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Huawei Mate X2 Foldable Phone Review

Huawei’s first foldable phone is here! Here’s everything you need to know about the Mate X2 that was launched in China. 

Android Authority

Even after it lost some key partners, Huawei didn’t stop with its hardware innovations. In fact, it’s evident with their latest Mate X2. With that said, we got some exclusive footage during its recent launching in the MWC Shanghai show. 

The Huawei Mate X2 was released on February 22 and will only be available on February 25. Unfortunately, there’s no word about its global availability. As with the price, it starts at CNY 17,999 or about $2,785 for the 256GB model. 

But if you want the bigger storage of 512GB, the price tag increases up to CNY 18,999. The Mate X2 is the first foldable phone from Huawei that features a flexible display on the inside. On the other hand, the previous models Mate X and Mate Xs have their screen folding on the outside. 

It’s large! This is the first thing you’ll notice with the new Mate X2. It features an 8-inch display. If you add the thick bezels, it’s like you’re holding a tablet in your hand. Huawei made sure that the extra screen will be as useful as possible. 

They even designed the phone with a built-in running custom skin on top of the open-source Android OS. With that said, this phone has some pretty clever tricks up its sleeves for improved multitasking. 

Just like with the iPadOS and Samsung One UI, swiping from the right will give you a list of optimized apps in a resizable window. This allows full usage of the phone’s bigger screen. The Mate X2’s hardware gives off a polished and premium feel. 

This is mainly because of the improved hinge design. The mechanism is an engineering magic. They are able to create a foldable phone that has no gaps in-between the screens. The only downside of the design is the uneven thickness of the two sides.  

With that said, the side where the camera is located has almost twice the size as the other. However, Huawei said the asymmetrical weight distribution results in better handling. Another reason for the uneven thickness is the phone’s first periscopic telephoto lens. The thickness was needed to incorporate the lens’s advanced optics capable of up to 10x optical zoom and 100x digital zoom. 

Moreover, these advanced optics take up more space than the conventional sensor and combination you can find in modern smartphones. But there’s more! Huawei isn’t done yet. In fact, they have done some amazing tricks with the cameras. 

The Mate X2 features five cameras. Two are on the external display, while the others are on the rear. It has a main sensor with a 1/1.28-inch 50MP unit. This comes with OIS, together with a 15MP ultra-wide lens, a 12MP 3x telephoto shooter, and an aforementioned 8MP 10x camera. 

Likewise, the hinge has been improved. It can handle higher tension together with the mechanism that allows the screen to completely open or close. When you unfold, the screen appears much larger compared to the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 2. 

In addition, the Mate X2 is better than the Z Fold 2, thanks to its higher refresh rate screen on both display panels. This results in smoother scrolling and graphics. Also, the running EMUI on the foldable panel was already optimized for a smoother look. 

The phone can seem to be thicker and wider when folded. This can be tricky when you’re doing a single-handed operation. While this can be good for shorter tasks, but doing this for longer periods can prove a little bit harder. Therefore we suggest doing harder operations with both hands. 

Likewise, the phone is available in black, white, blue and pink. It also comes with a 5nm Kirin 9000 chipset, a 4,500mAh battery, a 55W fast charging support, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, and a dual-sim capability. 

The biggest downside of the Mate X2 is that this foldable phone will not get beyond China. It doesn’t have Google Play Store support which can be limiting for international users. On the other hand, the company compensates very well with their App Gallery, gaining traction with their apps every month. 

With the international release, we’re not ruling it out yet. In fact, we do hope it will be available soon!