Huawei announced the new foldable smartphone Mate XS on February 24th. It costs 2,499 euros and is expected to be released in March not only in China but also around the world.
This product is equipped with Huawei’s second generation foldable style display. If rival Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Z Flip is vertically folded, Huawei products can be used as a large-screen tablet by winding and unfolding them from the outside.
What is better than the previous model, Mate X, is the structure of the body, such as hinge durability. The chipset has also been changed to the latest Kirin 990 5G and supports 5G communication functions. In addition, improvements have been made in terms of functions, such as adding work functions suitable for large screen work to Android-based EMUI 10. However, since Huawei is currently under US sanctions, the Google Play Store is not installed. Instead, you should use your own app store.
The MateXS display, which Huawei calls the Falcon Wing design, can be used as a secondary display with an 8-inch screen size when unfolded, a 6.6-inch surface when closed, and a 6.38-inch camera unit on the back.
The Mate XS has significantly reinforced the hinge. According to Huawei, the number of parts inside the hinge was increased from 100 in Mate X to 150. Although there is no thin glass plate adopted by the Galaxy Z Flip, the screen has a two-layer protective coating made of polyamide to enhance durability.
EMUI 10, an Android 10-based UI, was installed to make multitasking easier. For example, with two applications open in split view, usability is improving, such as dragging a picture to pass the other application or dragging the calculated result with a calculator into text.
The camera consisted of a 40 megapixel 27mm wide angle, 8 megapixel telephoto, 16 megapixel 17mm total wide angle, and a ToF sensor, and was developed jointly with Leica. When folded, it can be unfolded with an out camera and used for shooting.
Huawei is currently banned from dealing with US companies in the United States. As a result of that, Google Play Store and other Google-related apps cannot be installed. The same goes for Mate XS. Huawei is strengthening its own app store, HUAWEI AppGallery, and is being deployed in 170 countries.
The battery has two units and has a capacity of 4,500mAh. It has been improved with a cool design even when charging, and 55W charging is possible with its own fast charging technology. It is said that 85% of the main body battery can be charged in about 30 minutes. The chipset is higher than specifications when the Kirin 990 announced the Mate X. Memory is 8GB, storage space is 512GB, and additional storage space can be increased up to 512GB by installing NM Card. 5G supports both NSA/SA and is a 5G+5G dual SIM specification. In addition, MateXS expands its frequency and supports new N38, N28, N3, and N1 frequency bands.
The foldable display is AMOLED with a resolution of 2480×2200, and the size is 146.2×151.3×11mm when opened, 78.5×161.3×11mm when closed, and weighs 300g. Related information can be found here .