F.old phones still aren’t quite mainstream, though Huawei’s new Mate X2 looks like it does real competition for Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2
Announced via livestream earlier today, the Mate X2 represents a major departure from previous Huawei foldable phones. The business has shifted from an out-folding design to an in-folding design that places the Mate X2’s 8-inch 2480 x2200 foldable OLED display inside the device. OOn the outside, there is now a secondary 6.45-inch 2700 x 1600 OLED display, with both indoor and outdoor displays with 90 Hz refresh rates.
The Mate X2 shares the same basic design as pricey foldable from Samsung, although the Galaxy Z Fold 2 has a superior 120 Hz refresh rate But Huawei is different in a few interesting ways.
The first big change is something I really wish Samsung had done. On the inside, Huawei doesn’t have a selfie camera, so there’s no notch or hole-punch camera to distract from that huge flexible screen. That may seem like a bold call to some, especially with the way social media is now, but since you can still take a selfie with the camera above the outdoor display, it means that when it’s open, your attention is so great, experience full screen, exactly where it should be.
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Huawei said that during its live stream the Mate X2 has a small crease where the phone’s screen curves due to its design, however with a clever technique, the crease should be more of a wrinkle to help avoid possible screen distortion. T.The Mate X2’s hinge has also been designed to eliminate the gap between the two halves of the phone when folded, something Samsung couldn’t do on the Z Fold 2. The end result is a more compact body.
Another key difference is that the Mate X2 has a more standard format 21: 9 outdoor display compared to the super-skinny 25: 9 screen that Samsung uses on the Z Fold 2, which gives you more real estate when you respond quickly to texts or check notifications. These are all changes that should make the Mate X2 more user-friendly every day, and serves to reinforce why foldable phones need more companies to test design changes if they are to ever become popular.
T.he Mate X2’s cameras include a 16 MP exterior selfie camera, together with a Quad-rear camera module consisting of a 50 MP main camera, 16 MP Cine Cam, 12 MP 3x zoom camera and a 8 MP Super Zoom camera with 10x zoom. That’s a pretty powerful photo toolkit, with Huawei’s 10x zoom offering a much wider range than the 2x optical zoom on the Z Fold 2.
Samsung loaded its flagship foldable with impressive specs, but the Mate X2’s components are not so lofty, with only 8 GB RAM and 256 GB or 512 GB storage, and no wireless charging support. The Mate X2 is also allowed be the last Huawei phone with one of the company’s in-house Kirin 9000 chips, which were originally due to be retired after last year Mate 40 ProStill, the Mate X2 is expected to cost RMB 18,000 in China (about $ 2,785) when it goes on sale on February 25.– that is nearly $ 800 more than a Z-fold 2.
Hauwei says it will update the Mate X2 with its new Harmony OS later this spring, but Huawei phones still don’t support Google apps or services, which is a deal breaker for people living outside of AsiaBetween that, are high price and unknown availability for the Mate X2 outside of China, although this device represents a nice twist on the design of a foldable phone, Huawei’s technology remains a hard sell-especially for people in the US.