The newest foldable smartphone of Huawei has finally been announced and it’s the Huawei Mate Xs. The smartphone looks very familiar as this one has the same design as last year but of course, we’re getting better internals for the smartphone this time and the best part? It’s now available in the Philippines which is actually a surprise. Want to know more about the smartphone? Check it out in our review below.

The Foldable design

The design and also its build is one of the major selling points of the smartphone. A lot of people prefer this form factor as this one offers a single display and also an easier way to unfold and fold the phone. The foldable segment opens a lot of avenues when it comes to form factors and when it comes to the Huawei Mate Xs, we got here a large display that is made for both single and double-handed usage.

To unfold the Huawei Mate Xs, this one is pretty easy as you only need to press a button at the back of the smartphone that unsnaps the display of the smartphone so that you can unfold it. To fold it back, you can just fold it in and snap the display of the smartphone.

If you’re worried about the durability of the Huawei Mate Xs’ hinge, Huawei has promised that the company has improved and made it tougher than the previous generation. Well, unfolding and folding the smartphone doesn’t have a magnetic feel but you can easily feel the snap of the smartphone whenever you’re folding or unfolding it.

On one side of the Mate Xs is where the smartphone houses everything – the camera and the USB-C port but it is also where the thicker part of the smartphone’s body is and it’s perfect for a better grip on the smartphone whenever when I have the Huawei Mate Xs unfolded.

Speaking of the grip, the Huawei Mate Xs isn’t as ergonomic as you would think it be. Yes, you can unfold the display but for one-handed usage, it’s a little bit slippery as we got here a fullscreen display for the body of the smartphone. Not only that, but it’s also prone to screen breakage since both the front and the back of the smartphone is comprised of the display whenever it is unfolded.

The smartphone also features a side-mounted fingerprint scanner which is also the power button of the smartphone and on the top of it is the volume rocker. It’s very reachable and it’s fast enough but there’s no face unlock on the smartphone as expected since the rear camera of the smartphone is also its selfie cameras.

The foldable display

The Huawei Mate Xs features a 6.6-inch display when folded with a resolution of 2480×1148 and a pretty large 8-inch display with 2480×2200 resolution when unfolded. It’s like a smartphone and tablet in 1 so once you have it, you can use it as your tablet and also your smartphone which is pretty functional and useful.

Now, let’s talk about the thing that we always talk about on foldable displays — the crease. The smartphone features a better display in here as the crease is almost unnoticeable but whenever you touch the middle part of the display, you can easily feel the there’s the crease on the display of the Huawei Mate Xs but don’t worry, it isn’t annoying or too distracting when you’re playing games on the smartphones. Another thing, despite being a foldable smartphone, the touchscreen display of the Huawei Mate Xs is quite responsive and there might be a lack of 90Hz refresh rate in here but this one still works fine with me.

The colors are good and it’s bright enough. It’s not the best display quality that we’ve ever seen but considering that this is a foldable display, the Huawei Mate Xs is a pretty well smartphone.

Pretty reasonable battery life

One of the things that I really love on most Huawei smartphones is their long battery life? Well, thanks to the Kirin 990 processor which is optimized for power efficiency and performance, the Huawei Mate Xs can last long on a single day.

In our PCMark test, we achieve a score of 10 hours and 22 minutes using the smartphone unfolded which means that we’re taking advantage of the whole 8-inch display of the smartphone. For me, that’s pretty reasonable and since we’re using the smartphone sometimes in folded mode, we could save more battery with that usage.

In my normal usage of the smartphone, I can last a whole day of usage from 10AM-8PM on the Huawei Mate Xs and still have some battery left. But of course, some people might be a heavy user or gamer then you might want to use the fast charger included in the smartphone and yes, it does support 55W fast charging which is pretty fast despite having a large battery inside.

Optimized software experience

We’re still on the second wave of foldable smartphones and so far, most of them are pretty optimized for their form factors and with the Huawei Mate Xs, we could do some multi-tasking on the smartphone and since we’re getting here an 8-inch display, multi-window on the smartphone is pretty functional and I love using it on the smartphone whenever I need to cross-reference some of the things that I’m typing on the smartphone. And unlike most smartphones, the Huawei Mate Xs can run three windows simultaneously so you can maximize the screen size of the smartphone.

Since we’re having here a foldable display, the apps should be compatible with the foldable form factor of the Huawei Mate Xs. Most of the apps that we’ve tried ran pretty well and they’re pretty flexible but whenever I open Facebook on unfolded mode, the app displays its tablet mode but whenever I fold it, the app doesn’t show the optimized UI for the folded mode which gets annoying but don’t worry as closing the app and opening it again on folded mode will give you the optimized UI.

When opening games, it’s better to avoid folding and unfolding the smartphone a lot of times as it will mess up the resolution of the game. Nonetheless, our experience with the foldable display of the Huawei Mate Xs on games was amazing. With its larger display, I have the advantage of having a larger screen estate and view in some shooter games which gives me a little bit of advantage and since we got here a more responsive display, playing games like PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty: Mobile and others isn’t a problem anymore.

