If regular foldable phones are starting to look a little commonplace for your liking, then you need to check out the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design, which claims to be "the world's first commercial triple foldable phone." And it's a phone I just got to try out for myself.
We've known foldables like this (with two hinges instead of one) were in development with several brands, but Huawei has the honor of actually getting its phone on sale first. It's currently only up for sale in China, although there are rumors it could go global in the new year. It's also an eye-popping $2,800 when you convert the Chinese price, nearly a full thousand dollars more than a typical two-panel foldable.
@tomsguide ♬ Grammarg - BLVKSHP
I love using foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 6, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the OnePlus Open. These are far from the same device with different logos printed on the back but there has been a converging of ideas and designs over the past few years of the foldable phone's existence. The Mate XT is something totally new, so I went hands-on with it to see if this is going to be the next evolutionary step for foldables, a new sub-category or just a technologically-advanced dead end.
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Row 0 - Cell 1 |
| Price | from $2,800 |
| Main display | 10.2 inches (3184 x 2232 pixels) |
| Dual displays | 7.9 inches (2232 x 2048 pixels) |
| Front display | 6.4 inches (2232 x 1008 pixels) |
| CPU | Kirin 9010 5G* |
| RAM | 16GB |
| Storage | 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
| OS | HarmonyOS 4.2 |
| Rear cameras | 50MP main camera (f/1.4), 12MP ultra-wide (f/2.2), 12MP telephoto (5.5x optical/50x digital zoom) |
| Front camera | 8MP |
| Battery | 5,600 mAh |
| Charging | 66W wired, 50W wireless |
| Colors | Red or Black vegan leather |
| Size | Unfolded: 156.7 x 219 x 3.6-4.8 mm; Folded: 156.7 x 73.5 x 12.8 mm |
| Weight | 298g (10.5 ounces) |
* Rumored
Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design: Design and display
The Mate XT measures a whopping 10.2 inches fully open, with a wide tablet-like aspect ratio. It's then a more typical 6.4-inch rectangle when fully folded, and a 7.9-inch square-ish shape when part-open. The screen has a 90Hz refresh rate and a 3K resolution, plus a punch-hole camera for selfies should you need it.
By comparison, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 has 7.6 and 6.3-inch screens, and the OnePlus Open 8 and 6.3 inches.
More display space has led to a thinner design, letting the Mate XT boast a 3.6mm (0.14 inches) thickness when open, beating the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and OnePlus Open by a couple of millimeters. As if the three-part screen wasn't enough to brag about.
But consequently the Huawei's thicker when closed at 12.8mm (0.5 inches), making it chunkier than basically any other phone you can buy today. It's also heavier at 298g (10.5 ounces) but an extra 50/60g for 50% more screen isn't that bad a trade-off.
Creases are a major issues for foldable screens, but Huawei's managed to tame both of them on the Mate XT. It's no worse than the Galaxy Z Fold 6 or the OnePlus Open.
In terms of colors, the Mate XT comes in either red or black vegan leather, both with gold hinges and accents. It's a luxurious-looking phone even when you have it all closed up. It's confusing to handle the phone at first because the hinges don't open in the same direction, so you end up trying to bend the phone in a direction it's not meant to. Fortunately, the build quality is high enough that it doesn't feel like you're putting the phone in danger when you forget how to open it.
What does put the phone in danger is how one of the hinges in the phone puts a bent portion of the display on the outside edge, putting it at a lot of risk were you to drop this phone, even if it's closed. The in-box case covers this up with a flap that runs the whole length of the phone, but it is perhaps evidence of a fatal flaw in this triple foldable design that can't easily be addressed without reworking the whole phone.
Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design: Cameras
Foldables do have a reputation for holding back on camera hardware, but Huawei's elected to ignore this rule. The Mate XT's 50MP main camera is comparable to its competitors on paper, though it does have a variable aperture for greater photo control, something seen on only specialist photography phones like the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.
While it only has a 12MP ultrawide camera that pales in comparison to the 48MP one on the OnePlus Open, it does feature a 12MP 5.5x telephoto, which is quite extraordinary for a foldable. It's this that shows Huawei is indeed serious about putting quality optics into the Mate XT. Rounding things off is an 8MP front camera. It sounds a bit low-res, but it is probably still better than the 4MP inner camera of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 at least.
Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design: Specs
Huawei isn't talking much about the Mate XT's chipset, but it's believed to be a Kirin 9010, one of the company's in-house-developed chips. For memory, the Mate XT uses 16GB of RAM, the same capacity as the Open, and more than the Z Fold 6's 12GB. Starting at 256GB storage like the Z Fold 6 and offering 512GB and 1TB options, the Mate XT matches the Samsung foldable for on-board space for your data, while the OnePlus Open enjoys a generous 512GB default spec.
Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design: Software
Having abandoned Android for its own HarmonyOS, the Mate XT felt a little alien to use, and especially when the majority of apps installed on our demo units were China-specific ones. But moving around and between the apps certainly felt smooth, as did the app resizing when you open or close the screen. Which makes sense since none of the Mate XT's three display sizes are new, it's just the way it achieves them all in one that is.
Note that multi-tasking is limited to two split apps plus a third in slide-over mode, which isn't any better than the average foldable, and certainly not up to par with Samsung's three-app split option, or OnePlus' excellent Open Canvas desktop mode.
Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design: Battery and charging
The Mate XT's 5,600 mAh battery is huge for a foldable, although perhaps not when you consider it's only 10% or so larger than a regular phone's battery while driving a display that's twice as big. While it's not a direct comparison, an 11-inch tablet normally has around 8,000 mAh of capacity. When it's time to refuel, Huawei's equipped this monstrous foldable with speedy 66W/50W charging, though I didn't get to try that during my short time with the phone.
Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design: Outlook
If you're getting convinced that this phone is the one for you, then please remember that it costs about $2,800 when converted from the Chinese price, and would likely be even more expensive if you tried to buy it abroad. Although the box does at least seem to include a number of accessories like wall outlet and car chargers, and a pair of wireless earbuds and an in-box case with a rotating stand.
Phone buyers have shown that at least a few of them out there are willing to pay up to 2 grand for a foldable phone. But we'll have to wait and see if the novelty and prestige of having three parts to your foldable instead of two makes that an acceptable price.
If your bank account has anything left in it after buying the Mate XT, Huawei will sell you an additional folding keyboard with a tiny trackpad if you want to try and use the Mate XT as a full work device. It's certainly got the screen space you need to edit documents, make calls, browse the web, or all of these at once.
Triple foldables won't be an exclusive to Huawei forever, but it could take a while before our favorite phone makers make equivalent devices. And then there's the question of if it's worth paying another grand over the price of a standard foldable for another hinge and the screen space of an iPad, as against an iPad mini.
The tax on the convenience of a pocketable tablet is very high, even more so than a typical foldable phone. You pay more, your phone's much less durable and more expensive to repair, and many developers are still working on making their apps foldable-friendly. A standard flagship phone and a tablet with keyboard bought together is unlikely to cost you more than the Mate XT, and will probably be much easier to buy and use.
But given this phone's already on back-order in China, perhaps Huawei's managed to get in on the ground floor of a lucrative new trend. It's certainly grabbed people's attention, and that can often be the first step toward grabbing the contents of their wallet.
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