Huawei's wild tri-fold phone finally breaks out of China, and I'm excited

Yahoo

18-02-2025

Huawei unveiled the Mate XT Ultimate in China, just a day after the iPhone 16 Pro launch. While Apple introduced incremental upgrades, Huawei has pushed boundaries with an already novel form factor. And now, it's expanding beyond China—Huawei has announced the world's first tri-fold phone in Malaysia.
The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate features a 10.2-inch display (2232 × 3184 pixels), which folds into two additional form factors: a 7.9-inch (2048 × 2232 pixels) book-style foldable and a 6.4-inch (1008 × 2232 pixels) slab phone. More importantly, its three-screen mode adopts a 16:11 aspect ratio, offering a better media consumption experience than traditional foldables, which often have a boxy layout that isn't ideal for videos.
Huawei's tri-fold design features two hinges and folds twice—one fold inwards and the other outwards. The inner fold has a noticeable crease, while the outer fold remains exposed. In my experience, the hinges felt sturdy enough to hold the phone in various positions without collapsing into single-screen mode. Both folding sides are secured by magnets, keeping the folded parts flush with the body. However, unfolding the outward-folding section takes some getting used to.
Huawei hasn't officially revealed the chipset powering the Mate XT Ultimate, but reports suggest it runs on the in-house Kirin 9010, a 7nm processor. The phone packs 16GB RAM and up to 1TB of storage. On paper, it's not as powerful as flagship devices like the Galaxy S25 Ultra or OnePlus 13, but in my limited hands-on time, the screen transitions between single, dual, and tri-screen modes were buttery smooth.
That said, the user interface feels outdated. Unlike in China, where HarmonyOS is the standard, the global variant runs on EMUI 14, which doesn't have the most modern-looking UI. Surprisingly for 2025, Huawei hasn't highlighted any standout AI features on this device.
The Mate XT Ultimate's global variant doesn't come pre-installed with Google apps. However, there are workarounds to download almost any Google app, including the Play Store.
The new Huawei foldable phone sports a triple-camera setup, led by a 50MP main sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS). It's accompanied by a 12MP ultrawide camera and a 12MP periscope telephoto lens with 5.5x optical zoom and OIS. On the front, you get an 8MP selfie camera.
The Huawei tri-fold phone packs a 5,600mAh silicon-carbon battery with 66W wired charging, 50W wireless charging, and 7.5W reverse wireless charging. The capacity is promising, but it'll be interesting to see how it holds up when fully utilizing the large display.
The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate is priced at 19,999 yuan (~$2,800) in China, making it a premium device. The European pricing is set at 3,499 Euros, which converts to approximately $3,660.
It's still expensive but in my limited time, I found the usability to be promising. I'm excited about the fact that I can carry a full-size multimedia tablet in my pocket. And it seems like this form factor will see more iterations in the future since Samsung also teased a tri-fold phone at its Galaxy Unpacked in January. While I hope Huawei improves the UI with future updates, the Mate XT Ultimate remains a one-of-a-kind device in the world.