I Used The World’s First Triple-Fold Smartphone For A Month — Here’s How It Went

I recently got my hands on possibly the most exciting Android phone available: the HUAWEI Mate XT Ultimate Design. It’s been my daily driver for several weeks now, something that not many users outside of China can claim. The Mate XT has gone wherever I go, including flights, trips, and everyday activities. So, considering that I’ve put the device through its paces, how has the world’s most expensive phone held up after a month of regular use?

Before I get into my impressions in earnest, I want to remind you of the price: €3,500, or around $3,800 at the time of writing. Everything has to be perfect for that amount of money. While it does many things well, the Mate XT has many shortcomings, and on top of that price, it is difficult for me to recommend it to most people. However, from a technical standpoint, I can appreciate what HUAWEI has done here. This phone is an engineering marvel.

HUAWEI Mate XT Ultimate Design

HUAWEI Mate XT Ultimate Design

Tri-foldable OLED display • High screen-to-body ratio • Versatile triple camera setup

The first ever tri-fold phone.

Experience the future of technology today with this tri-fold phone, from its sleek design to powerful performance that redefines what a phone can do. The HUAWEI Mate XT feels like any other foldable phone when closed, which is a testament to the device’s design.

The Mate XT is a fantastic engineering feat

Paul Jones / Android Authority

Let me start with the phone’s main trick: its three displays. First, you get a 6.4-inch cover display. When you fold it open once, it becomes a 7.9-inch folding display. Fold it open again, and you get a 10.2-inch tablet-sized screen. After I’m done with it, it folds down to fit my pocket. It’s about as thick as the Galaxy Z Fold 6 when folded, but it’s razor-thin in tablet configuration — in fact, it’s the thinnest foldable to date. I’ve purposely not been careful when using the Mate XT because I wanted to see how it would hold up. Durability is probably the most significant question mark, and it’s held up well so far. What about the hinge? Well, there are no scratches or dents thus far.

The HUAWEI Mate XT’s tri-fold trick is a tech lover’s dream.

I cannot get bored of opening this phone up; it’s a tech lover’s dream. I thought I’d need to practice caution when unfolding it, but this isn’t the case. Yes, it just takes a few days to remember how to unfold it properly (the Mate XT will tell if you aren’t), but after that, you are good to go. While it mainly opens flat, you must slightly fold the cover display and jiggle it to get there. The hinge is sturdy and can keep the phone open at almost any angle, which is what I want in a multi-use device. A little bonus is that I can use the cover display as a kickstand for the 7.9-inch display when I watch movies. The larger screen uses a 16:11 aspect ratio, so those black bars you usually get on traditional foldables don’t exist here. This makes it perfect as an entertainment slate. Content looks great across all the display layouts, thanks to the OLED panel. The colors are accurate, and having two creases on the display isn’t much of a problem. When watching content, they disappear into what I’m watching.

Endurance is surprisingly great for a smartphone with a massive tablet-sized screen and a modest battery.

The Mate XT settles for a 5,600mAh battery, which, given its tablet size, isn’t all that large but doesn’t seem to sweat. I used this phone on a 12-hour flight recently, starting at 100%, and by the time I landed back home in Manchester from Singapore, I still had 27% left. I expected to get around five hours out of this when using it on its fully folded display, so I was pleasantly surprised. One way HUAWEI seems to extended battery life on the Mate XT is limiting the displays to 90Hz. I didn’t realize they weren’t running at 120Hz until I entered the settings and accidentally found it was only 90Hz. For me, that’s not a massive issue. I’d rather drop down to 90Hz and have more battery than have 120Hz and lose hours of battery life.

The pitfalls of a first-generation product

Paul Jones / Android Authority

Let’s touch on some of those shortcomings I mentioned earlier. This device is excellent as a stand-in for an Android tablet, but it does let me down when I use it as a phone. Remember, this is an almost $4,000 device, and for that, you don’t get an IP rating of any sort. Even in light rain, I’d be very careful using this outside.

