Hands-on with Mate XT Ultimate Design: Huawei’s Tri-Folding Phone Is Sexy Yet Sturdy

Huawei’s new foldable phone is worth a conversation. The Mate XT Ultimate Design is the world’s first tri-folding phone that shoppers can actually buy in stores. (Other phone makers have created concept devices with screens that fold in multiple places, but Huawei is the only company selling such a device.) It’s the slimmest phone ever made when unfolded. It’s also among the most expensive foldable phones on the market, carrying a price tag ranging from 19,999 yuan (roughly $2,800; £2,199; AU$4,245) up to 23,999 yuan, or roughly $3,421, for the highest storage variant. And I got the chance to try it out myself (more on that below).

With the Mate XT Ultimate Design, Huawei takes foldable phones to the next level, going beyond the standard book-style models with a single hinge. The Chinese tech giant’s new device features a 10.2-inch screen that folds twice, creating three distinct sections, and it collapses into the size of a standard pocket-sized phone. This design offers the unique experience of carrying a full-sized tablet in your pocket.

The arrival of the Mate XT Ultimate Design, just hours after Apple unveiled the iPhone 16 in September, marks a symbolic victory for Huawei. The Chinese tech giant’s phone business faced years of struggles due to crippling US sanctions beginning in 2019, which blocked access to advanced American technology essential for smartphone semiconductors, parts and access to US consumers. Today, the Chinese tech giant’s business is thriving once again, boosted by support from the national government. 

Winning the foldables race is an important goal for Huawei, which is competing with fellow big-name companies such as Samsung, Google and Xiaomi to push foldable phones forward. However, it also faces the hurdle of convincing consumers it’s worth the money. According to a  survey conducted by CNET in September, most smartphone owners (52%) have no interest in purchasing a foldable phone. 

Given its prohibitive price tag, the Mate XT Ultimate Design is unlikely to be a major sales driver for Huawei. But winning the foldables race remains a key ambition for the Chinese company despite US sanctions. In fact, Huawei has achieved the leadership position in the worldwide foldables market, according to a second quarter report from research firm the International Data Corporation. Huawei took the top spot from Samsung with a 27.5% market share globally, while Samsung captured 16.4%.

In late September, I visited Shenzhen, China, to experience the one-of-a-kind phone firsthand at a store in the city center. Even though my hands-on time with the Mate XT Ultimate Design was limited, I came away impressed.

Mate XT’s inner screen and hinges

When you look at the Mate XT Ultimate Design from the front, it looks just like a regular smartphone. It has a 6.4-inch screen and has similar proportions to a candybar phone. However, when you turn it to its side, or take a glance at it from the top, you can see the accordion-like design that makes this phone so unique. The Mate XT has three layers that fold in, and when opened fully, these sections expand into a display measuring 10.2-inches. 

The display also has two subtle creases that run down the screen, similar to other foldables. However, watching videos still felt immersive, thanks in part to the screen’s brightness and vividness, making the creases less of an issue. It felt like navigating a tablet — though an impossibly slim one, at just 3.66 millimeters thick, about the size of four to five stacked SIM cards.

Despite its skinniness when completely unfurled, the Mate XT Ultimate Design is a chunky device. Its three stacked layers when closed increase its thickness to 12.88 millimeters. I ended up using it with two hands most of the time, since one-handed use felt challenging or slowed me down.

At 12.88 millimeters, the Mate XT Ultimate Design is notably thicker than book-style folding phones such as the Z Fold 6, which measures 12.1mm, or the Pixel 9 Fold Pro, which is 10.16mm thick. Those phones have smaller inner displays, between 7 to 8 inches, with a single crease due to their book-style designs.

With the Mate XT, you have the option to use the device like a book-style foldable, similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 6 or Pixel 9 Pro Fold, what Huawei calls dual screen mode, or in the form of a tablet, known as triple-screen mode. Since this is a novel design, there was a slight learning curve in handling the phone, as the hinges (there are two) don’t allow the screens to open in the same direction. To fully open the device, I first unfolded it like a book, then unfurled the third section of the screen. When I was folding and unfolding the device to move between these various modes, the hinges felt solid and sturdy. However, it remains to be seen how well the hinges will hold up to repeated folding. Additionally, the device lacks an official IP rating for water and dust resistance.

