A new foldable smartphone from Chinese giant Huawei could be coming soon, with speculation the company is already hard at work on the next generation of its Mate X range of large-screen, book-style foldables.
Here’s everything we know so far about the Huawei Mate X3.
When will the Huawei Mate X3 be released?
There’s no official word from Huawei on the Mate X3’s release date, but there have been plenty of rumours, including from sites like Huawei Central, that it could appear in December 2022 or very early in 2023.
That seems quite reasonable, as the previous Huawei Mate X2 debuted in early 2021, but the February launch was only in China and the phone never made its way to others. regions.
This was remedied somewhat by the semi-sequel Huawei Mate Xs 2 which launched internationally in May 2022, although it didn’t actually arrive in the UK until September. This confuses the issue, as it’s unclear whether Huawei would want to launch another foldable so close to this model’s arrival – although since the Xs 2 folds in the opposite direction, the two models serve slightly different purposes. on the market.< /p>
The winter slot was also the one chosen for the range’s initial introduction, as the first Huawei Mate X launched in China in November 2019, so there’s some form in that area.
As with all Huawei devices, we don’t expect it to be available in the US, but it’s far from certain we’ll even get it in Europe, as past releases have proven. In fact, a recent Politico article reported that the company may be on the verge of abandoning international markets altogether and focusing on Aisan territories. We haven’t seen this in Huawei’s behavior yet, as the company maintains a European office and online presence, so it could be that the Chinese manufacturer is selective in the models it supplies to the West.
How much will the Huawei Mate X3 cost?
We don’t have specific pricing details at the time of writing, so we’ll have to consider how Huawei priced its older foldables to give us a clue. Here is the list :
- Huawei Mate Xs 2 (512GB) – £1,799 / $1,999
- Huawei Mate X2 (256GB) – ¥17,999 (about £2,000/$2,800)
- Huawei Mate Xs (512GB) – £2,299 / $2,499 (around $2,700)
- Huawei Mate X (128GB) – £1,999 / $2,299 (around $2,600)
As you can see, foldables are still the most expensive phones you can buy (unless you’re completely cheating an iPhone 14 Pro Max or Samsung S22 Ultra), although some rival efforts have started to drop their prices. requested. Here are some of the direct competitors:
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 – $1,799 / £1,649
- Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 – ¥8,999 (about $1,335 / £1,090)
- Oppo Find N – ¥7,699 (about $1,200 / £900)
- Vivo X Fold – ¥8,999 (about $1,335 / £1,090)
Whether Huawei will be able to reduce the cost of its new device to anything more around £1,000 / $1,000 remains unlikely, especially with the cost spiraling due to the many factors affecting the global economy at the moment. We think you’ll still spend a lot of money if you want to buy the Huawei Mate X3.
There is some hope though, as one of our favorite Chinese tipsters (mostly because of his name), @The Factory Manager is Classmate Guan, posted on Weibo that Huawei hopes to release the new phone at a price much more affordable.
What about the specifications and design of the Huawei Mate X3?
As with price and release date, we don’t have any confirmation from Huawei on what we can expect to see in the Mate X3. For that, we have to turn to the rumors that have started popping up online.
Several outlets are reporting that the Mate X3 will feature the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which is pretty certain for a flagship appearing in early 2023. The main difference is that due to the ongoing dispute between Huawei and the US government, the phone will only have 4G capabilities, like all of its other new devices.
The design would be in line with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Mate X2 in that it will have a large screen that folds up like a book. If Huawei uses the design of the Mate X2, the screen will measure around 8 inches. While the Mate X2 featured a maximum refresh rate of 90Hz, it’s more normal these days for flagships to come with 120Hz instead for smooth, smooth scrolling. We haven’t had that confirmation, but think it’s very possible.
We will most likely also see the return of the 6.45-inch OLED panel on the outside of the device, allowing users to access information and use the Mate X3 as a full-size phone when needed. The cameras could also see the resurrection of the quad-array on the Mate X2, but with updated sensors and the addition of the recently announced Huawei XMAGE imaging technology which uses software to enhance images.
As a rough guide to what the Mate X3’s technical specs might be, here’s how the Mate X2 was configured:
Huawei Mate X2: Specifications
- Android 10 with EMUI 11
- Interior: Foldable 8-inch 90Hz OLED display (2200 x 2480)
- Exterior: 6.45-inch 90Hz OLED (2700 x 1160)
- Kirin 9000 chipset
- 8 GB RAM
- 256/512 GB storage
- 50Mp, f/1.9, rear camera RYYB OIS + 16Mp, ultra-wide f/2.2 + 12Mp, f/2.4, 3x, tele OIS + 8Mp, f/4.4, 10x, periscope OIS
- 16Mp f/2.2 front camera + color temperature sensor
- Side-mounted fingerprint scanner
- 11az Dual Band Wi-Fi 6
- Bluetooth 5.2
- GPS
- NFC
- 5G/4G LTE
- USB-C
- 4500mAh non-removable battery
- 55W wired charging
- Unfolded: 161.8 x 145.8 x 4.4-8.2mm
- Folded: 161.8 x 74.6 x 13.6-14.7mm
- 295g
As you can see, there’s still a lot we don’t know about the Huawei Mate X3, but we’ll update this article with more news as it emerges. Until then, you can check out the best smartphones we currently recommend, as well as the best new phones coming in 2023.
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