Today has been a big day for Huawei. New headphones with 100 dB noise cancellation, the Huawei FreeBuds Pro 4; renewed family Huawei Nova 13 and the foldable Huawei Mate. This one will go on sale shortly in Europe, but I was already able to try it. And the sensations were very positive: he is a worthy rival to best foldable of the year. With the logical inconvenience of the software.

It is one of the brands with the most experience in the foldable panorama and one of the only ones that rivals Samsung in years of experience and variety of models: Huawei has shown that it knows how to make mobile phones with flexible screens. With the folding outwards, in Flip format and even with the Huawei Matea triple-folding smartphone. The new Huawei Mate

Features of the Huawei Mate X6

Very thin and with great commitment to resistance

The feelings I had when testing the Huawei Mate X6 were very positive: it is a foldable mobile phone that lives up to what anyone would expect in the most premium range. At least when it comes to design, we already know what the main drawback of the brand is.

When I held it for the first time I felt that it was not really our initial encounter, since the sensations were very similar to what the Honor Magic V3 offered me. “Normal” looking mobile when folded, really fine when unfoldedwith the excessive protuberance marked by the rear cameras and with a rough rear finish that makes grip much easier.

It is very light, handles folded very well and offers some resistance when opening: It is difficult to find the point when opening the two wings. The screen remains firm at almost any opening angle and is perfectly visible under any conditions. Both.

It appears resistant on the outside, as well as the interior area. With the logical interference of the folding area, as usual. The valley can be seen when you swipe your finger, although it is easy to get used to it. Huawei claims that it improved the hinge compared to previous models to make it more resistant to folding.

Great multimedia capacity and high performance, although with nuances

The screens are a delight when it comes to viewing any type of content, whether on the exterior panel or the interior. On the outside the ratio is elongated, on the inside it is somewhat square. This makes it difficult to play panoramic videos, for example, as black bands appear at the top and bottom. Yes, it is very useful for multitasking, Huawei enables a multitude of gestures in EMUI.

Two apps at the same time, floating windows, options to move elements between applications and a foldable experience at a very high level: from what I was able to test, it seems to me that the Huawei Mate X6 has nothing to envy of the Honor Magic V3, for example . When it comes to pure software, there are differences: the penalty of not having Google apps and their services continues to penalize.

The foldable arrives with EMUI 15, based on Android 12: nothing of Harmony OS. Huawei does not confirm the processor included in the phone, although I was able to find out with an analysis app: It’s a Kirin 9020. It is accompanied by 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage.

The performance is high, the entire mobile moves very fast, the games I was able to try looked good (I could barely test the GPU) and the fluidity remained at maximum figures. Too bad there is another deficiency caused by Huawei’s difficulties outside China: The Mate X6 does not offer 5G compatibility.

A mobile photography that wants to be the reference in folding

Mobile phones with flexible screens aim to improve the versatility of multimedia and professional use, so they must yield specifications in other areas; especially when thinness is what prevails, as is the case with the Mate X6. The camera is usually the aspect penalized by manufacturers. And Huawei does not want to bow to the usual.

After the excellent photographic performance of Huawei Pure 70 Ultrasmartphone that rose to our throne of best photography mobile of 2024the Huawei Mate X6 is inspired by its non-folding cousin to include a triple rear camera supported by an extra sensor for calibrate color and temperature balance. The goal is to keep photos as natural as possible to the original scene, even in raw RAW.

I was testing the camera very little and I couldn’t take the photos, I don’t have much to say about its results. I did appreciate a purposeful camera app, simple when you just have to point and shoot, loaded with possibilities for those looking to delve deeper into manual settings.

50 megapixel main sensor, a 40 megapixel wide angle and a 48 megapixel telescopic telephoto, all three supported by the aforementioned chromatic sensor. This photographic equipment has the counterpart of double the thickness of the phone in the target area. And it unbalances the weight, since that area weighs much more than the rest (it is more appreciated by taking photos with the screen displayed).

An excellent foldable at a foldable price

A first contact leaves many clues as to where the final analysis will go. And I think that this analysis will be very positive: the Huawei Mate X6 is not penalized by its size, folded it is a smartphone of normal thickness (also in the camera area), provides great resistance and its deployed use is a delight. Yes, the usual absence of Google penalizes, also the fact that it remains anchored to Android 12; exceptions that are becoming less and less difficult to avoid.

Given the format and the price, the Huawei Mate X6 is not for everyone: the 1,999 euros that Huawei asks for it makes it far from most budgets. The software penalizes, I would love to see Harmony OS in Europe on smartphones. In the rest, it seems to me to be an ideal mobile phone for those looking for a Fold-type mobile phone and want a superior photographic experience. Huawei has shown that it knows how to make good mobile cameras.

Cover image | Ivan Linares