Despite the grand introductions of foldable phones earlier this year, including Samsung's Galaxy Fold and Huawei's Mate X, design flaws and major delays have put a damper on the excitement. The Galaxy Fold finally went on sale earlier this month (although good luck finding an unlocked one) and China, at least, will be getting the Huawei Mate X by the end of the month. First revealed in February at Mobile World Congress 2019, the Mate X was delayed from an expected August release without explanation (it's speculated that design issues similar to those that plagued the Galaxy Fold were to blame).
At this point, rumors point to two possible versions of the device – one with the planned Kirin 980 chipset and a second with the new Kirin 990 with native 5G support. The Kirin 990 SoC edition may also come with the triple camera setup from the Huawei P30 Pro.
Known as the Falcon Wing Design, the Mate X folds completely flat with a patented hinge comprised of over 100 components. The Galaxy Fold still has a bit of a gap at the hinge. Unlike the Fold, the Mate X closes outward, keeping the vulnerable plastic screen exposed at all times. Whether or not this will be a durability nightmare remains to be seen.
The Mate X has a sizable 8-inch screen with an 8:7.1 aspect ratio and 2480 x 2200 resolution. It becomes a dual-display phone when folded, with 6.6-inch (2480 x 1148) and 6.38-inch (2480 x 892) screens. Aspect ratios are 19.5:9 and 25:9 respectively. Additional specs include 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, dual SIM support (only one supporting 5G) and expandable storage. 5G support is via the 7nm Balong 5000 modem. There are two batteries combining for a 4,500mAh total and Huawei's SuperCharge tech supports up to 55W (empty to 85% in 30 minutes). There's also NFC, dual-frequency GPS, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac and USB Type-C.
EMUI 9.1.1 will be the skin of choice over Android, although it's a bit unclear if this will ship with Android or HarmonyOS in a wider release. The US currently bans Google's services on new Huawei devices (China also bans Google services, so it's a moot point thus far).
source: GizmoChina
