Chinese phone maker Huawei unveils its answer to Apple’s iPhone 16: the world’s first Z-shaped foldable phone (but it’s not cheap!)
Although Apple only launched the new iPhone 16 yesterday, the device may not get as much attention as the company had hoped.
That’s because Chinese phone maker Huawei today unveiled its answer to the iPhone: the company is launching the world’s first Z-shaped foldable phone.
The new Mate XT Ultimate Design uses dual hinges to transform its 6.4-inch OLED display into a massive 10.2-inch tablet-like screen.
But with prices starting at £2,148 ($2,809) in China, this cutting-edge technology doesn’t come cheap.
And if you want to buy the top-of-the-range model with 1TB of storage, that will cost you £2,577 ($3,370) – roughly the price of a brand new 16-inch Macbook Pro.
The Mate XT Ultimate Design uses dual hinges to fold the device into a Z-shape, allowing it to expand from the size of a smartphone to that of a tablet
Chinese phone maker Huawei may be trying to steal the limelight from Apple’s iPhone launch as the company unveils the world’s first tri-fold smartphone (pictured)
The Mate XT is the first of its kind to utilise a ‘dual inverse hinge’ design, allowing the phone to fold inwards or outwards like an accordion.
Huawei CEO Ridard Yu said: “We never stopped innovating and never gave up on enabling innovation.
‘This allowed us to develop the world’s first commercial tri-fold phone.’
When fully folded, the device looks like a regular smartphone, with a large camera display on the back and a 6.4-inch display on the front.
Thanks to that screen, the fully folded Mate XT has a similar screen size to the 6.4-inch Google Pixel 9.
But when the device is fully unfolded, the screen seamlessly expands to 10.2 inches, making it the same size as the iPad 9.
Thanks to its Z-shaped design, the Mate XT can also be used partially unfolded with a mid-sized 7.9-inch display – which is slightly smaller than a fully unfolded Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
When fully unfolded, the Mate XT is just 3.6mm thin, more than twice as thin as an iPhone 16.
However, when the phone is folded all the way, you’re still left with a fairly thick device at 12.8mm.
For comparison, a 16-inch MacBook Pro is just 16.8mm thin, so this is certainly not an ultra-thin device.
When fully folded, the device looks like a regular smartphone with a large camera bezel on the back and a 6.4-inch display on the front
Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Edition, the world’s first tri-foldable smartphone, seen here for sale at a Huawei flagship store on September 10, 2024 in Shanghai, China
When fully unfolded, the Mate XT measures 10.2 inches, making it the same size as Apple’s iPad 9.
However, Huawei has used that space to pack in a huge amount of computing power.
The Mate XT comes with 16GB of RAM and is available with 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage.
The phone also features a 5,600mAh battery that supports 66W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.
Also on the back is a 50-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 12-megapixel periscope camera.
That’s in addition to the 8-megapixel selfie camera on the left side of the foldable screen.
After weeks of revealing the design, Huawei unveiled the Mate XT at an event in China’s tech hub of Shenzhen.
The launch date has likely been chosen to coincide with Apple’s event in California, where the tech giant unveiled its own flagship smartphone.
While Apple has long been rumored to be working on its own foldable device, Huawei recently overtook Samsung as the largest supplier of such devices.
Huawei says it has been working on developing the technology that allows the device to fold so compactly for the past five years
However, at 12.8mm thick when fully folded, the Mate XT would be quite chunky in your pocket. Pictured: Chinese author Deng Fang demoing the Mate XT
Huawei scheduled the launch just one day after Apple unveiled the new iPhone 16 (pictured)
During the launch, Yu appeared to take aim at his company’s rival: “Today we are presenting a product that anyone can imagine but cannot make.
‘Today, we will once again rewrite industry history, turn science fiction into reality and usher in a new era of foldable devices.’
In another move that seemed aimed at ruffling the feathers of Apple, Huawei also announced that the Mate XT would come with AI features.
Huawei says the new phone will launch with an AI that can create, translate and edit text summaries.
The Mate XT also features AI-enhanced image editing software, which lets you cut out unwanted parts of images.
These features seem remarkably similar to the features Apple promises in its upcoming “Apple Intelligence” AI updates.
World’s first triple-folding phone for more than three times the price of the latest iPhone
Huawei has also announced that the Mate XT will include AI features, including text editing tools that bear a striking resemblance to the features announced as part of Apple Intelligence (pictured)
While Apple and Huawei aren’t the only phone companies launching these capabilities, the move could pose a direct challenge to Apple’s foray into AI.
While Apple previously enjoyed strong iPhone sales in China, the hype has since died down and the US company has dropped from the third to the sixth largest smartphone vendor.
This is further compounded by the fact that Apple Intelligence won’t be available in China until 2025.
While the AI update is coming to the US in November and the UK in December, Apple has yet to announce a specific launch date for China.
Since Huawei is offering a slew of new AI features, it could be attractive to Chinese consumers, provided they aren’t put off by the sky-high price tag.