Huawei may be working on a more affordable variant of the Huawei Mate X, at least according to the image that surfaced. If you take a look at the image provided down below, you will see a device that looks like the Huawei Mate X, but has considerably thicker bezels than the company’s first foldable smartphone.
According to Phone Radar, who dug up this image from Weibo (Chinese social media network), this device was spotted at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, which took place in February, so it’s a bit odd it took it so long to surface. Unlike the Huawei Mate X, this phone has thick bezels both above the display, and on one of its sides. The Mate X, on the other hand, has extremely thin bezels all around.
The phone that you can see in the image actually seems to fold the same was the Huawei Mate X does, outwards, which cuts its display in half (almost), as one side of its ends up on the back of the phone, while the other one remains active on the front side.
This phone also has cameras lined up vertically on the back of the device, and that vertical line actually protrudes quite a bit, and serves as a way to grip the phone when it’s unfolded. The part of the display that folds, fits perfectly next to that bump on the back when folded, same as on the Huawei Mate X.
Truth be said, this could just be a prototype that Huawei was working on before the Huawei Mate X was announced, while on the other hand, it may indicate that the company will introduce a more affordable variant of the Huawei Mate X down the road.
Speaking of which, the Huawei Mate X is expected to become available mid-2019, and rumors are claiming that it will go on sale in June. Interestingly enough, considering that Samsung postponed the Galaxy Fold’s launch, that device is also rumored to arrive in June, so we may see both Huawei’s and Samsung’s first foldable smartphones become available in the same month.
The Huawei Mate X has a considerably different approach to the Galaxy Fold, as it folds outwards, as explained earlier. It will be interesting to see how will the phone’s display handle day-to-day use, as it will lie flat on the table when folded, well, part of the device’s display will.
The Huawei Mate X is actually quite a powerful smartphone, it is fueled by the Kirin 980 64-bit octa-core processor by Huawei, while it features an 8-inch main display. When folded, you’re left with a 6.6-inch display on the front, while the phone packs in 8GB of RAM. The device also includes 512GB of storage, and three cameras on the back, 40, 16, and 8-megapixel units, with Leica’s lenses.
The device also includes a 4,500mAh battery, and 55W fast wired charging. Android 9 Pie comes pre-installed on this phone, along with EMUI 9.1 The Huawei Mate X is considerably more expensive than the Galaxy Fold, as it will cost well over €1,500 once it becomes available.