxy Fold camera Coming to the camera, as mentioned, the Huawei Mate X sports a two-in-one front and rear camera setup that is powered by Leica optics. The camera setup includes three sensors, including a 40-megapixel sensor (wide-angle lens), 16-megapixel (ultra-wide-angle lens), and an 8-megapixel sensor (telephoto). The phone also has a mirror shooting mode that lets users show the preview of what they're capturing to others, thanks to the rear display panel. For the imaging needs, the Samsung Galaxy Fold comes with a total of six cameras - three are placed on the back, two on the inside, and one on the front. Let's start with the rear cameras: a 16-megapixel ultra-wide camera with an f/2.2 aperture, a 12-megapixel wide-angle camera, with Dual Pixel AF, OIS, and variable f/1.5 to f/2.4 aperture; and finally, a 12-megapixel telephoto camera with PDAF, OIS, an f/2.4 aperture, and 2X optical zoom. As for the front dual camera, it features a 10-megapixel f/2.2 primary sensor and an 8-megapixel RBG depth camera with an f/1.9 aperture. Finally, the cover camera is a 10-megapixel selfie camera with an f/2.2 aperture. Huawei Mate X vs Samsung Galaxy Fold battery The Huawei phone packs two battery packs that jointly offer 4,500mAh of capacity. It has 55W Huawei SuperCharge technology that is rated to deliver 85 percent of power in 30 minutes of charge. Samsung has also packed two batteries in the phone that are placed on two sides of the phone. The batteries combine their energy and offer a total capacity of 4,380mAh. Samsung offers fast charging support and wireless charging support as well. With Galaxy Fold, has Samsung kicked off a revolution in smartphone tech? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.<doc-sep>Not long ago, Samsung Electronics Co. revealed the industry’s first-ever smartphone with a foldable-screen. Now, China’s Huawei Technologies Co. is looking to one-up its competitor with the official unveiling of its very own folding 5G phone called the Mate X. Huawei CEO Richard Yu unveiled the anticipated Mate X at a conference today in Barcelona, Spain. The phone boasts a single wide screen that folds in half when it’s closed. Comparable to the Samsung version, the phone will have an unfolded and folded mode alongside running a number of applications simultaneously using swift 5G networks. One notable difference from its Samsung counterpart is that the Mate X’s display stretches to all four corners of the device when it’s either folded or unfolded. The Mate X is as pricey as its Samsung rival. The device will set buyers back approximately $2,600 USD which is $600 USD more than Samsung’s equivalent. An official launch date is still pending for the phone, but Mr. Yu expressed in the conference the phone will probably release “maybe in June” in select markets. Stay tuned for updates. In case you’re wondering, here’s what industry experts have to say about Samsung’s Galaxy Fold.<doc-sep>
Huawei's Mate X Benjamin Hall | CNBC Huawei launched a foldable smartphone on Sunday, striking back at Samsung just days after it launched the first consumer-ready foldable device. Huawei launched the Mate X at an event at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The Chinese tech giant said the phone will start at a whopping price of 2299 euros (approximately $2600), and will be available in the middle of 2019. That price tops the high end of Samsung's Galaxy Fold, which will sell for an eye-popping $1980, as well as Apple's premium iPhones. American officials have warned against using Huawei devices out of fear they will enable Chinese spying, charges the company denies. Meanwhile, Huawei has found itself stuck in the middle of tensions between the U.S. and China in the race to roll out 5G networks. The Huawei Mate X is a 5G device that can fold into a slim 6.6-inch smartphone and unfold into an 8-inch tablet. Huawei's launch sets up a battle with Samsung, which unveiled its Galaxy Fold last week, as the world's biggest smartphone makers try to pump innovation into a stalling smartphone market. Unlike Samsung's device, Huawei's Mate X features slightly curved screens that fold backward so that, when closed, there are screens on both sides of the phone. The design makes Huawei's device slimmer than Samsung's when it's folded. Huawei's Mate X Huawei Other key features of the Mate X include: Flexible OLED screens Curved grip for one-handed use New Leica camera system Dual-SIM capability The phone will run on Huawei's Kirin 980 processor and Balong 5000 chipset, which supports 5G. The company said the super-fast chipset will allow users to download a 1 gigabyte movie in just 3 seconds. Huawei's Mate X Huawei The Mate X is Huawei's first 5G-enabled smartphone. Huawei said it has an advantage over other companies launching 5G devices because it provides the full-range of equipment needed to get wireless networks up and running. The Chinese firm is the world's biggest provider of telecommunications equipment. Huawei did not specify the markets where the Mate X will be available, and it's unclear if the phone will reach the U.S. Increased scrutiny from the U.S. and other countries hasn't dented sales in Huawei's consumer business so far. The unit reported a record $52 billion in sales in 2018, up 50 percent from the year before, citing strong demand for its premium smartphones. Huawei overtook Apple as the world's second largest smartphone maker last year, behind Samsung. The company has proven resilient to a broader slowdown in smartphone sales in China, with smartphone shipments soaring 23 percent in the country in the fourth quarter of last year, according to market research firm IDC. Apple's Chinese iPhone shipments, meanwhile, plunged 20 percent in the same quarter. "Huawei has acquired a clear edge over the competition for extensive applications including photography, gaming and business usage by building solid technology prowess and innovations and collaborating closely with suppliers," the IDC report said. Still some analysts are worried about the high price tags of the foldable devices from Huawei and Samsung. Research shows consumers have already been holding onto their phones longer, finding it hard to justify spending $1000 or more on a new handset. Notably, Apple has not said whether it plans to develop a foldable device. Huawei's upgraded laptop