Huawei recently denied rumors that it has delayed the launch of the Mate X and now supply chain insiders claim that the 5G variant of the Mate X will be listed before July. This is in line with the roadmap shared by the company during an analyst conference, according to which the Mate X 5G will be launched in July. Before that, the company is expected to release the Mate 20 5G, and later on, in mid-October, a new 5G smartphone, presumably the Mate 30 5G, would be launched.
Samsung, which has apparently been working on its foldable phone since a decade, had to postpone the release of the Galaxy Fold after numerous reviewers said that the phone has screen issues. The South Korean giant believes that the problem is linked to the exposed part of the hinge of the device and has recalled all the units given out to various media publications to thoroughly investigate the problem. A new release date will be announced in about a week’s time.
The first generation of foldable phones were almost guaranteed to come with problems, but not many people were expecting the devices to fail outright. However, Huawei seems confident about its Mate X and it remains to be seen if the phone will suffer from the same problems as the battered Galaxy Fold.
Unlike the Galaxy Fold, the Mate X features an out folding design which is seemingly more durable and resilient. The infolding design was deemed unusable by Huawei and this could be attributed to the fact that such a design requires more of a curve and exerts more pressure on the screen.
With the launch just around the corner, Huawei is reportedly putting its Mate X through more rigorous tests, to ensure that it doesn’t suffer the same fate as the Galaxy Fold. The latest report also says that the company will only be producing 100,000 units of the Mate X 5G. At an alleged price of $2,079, the Mate X 5G is far from affordable and not many people will be willing to burn so much cash on a device that can very well fail on them.
Prior to this, it was reported that Huawei’s first batch of foldable would have nearly 80,000 units because of supply-side constraints. To recap, Huawei would be procuring its foldable displays from BOE. The company could limit the total production of the foldable handsets to 300,000 units.
The Mate X sports an 8-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2480 x 2200 pixels. As mentioned before, it folds on the outside, so there is no need for an additional outer display. The device will come with two batteries, with a combined capacity of 4500mAh battery. Thanks to 55-watt Huawei SuperCharge, it would take just 30 minutes to charge the device up to 85 percent. The Mate X also features a triple camera system which also doubles up as the selfie camera, guaranteeing best-in-class self-portraits. Huawei also says that the Mate X is the fastest foldable 5G phone and can offer download speeds of up to 4.6Gbps, which is twice the speed offered by competing devices.
If everything goes smoothly and the Mate X actually proves to be durable, not only would it add to the embarrassment of Samsung, it would also be a big feat for Huawei, as the Chinese company has been actively trying to dethrone its South Korean rival since quite some time.