The idea of a folding smartphone has been rattling around in manufactures’ brains for years. Until now, the technology to support such an idea just wasn’t around. But even though we can actually make such a device, some question the viability of these early contenders. The Huawei Mate X is one such contender and it will finally start shipping next month to Chinese buyers.
The Huawei Mate X isn’t the first folding smartphone in the market. The Samsung Galaxy Fold hit the market first but has also faced a lot of challenges and criticisms. The initial release of the Fold to reviewers showed that the smartphone wasn’t ready for prime time. Samsung held off on a consumer release to refine some of the issues. Even with some of those issues addressed, the Fold is still facing its challenges.
It’s not that Samsung didn’t make a nice smartphone, the hardware of the Fold is beautiful and the build quality is top-notch. It’s the durability of the key ingredient that is going to be the challenge for Samsung and the Huawei Mate X and that key ingredient is the display.
We’ve already seen some durability tests where Samsung’s device just doesn’t hold up as it should. Given that the Huawei Mate X has a display that faces outwards, it only makes sense that its durability challenge is going to be greater. It will be interesting to see the initial reviews and user reviews of this device and how it holds up to daily use.
But don’t expect to see the Huawei Mate X in the United States, at least right now. This release is for China only and Huawei says it will be reviewing a global launch at a later date. The 8GB RAM and 512GB storage version will cost Chinese buyers 16,999 yuan (US$2,400).
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[button link=”https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/10/23/20928258/huawei-mate-x-release-date-price-china” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: The Verge[/button]Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
