HUAWEI was one of the first manufacturers to offer foldable phones, launching the fold-out Mate X in 2019. The company later announced the Mate X2 in 2021 as its first Galaxy Z Fold-style fold-in device. Now, Huawei has revealed the Mate X3.
The new foldable offers the same book-style form factor as the Mate X2 and the Galaxy Z Fold series, with a 7.85-inch internal folding screen (2,496 × 2,224, LTPO 120Hz) and a 6.4-inch FHD+ curved outdoor display (LTPO 120Hz).
It doesn’t appear that the foldable display uses ultra-thin glass (UTG) protection, but HUAWEI continues to say that it has an impact-resistant design.
The Chinese brand has also worked on slimming down the device, since the Mate X3 weighs just 239 grams and measures just 5.3mm thin when unfolded. Hopefully this measurement will not include the camera bump or hinge.
It has a back called “feather sand crystal” which is supposed to be resistant to grease from fingerprints. One major update is the addition of a IPX8 water resistance rating, which until now was only offered by Samsung.
HUAWEI also offers a wet hands mode, so the device will recognize touch input with wet hands.
The Mate X3’s hinge can stop at any point between fully open and fully closed. This allows some flex mode style featuressuch as using the partially open device as a kickstand for taking photos, watching videos, making video calls, and more.
The phone can also be placed on a surface while partially open, displaying the weather, time, and more similar to a smart display.
As for the basic specifications, the Mate X3 brings what appears to be the chipset Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 4G256 GB to 1 TB of storage (expandable via Huawei’s proprietary NM card format), a 4,800mAh battery with 66W wired charging via HUAWEI proprietary standard and 50W wireless charging.
The rear camera is very powerful and consists of a 50 MP main camera with OIS (RYYB color filter), a 13 MP ultra-wide camera with macro support and a 12 MP 5X periscope camera. Periscope cameras are a rarity in foldable phones.
Otherwise, both displays are equipped with perforated cutouts for a 8MP selfie camera, although you can also use the rear cameras for selfies.
Other features of the HUAWEI Mate X3 are Bluetooth 5.2, dual SIM, infrared blaster, side fingerprint scanner, and two-way messaging via Beidou satellite.
In China it costs from 12,999 yuan (about 1,750 euros), and the company has already confirmed that it will arrive in Europe, but we do not know at what price. Of course, the big downside is that it doesn’t bring Google services.