That said, the phone can be tricky to handle at first, as the hinges open in different directions, leading you to try bending it the wrong way.

I have a few concerns about the Mate XT Ultimate and its novel design after using it. When in its default folded-up position, I worry about the screen’s edge being exposed along the side of the device. Huawei recommends using the phone’s case to avoid wear and tear, but of course adding a case packs on weight to an already heavy device. Still, I’d say it’s a worthwhile tradeoff, especially for a phone at that price.

Secondly, battery capacity could be an issue. While Mate XT Ultimate Design relies on a large 5,600-mAh battery, it has to power a 10.2-inch screen, which is sure to be a battery guzzler. It’ll be interesting to test battery life and how it compares with book-style phones and regular candybar phones.

Mate XT’s design language: Same, same but different?

Although the Mate XT Ultimate Design is the first tri-folding phone to make it to commercial sales, its design language looked familiar. When I flipped the phone over backwards, I noticed that the octagonal-shaped camera bump looks uncannily similar to the one found on Honor’s Magic V Fold 2. In fact, the overall design language of the device — from its color to its borders and finish — closely resembles that of Honor’s lightweight book-style foldable, the Magic V3. Remember, Huawei owned Honor for seven years before it sold it off in late 2020 amid damaging US sanctions, so the similarities aren’t all that surprising.

The camera bump on the Mate XT houses a 50-megapixel camera, a 50-megapixel ultrawide-angle camera, 12-megapixel ultrawide-angle camera and a 12-megapixel pericope-style telephoto camera. I briefly tested the camera but, for various reasons, don’t have the photos to share. Pictures taken in both bright and low-light conditions generally looked decent on the Mate XT’s screen. However, during the few minutes I spent testing the telephoto lens, it struggled to produce a clear shot in dim indoor lighting when zoomed to the full 10x.

I’m not surprised by the middling camera performance; in fact, I expected it, as the Mate XT Ultimate Design wasn’t built to be a camera powerhouse. The giant foldable screen is the star of the show. Besides, with the screen occupying so many resources and space, it’d be difficult for Huawei not to compromise on something like the camera. 

Mate XT’s performance

The Mate XT Ultimate Design runs on a Kirin 9010 processor, a chipset made in-house by Huawei. It’s backed up by 16GB RAM and 1TB storage. It’s tricky to make a fair assessment of the performance based on my short time with the phone, but in that timeframe, the performance seemed zippy and navigation across apps was smooth. However, I was hardly pushing the device to its limits. 

I didn’t test out apps across all three screens because of time limitations. But I noticed that multitasking was limited to two split-screen apps plus a third in a floating window, which isn’t much better than what current book-style foldables offer. It would be great to see Huawei use each screen section for multitasking, and I wouldn’t be surprised if future Huawei software updates bring such upgrades.

Initial thoughts

Huawei’s new device is the first of its kind, and that alone makes it impressive. However, based on what I’ve seen so far, I am not entirely convinced that it’ll be a hit due to its eye-watering price tag. But Huawei is surely aware of this. Instead of aiming for large sales, the Mate XT Ultimate Design seems to be a bold statement from the Chinese company, demonstrating that it can still produce cutting-edge devices despite US sanctions.

The Mate XT Ultimate Design is an awe-inspiring phone. I was astounded a 10.2-inch screen could fit into my pocket without being much heavier than a regular foldable phone, though it’s understandably chunkier.

The hardware quality was world-class and the hinges inspired confidence that the phone is built to last. However, for a phone in this price range, I’d love to see an official IP rating for water and dust resistance, and that constant screen exposure along the side is concerning. Also, given the large inner display, battery life could be a problem, since the 5,600-mAh battery isn’t much larger than those found in book-style folding phones with smaller screens.