Bigger display = better for gaming

One of the advantages of having the Huawei Mate Xs is the display but before we talk about our gaming experience on the smartphone, let’s talk about benchmarks. Since we got here a powerful Kirin 990 5G chipset inside along with 8GB of RAM, most of the games that we ran on the smartphone ran well without problems. But first, let’s check out the benchmarks that we got on the smartphone:

In our gaming experience, we definitely enjoyed playing games on the smartphone because again, we can unfold the display and enjoy the large screen of the Huawei Mate Xs. All of the games that we’ve tried playing on the smartphone ran well and we didn’t have any problems with the Huawei Mate Xs. In case you’re worried about the lack of Google Play and Google Mobile Services on the smartphone, I’ve actually downloaded apps and games on the Huawei AppGallery and also at APKPure so I really didn’t have any problems on the smartphone.

When it comes to gaming performance, the Huawei Mate Xs was really fine. We got here a large display and also a powerful processor inside which is perfect for gaming. With PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile, I can have more space for the buttons which means that I have more screen estate in where I can see my enemies along with Black Desert Mobile that shows more of the character and also the elements in the game rather than the buttons. The foldable display of the smartphone is perfect not just for productivity but also for gaming.

We weren’t able to benchmark the smartphone in Gamebench due to some errors but in PUBG Mobile, we definitely enjoyed the game at Ultra FPS at HDR graphics without any noticeable frame drops. Weirdly, the smartphone doesn’t have the performance mode unlike the Huawei P40 and the numbers that we got on the benchmarks don’t add up as the smartphone can handle the highest settings on all games.

Quad-camera goodness

The Huawei Mate Xs features a Leica quad-camera setup and it’s actually the only cameras on the smartphone as these cameras serve as the rear camera and also the front camera of the smartphone. But first, let’s discuss the cameras that we’re getting here on the Huawei Mate Xs.

First, there’s the 40MP wide-angle lens paired with 16MP ultra wide-angle lens along with the 8MP telephoto lens and also the Huawei ToF Camera for depth sensing and better bokeh. This setup is actually different from the one on the Huawei P40 series and also the Huawei Mate 30 Pro and in my test, yes, our selfies are definitely better but it gets a little annoying that I have to fold the display of the smartphone whenever I need to take a selfie or if I need to a video call on the smartphone.

In our shots using the Huawei Mate Xs, I noticed that the smartphone’s camera was good but it’s not as superior as the one on the Huawei P40 that we’ve reviewed a few weeks ago. I noticed that lack of saturation on some of our shots compared to the Huawei P40 but nonetheless, the shots we got here are still good. The portrait mode shots that we got on the Huawei Mate Xs are perfect as the smartphone can detect the edges pretty well. Check out the shots that we took using the camera of the smartphone.

The smartphone can also record at up to 4K if you’re into video recording. As you can see in the shots, the Huawei Mate Xs might not be as good as the Huawei P40 series but you can still get some flagship-level quality shots on the smartphone and again, the portrait mode on the smartphone is really good and also, the ones that we’re getting here are pretty sharp.

Verdict

The Huawei Mate Xs irons out the problems that we’ve experienced on the first-generation foldable smartphone – the Mate X. The Huawei Mate Xs is still not for everyone though as we got here an expensive price and a form factor that is not fitted for everyone’s lifestyle. But for those people who wants to see and experience innovation and productivity, the Huawei Mate Xs might be the perfect smartphone for you.

The display of the smartphone has greatly improved over the previous generation and the processing power and 5G inside the smartphone is something that you should really look at. Yes, it’s a foldable smartphone but the problem is that it’s still a little bit heavy and I’m still worried about the drops and the moving parts on the smartphone.

Nonetheless, the Huawei Mate Xs is an exciting smartphone. The smartphone displays the technical prowess and innovation of the Chinese company. Its form factor is one of its advantages as some people prefer having a single display and a simple foldable display like this one. Again, the Huawei Mate Xs is for the people who want more productivity on their smartphone and of course, for those people who wants to experience the innovative foldable displays.

For me? It’s perfect for my usage as I love working and typing reviews on my smartphone and some PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile sessions are just perfect on the bigger display.

The Huawei Mate Xs is now available for Php139,999

Huawei Mate Xs Specs

• 6.6-inches display for the front panel 2480×1148, 6.38-inches for the back panel, 2480×892, OLED
• 8-inches unfolded display, 2480×2200
• Huawei Kirin 990 with 5G SoC
• 8GB RAM
• 512GB Internal storage expandable via NM card with support up to 256GB
• 40MP wide-angle main camera + 16MP Ultra Wide Angle Lens + 8MP Telephoto lens + Huawei ToF Camera
• 5G, LTE
• WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, BD, Galileo, GLONASS
• 55W Huawei SuperCharge
• Android 10 with EMUI 10
• 4500mAh Battery