Huawei officially teases Mate XT triple foldable global launch

Oyinebiladou Omemu -

Huawei has been busy shaking up the foldable scene, and now it's about to take things up a notch. The Mate XT Ultimate, Huawei’s latest attempt to redefine foldable tech, is officially getting its global moment after locally launching last year. If you thought foldables were futuristic enough, imagine unfolding your phone not just once, but twice. 

After months of teasing, Huawei has finally given us a date. A recent teaser on X (formerly Twitter) confirmed that the Mate XT Ultimate will make its global debut on February 18, 2025, in Kuala Lumpur. While Europe and other regions are expected to join the fold, the U.S. might miss out due to ongoing restrictions.

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The tri-fold design makes it easy to say that Huawei aimed for the stars. One phone three forms: you can use it as a regular smartphone, flip it open for a tablet, or unfold it fully into a massive 10.2-inch display. Folded down, it’s a compact 6.4-inch device that slips easily into your pocket, and even when fully opened, it stays impressively slim at just 3.6mm. It’s like having three devices in one, and honestly, who wouldn’t want that?

The hardware impresses, but the software feels a bit underwhelming. Powered by the Kirin 9010 processor with an octa-core CPU at 2.3 GHz, it lags behind Apple’s latest chips (3.2 GHz) and Samsung's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (3.36 GHz). Its 90Hz refresh rate also trails the 120Hz standard in many flagship devices from Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, and OnePlus. But I suppose all of that can be an aside if it still delivers solid performance in everyday tasks.

Certainly, you won't get Android OS with it as Huawei ditched Android OS entirely, running the tri-fold on HarmonyOS NEXT, its custom OS. However, for the global launch, it’s likely to stick with EMUI, as it did with the Mate X6.

Pricing remains under wraps, but if the Chinese market is any clue, expect it around $2,800. While that’s steep, without competition from Samsung and other OEMs who are reportedly working on tri-folds, the price isn’t likely to budge.