Although HUAWEI hasn’t confirmed it, the Mate XT runs the Kirin 9010. When it comes to benchmarks, it falls far below competitor foldables, given what you’d expect for the price tag. I didn’t notice any issues through general use of the software. It even handled some light games. However, I wouldn’t consider this a powerhouse likened to the current crop of Android flagships.

The HUAWEI Mate XT runs EMUI for the global market based on the now very outdated Android 12 due to the ongoing US ban. Visually, it’s a great skin. It does a great job of animations when folding between displays. But other than that, it doesn’t do much else right.

The HUAWEI Mate XT is great as a tablet, but it does let me down when I start using it as a phone.

My biggest gripe with EMUI’s launcher is the lack of an app drawer. I can’t remove apps from the home screen; if I don’t want an app from the home screen, I can only uninstall it. It’s just so weird; it doesn’t make any sense. It’s a little irritating. Naturally, you’d want to use the launcher a triple-screen phone comes with, as no third-party launcher would support such a layout. The fact that the phone launched with an Android version that is already three versions behind is arguably a more significant issue.

Paul Jones / Android Authority

If you think you can get past that, remember there are still no Google Play Services on this phone. Using Google Wallet or Android Auto is never going to happen. However, I have the whole Google app suite on my Mate XT. You can get Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome, and Google Messages, all working flawlessly. You can even get things like Gemini Live working just as well on the Mate XT as on a Google Pixel. However, I needed to install microG to enable this, activate different permissions, and use a third-party app store.

Remember, this is a HUAWEI Android device, so Google apps and Android updates won’t come easy.

Then we move to the cameras. You would expect the cameras on the world’s most expensive phone to be the best you can get. Sadly, they are a little hit-and-miss. The main 50MP lens does a nice job capturing detail and has some nice dynamic range. The photos are mildly oversaturated, but it’s nothing too much where it starts to look dramatically different from real life. I like the final image that comes from these cameras — check out the video at the top of this article to see a bunch of samples.

The 12MP ultrawide and the 12MP 5.5x periscope are a little more lackluster. Sometimes, they produce great-looking images, and the amount of detail captured is similar to that of the primary lens, but they both struggle as soon as the lighting conditions aren’t perfect. The ultrawide is particularly bad in low light, with soft and grainy results.

The same can be said for the periscope lens. When you get into conditions that aren’t perfect or are a little dark, it fails to capture meaningful detail. Don’t get me wrong, all the photos you can capture on the Mate XT are passable, but I’d want more for the price. The same issues rear their heads when it comes to video. The output looks great if you are static and taking 4K shots on the primary camera, but don’t bother using the other two lenses if you want good results.

Should you buy the HUAWEI Mate XT?

Paul Jones / Android Authority

For a first-gen product, HUAWEI has smashed it out of the park. But even if you love tech and innovation, should you buy this? Probably not! The compromises are just too much for that price tag. It’s massively expensive, and you would never want to have as much compromise as you would if you were to pick up this phone. The Mate XT doesn’t make practical sense outside of China for anyone seeking an everyday phone.

The HUAWEI Mate XT is a tri-folding engineering marvel and an incredible proof of concept.

But I still can’t deny that this phone is incredible as a technical marvel and proof of concept. If you do actually pick it up, people will stop and look at you as you turn one display into three. Again, I can’t give HUAWEI enough credit here because it got to the tri-fold concept first and proved it can work. I’m sure it won’t be long until other companies offer their own tri-folds, but HUAWEI will always be able to say it did it first.

HUAWEI Mate XT Ultimate Design

Tri-foldable OLED display • High screen-to-body ratio • Versatile triple camera setup

MSRP: €3,500.00

The first ever tri-fold phone.

Experience the future of technology today with this tri-fold phone, from its sleek design to powerful performance that redefines what a phone can do. The HUAWEI Mate XT feels like any other foldable phone when closed, which is a testament to the device’s design.

Positives

• Tri-foldable OLED display
• High screen-to-body ratio
• Ample storage options
• Fast 66W wired charging
• Decent battery for the design

Cons

• Extremely high price
• Outdated software
• No official Google support
• Underpowered processor
• No IP rating