Huawei’s foldable Mate Xs 2 goes global, alongside six other gadgets
Previously announced for the Chinese market, Huawei has now confirmed the Mate Xs 2 foldable phone is coming to its preferred global locations. The global release details were revealed at an event in Milan, which the company also used to launch six wearables. You won’t be able to buy these Huawei gadgets in the US, but they’re all coming to European markets, including the UK.
The Huawei Mate Xs 2 features a 7.8-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The display’s resolution is 2480 x 2200, and it shrinks to a 6.5-inch screen when you fold the phone up. The display sits around the outside of the phone in the opposite style to how Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series works.
Compared to previous generations, one of the significant changes here is that this is far lighter with a 255g weight (the original device was 300g). It’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 4G chipset, so you won’t be able to get 5G connectivity on this phone. You’ll get 8GB of RAM with storage choices of either 256GB or 512GB of storage. It features a 4,600mAh battery with 66W fast charging.
The camera is a 50MP primary shooter with a 13MP ultrawide and an 8MP telephoto that can take up to 3x optical zoom. Huawei has also included a punch-hole selfie camera in the top right of the display. Previous iterations of its foldable phones defaulted to the rear camera for selfies, which you can still do here, but it’s built for those who want both options.
Huawei is using its EMUI software here for the global release (it isn’t running Harmony OS 2 like it is in China), which means you still won’t get access to Google Mobile Services. That will make it harder to use for most people than other foldable phones. It’ll mean you’ll want to use a combination of the Huawei App Gallery or sideload apps to ensure you can use popular software. This phone is set to cost €1999 in Europe, and we’ve yet to hear how much it’ll be in the UK.
Huawei also revealed the Watch GT 3 Pro, which comes in two models. Your options are a Titanium version with a 1.43-inch AMOLED display or a Ceramic with a 1.32-inch AMOLED screen. Both feature always-on display technology. That larger watch has an estimated battery life of up to 14 days, while the smaller version has a top-end limit of a week.
Each of these smartwatches runs Harmony OS 2 software, and they’re compatible with all Android phones that run Android 6.0 or higher. They feature a heart rate monitor, body temperature sensor, and more. We don’t have European prices for these devices, but the Titanium edition costs £300 and will be available on May 30. Weirdly, the Ceramic edition costs more than the larger version with a price of £430 and an on-sale date of June 8.
Other devices announced include a Huawei Band 7 fitness tracker with a 1.47-inch AMOLED screen and a 10mm thick design. It’s set to cost €59, but we don’t yet have a UK price or release date. The Huawei Watch Fit 2 includes a 1.47-inch AMOLED display, offline music playback, a speaker and microphone for phone calls, and various fitness features. It will go on sale in the UK on June 15, and it costs £130.
Then there’s the Huawei Watch D, which is built to monitor the user’s blood pressure and heart rate, SpO2 levels, stress, and more. It’ll work like a standard fitness tracker, but this is a more specialist device for those who need to watch blood pressure. Finally, The Huawei S-TAG is a new running device from the company that monitors form. We don’t yet have any details on a release date or price for either of these two products.
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