The first foldable phones were off to a poor start, as both the Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X were delayed by problems. Samsung Galaxy Fold managed to enter stores over the past month and now Huawei Mate X 5G was also launched in China. The device is priced at $2400 and will reach local stores on November 15th.
International availability will depend on how fast the carriers are able to roll out 5G services, it seems. The debut of the device took place during an event in China, where we also learned that Huawei moved 200 million phones this year. Back to the Huawei Mate X 5G, it comes with a Kirin 980 CPU and the Balong 5000 modem, even though we heard at some point it was going to adopt the Kirin 990.
Of course, it runs Android Pie and without the Google apps, as expected. The screen is now protected by a double layer of polyimide and the hinge is sturdier than the first gen unit showed at MWC 2019. When open, the device sports an 8 inch touchscreen display, while the folded version reveals a 6.6 inch screen on the front and 6.38 inch panel on the back.
There’s also a dual cell battery with support for 55W fast charging. Buyers also get 8 GB of RAM, 512 GB of storage, a side mounted fingerprint scanner and dual speakers. A quad camera sits at the back, with a main 40 MP sensor, 16 MP ultra wide cam, 8 MP telephoto and a ToF sensor. It all weighs 295 grams, which is shockingly 30 grams lighter than the iPhone 11 Pro Max.
International debut will be tricky, I feel…
