When you think of foldable phones you may well think of Samsung. The Korean firm released its first Galaxy Fold smartphone back in 2019 and its latest version, the Galaxy Z Fold 6, was released in July. Samsung ships the most foldables globally thanks also to its Z Flip series, compact folding phones that recall the flip phones of the early 2000s.
But the competition for Samsung is hotting up with outstanding options such as the OnePlus Open, Motorola Razr 50 Ultra and Honor Magic V3 all available to buy in the UK. They offer arguably better designs than Samsung, particularly with some rivals getting much thinner and more pocketable.
Now there’s yet another folding Android phone to take the fight to Samsung and it has an extra special design that’s sure to turn heads.
Huawei has just announced the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design and it’s a phone that folds not just one, but twice. This so-called ‘triple fold’ device unfolds once to double its screen size but then can unfold again from underneath to turn the once-phone-sized gadget into a giant 10.2-inch tablet.
“In triple screen mode, the expansive screen delivers cinema-level immersive viewing and makes information browsing a breeze,” Huawei said. “When folded to dual screen mode, the phone is ideal for reading articles and checking email. It can be folded down to a single screen mode at will, dealing with tasks such as calling or shooting.”
Just like other folding phones, the Mate XT uses a flexible OLED screen, which is made from plastic and incredibly thin glass materials. Despite its size when unfurled it only weighs 298g and packs in triple cameras including a 50MP main snapper.
The Mate XT will be sold in China starting at ¥19,999, which at the time of writing is £2,150. If the device were to be sold in the UK, there would likely be a considerable markup in price. We asked Huawei if the impressive Mate XT will be sold on these shores.
“HUAWEI Mate XT | ULTIMATE DESIGN will be firstly launched in the Chinese mainland – stay tuned with the Huawei official channels for more availability information in the future,” a Huawei spokesperson told Express.co.uk.
While not an outright no, we wouldn’t count on this world-first phone to make it to Blighty. Huawei can no longer ship phones with Google Play services installed after a bust up with the US that has restricted who the company can trade with, including Google.
It means Huawei’s phones cannot run Google apps or use the Google Play Store for apps without significant tech know-how. It’s possible, but it’s far from the seamless experience you get with Samsung, OnePlus, Motorola and others. Apps like Uber won’t work as they use Google Maps, for instance.
It’s still Android, just without all the Google.
Huawei was the main smartphone challenger to Samsung worldwide as recenty as 2019 – we adored the Huawei P30 Pro before the Google ban – but now only sells phones in significant volume in its home country of China where Google is not widely used.
