The Huawei Mate X foldable smartphone was announced back in February during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, and it seems like it may finally launch before the end of this month.
The Mate X was supposed to become official earlier this year, but Huawei decided to postpone it. The company wanted to make sure everything is in order, just to avoid Samsung’s fate with the Galaxy Fold.
Huawei’s first foldable handset may be released on October 23, in China
Well, if a new rumor from China is to be believed, the Mate X foldable handset may arrive on October 23. Initial sales will kick off in China, of course. The phone is expected to arrive to other markets soon after that, though.
Just to be clear, this rumor says that the phone will be unveiled in China on October 23, which is the same day reservations for the device will become available. The phone will not go on sale until the first week of November, though.
The report also claims that Huawei has prepared 300,000 Mate X units, so its availability is definitely limited. That is considerably less than what Samsung did with the Galaxy Fold. As a reminder, Samsung prepared 700,000 Galaxy Fold units.
This rumor may actually be accurate, as Huawei’s CEO said, during the Mate 30 series launch, that the Mate X will become available in about a month. Whatever the case may be, this phone’s sales will kick off soon.
Huawei made some changes to the Mate X since it was announced
As a reminder, Huawei did make some changes to the Mate X since February. The company has added a ‘release key’, a physical key that will partially unfold the phone. That is basically a lock that keeps the phone in a folded state, until you press it.
On top of that, Huawei added some more power to the phone. The Kirin 990 variant of the Mate X was announced recently, so we may see both Kirin 980 and 990 variants out there. Or, alternatively, Huawei may release the Kirin 990 variant only, we’ll see.
The Huawei Mate X will be a direct competitor to the Galaxy Fold. This is Huawei’s very first foldable smartphone, and it is considerably different from the Galaxy Fold.
The Huawei Mate X folds outwards, so when folded, its display ends up being on both the front and back sides of the phone. The Galaxy Fold, on the other hand, folds like a book.
The Mate X will allow you to use a considerably larger display when folded, than the Galaxy Fold. Its main display, when unfolded, is also larger. The phone also doesn’t have a display notch, like the Galaxy Fold.
The Huawei Mate X is expected to cost €2,299 in Europe, which converts to about $2,600, though chances are this phone will never make it to the US. It remains to be seen what will its price in China be.