In the midst of a massive decline in sales and rumors about selling his consumer phone businessit looks like Huawei has decided to proceed with the release of its premium premium second generation foldable phone later this month
In an official place on Weibo, Huawei teased the arrival of the Mate X2 on February 22nd. This is the tall-awaited follow-to the original Size X from back in 2019 and the slightly more polished Mate Xs from 2020. The big change, which is not entirely clear from the snapshot, is that the Mate X2 are rumors being made to include a flexible inward view –similar to Samsung’s Galaxy vou and Galaxy Z Fold2–instead of the outward bending panel that Huawei used on its previous foldable phones.
When Samsung and Huawei unveiled their first foldable phones, the contrasting shapes of the Galaxy Fold and Mate X sparked much debate about which design would ultimately win, with a number of pros and cons for each.
On phones like the Galaxy Fold, it’s apparently an inward folding design a little more durability, because when closed, the delicate, flexible screen of the phone is protected from scratches by more sturdy glass or metal edges (although, as we have seen, there are other ways for a foldable phone to get damaged). The main disadvantage of an inward folding screen is thickness, because if the phone is locked, you lose access to the flexible display, which then requires phone manufacturers to add a secondary outdoor display, which increases the size of the phone.
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For outward-folding phones, the larger radius of the turn means that there is less chance of a crease developing in the middle of a flexible screen. Bbecause the flexible screen cover of the Mate X about the entire device, when locked, Huawei was able to avoid including a secondary screen and use a single camera module to capture selfies and more traditional photos. This meant that the Mate X was significantly thinner than the Galaxy Fold, while also having fewer redundant components. Although Huawei did cases for the Mate X, it‘s flexible screen was often left unprotected, which was understandable source of concern for many buyers.
The rumored specifications for the Mate X2 include an 8-inch primary folding screen and a secondary screen of 6.45 inches, so it looks like Huawei possibly rated Samsung’s designs and decided to test out an inside-fold screen as well.
The Size X2 can also include built-in stylus support (something the Galaxy Z Fold2 does not have) and a new laptop mode that lets you turn the phone sideways and use it as an extremely small personal computer. Evidence of a laptop mode was discovered after some unofficial Mate X2 phones were delivered showed up online, and while it certainly requires specialized software or customizations to make it work, the Mate X2’s laptop mode can be a major step forward in the development of foldable phones.
Othe rumors contain a variety of high-components, Support for 5G, a four-camera module with up to 10x zoom, up to 512 GB storage and extremely fast 66 W fast loading.
Huawei plans to officially unveil the Mate X2 on February 22, but is considering it previous Huawei foldable phones have only available in China and Huawei is still prohibited from including support for Google Mobile Services, it is unlikely that the Mate X2 will be for sale here in the States.