Huawei’s new $ 2,800 foldable phone copies Samsung’s Galaxy Fold line

Huawei will not allow a minor inconvenience, such as U.S. sanctions, to prevent it from developing new phones. Today, the company announced the next device in its flagship line of foldable smartphones: the Huawei Mate X2. While the Mate X of 2019 (X1?) Was an innovative form factor, but impractical, with a single screen around the outside of the phone, Mate X2 follows the example of Samsung and comes with a foldable book format with a screen rigid phone on the outside and a foldable tablet screen on the inside. It looks like a Galaxy X Fold 2, but with some interesting design evolutions.

Huawei spent a lot of time saying that the Mate X2 was better than the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2, pointing out larger internal and external screens, as well as a smaller hinge area with thinner bezels in the front. One thing Huawei didn’t compare was the price, which starts at a whopping $ 2,784, while the Galaxy Fold 2 costs $ 2,000.

The external screen is a 6.45-inch, 2700 × 1160, 90 Hz OLED, while the internal screen is an 8-inch, 2480 × 2200, 90 Hz OLED. Both are larger than the Fold 2, which has a screen 6.2-inch external and 7.6-inch internal. Huawei’s work to reduce the bezels looks impressive and it really looks like the company has got it right. Huawei managed to fit a standard 21: 9 bog screen on the front – it looks like a normal smartphone from some angles. The internal screen is almost two 21: 9 screens together, with what Huawei called an “8: 7.1 aspect ratio”. It is difficult to say what the interior aspect ratio “should” be, since apps for Android tablets are almost non-existent, but at least this will be good for using split screen apps.

The foldable action of the Mate X2 looks like a cross between Samsung’s Fold 2 and Moto Razr. At Fold, we have internal gears behind the screen for hinge action. From the Razr, we have a hinge that results in a teardrop-shaped fold when closed, instead of a stiff crease. As with the Razr, there are two folding support plates on the left and right of the hinge. They get out of the way when the device closes, allowing the phone to close without crushing the screen. Huawei says the device closes without fail.

A major disadvantage of being a Huawei device and not a Samsung device is that it will not have Samsung’s ultra-thin glass screen cover. Samsung is currently the only company to ship a folding screen cover that is even a little stiff to the touch, while everyone else uses a wrinkled and wavy plastic screen cover that moves anytime you touch it.

During the presentation with a live unit, a reflection of light briefly rolled across the screen, highlighting how irregular the surface of the screen is. As with the Moto Razr, there is no support covering the hinge area, so the flexible screen falls on the hinge and forms a considerable trench in the middle of the screen. The light also emphasized all kinds of uneven ripples and distortions along what should have been the “flat” sides of the screen.

An interesting design choice: the Mate X2’s body is wedge-shaped. When opened, the right side of the phone is 8.2 mm, which is reduced to the left side measurement of 4.4 mm. Huawei says the right side of the phone is thicker, so it can house all the cameras in a normal phone body, which is about 8 mm thick. The left side of the phone does not need as many components, so it can be diluted as much as possible.

I’m not the type to advocate ever thinner smartphones with thinner batteries and the removal of headset connectors, but for folding, thickness is a big concern if you really want to carry one in your pocket. Many of these early devices are as thick as two smartphones stacked on top of each other, and it just doesn’t fit in your pocket. Huawei’s conical design and folding hinge really look like a winner here. The company is delivering a device with the same battery size as the Galaxy Z Fold 2, 4500mAh, but cut almost 2 mm from the 16.8 mm thickness, becoming a 14.7 mm device when folded.

But is it even possible for Huawei to build this phone in significant quantities? Huawei is still in the midst of a stifling export ban in the United States, which made it impossible for the company to obtain parts from international suppliers and caused its market share to plummet. Huawei Consumer Business Group CEO Richard Yu started the Mate X2 presentation with some challenging words for the U.S. government. “2020 was an extraordinary and challenging year for Huawei,” said Yu. “We found ourselves simultaneously attacked by the pandemic COVID-19 and the second and third rounds of American sanctions, which has placed great difficulties on our business and daily work. However, thanks to the solid support of our partners, suppliers and, in particular, consumers worldwide, we have survived 2020! “

Surviving 2020 is one thing, but Huawei’s market share is still falling rapidly, and things look more bleak in the future. There are already reports that Huawei’s smartphone production will be cut in half by 2021. Here is just one of probably many supply problems: Mate X2 has a Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 9000 SoC, built on TSMC’s 5 nm process, but TSMC stopped shipments to Huawei in September 2020. According to supply chain reports, Huawei ordered the production of 15 million chips, but TSMC was only able to deliver just over half of that, 8.8 million chips, before the deadline. This offer needs to be extended to Mate X2, the Mate 40 Pro mainboard smartphone, and probably another launch this year, the P50 Pro.

Keep in mind that Mate X2 will also have no Google apps. Speaking about Huawei’s software problems, the company ended the show with the announcement that “Huawei’s primary phone users” will be able to upgrade their phones to Huawei’s internal operating system, HarmonyOS, starting in April, and Mate X2 will be one of the first to do this. Therefore, according to Huawei, the phone will come with Android and be upgraded to HarmonyOS. For those who missed our previous report, Huawei claims that HarmonyOS is its internal operating system, but after actually looking at it, there is no noticeable difference between HarmonyOS and Android. It should be an easy “update”, at least.

With all the supply problems and the almost non-existent launch of Mate X in 2019, it’s hard to treat it like a real phone, but Huawei says it will go on sale, only in China, on February 25.

List image by Huawei