Huawei Mate XT Ultimate for €2,550 is here
Huawei has just unveiled the Mate XT Ultimate, the world’s first smartphone with a tri-fold design. Fully unfolded, the Huawei phone measures 10.2 inches diagonally. Folding the left part backwards turns it into a 7.9-inch foldable device. And folding the right side turns it into a compact 6.4-inch bar-style phone.
Despite its complex design, the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate is impressively thin at 3.6mm (unfolded) and weighs just 298 grams. And all this with a powerful camera setup based on the foldable Mate X5. The device technically has a single screen. The flexible LTPO OLED panel delivers a 120 Hz refresh rate and supports 10 billion colors. Its full resolution is 3,184 x 2,232 pixels, which can be adjusted to 2,232 x 2,048 and 2,232 x 1,008 pixels depending on the folding configuration.
Huawei calls this display “3K” and positions it as a middle ground between 2K (QHD) and 4K. The display has a screen-to-body ratio of 92%. The fully unfolded 10.2-inch display offers a 16:11 aspect ratio. Huawei also claims to improve the display with “image quality through AI computing.”
While the main cameras on the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate are similar to those on the Mate X5, they also include P-series features. The main camera is based on a 50 MP sensor with PDAF and OIS. Added to that is the P60 Pro’s variable aperture of f/1.4-f/4.0. There’s also a 12MP telephoto lens with 5.5x optical zoom, a 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera, and laser autofocus. The device also has an 8MP front-facing camera in a punch hole on the large display that acts as a selfie camera when the device is folded.
Hinge system named after a space station
The hinge system on the Mate XT Ultimate is named after the Tiangong space station. It allows “internal and external bending” using double rails and moving parts to ensure folding without gaps. The hinge is made of a composite laminate with non-Newtonian fluid components, which adds durability.
Huawei says the Mate XT’s single-screen mode is ideal for everyday tasks, while the dual-screen mode is good for web browsing and reading. The fully unfolded triple-screen mode is best for detailed work or studying. The large screen enhances productivity tools like email, financial management, multitasking, video playback, and AI-based features.
However, Huawei has not specified whether these AI tools are cloud-based or on-device, and we don’t know the chipset. However, we do know that the phone comes with 16GB of RAM.
The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate also features the improved Xiaoyi voice assistant, known internationally as Celia. AI features include speech-to-text, automatic split-screen, real-time document translation, and photo retouching. All of this runs on HarmonyOS 4.2, a system based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) without Google services.
One key feature that is only available in the Chinese market is two-way satellite communication. It only works via China Telecom and connects to Tiantong satellites.
The Mate XT Ultimate’s battery consists of three silicon carbide composite cells and offers a total capacity of 5,600 mAh. 66 watts land in the cell via cable and 50 watts wirelessly.
Huawei Mate XT Ultimate pricing
The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate comes in black or red with gold accents on the hinges, edges and camera. It costs CNY 19,999 ($2,800/€2,550) for the 256GB version, CNY 21,999 ($3,100/€2,800) for the 512GB variant and CNY 23,999 ($3,400/€3,100) for the 1TB model.
However, it is unfortunately quite unlikely that Huawei will release the Mate XT Ultimate outside of China. Especially considering that the last international release of a Huawei foldable device, the Mate X3, was almost 18 months ago.
