Huawei South Africa has unveiled a R39 999 folding phone and a premium-edition laptop with the same price tag. At a media event at the Sandton Convention Centre on 18 August, the company showcased its new flagship foldable, laptops, a tablet, and at least four wearables.
Now in its third generation, the Huawei Mate Xs 2 features a 7.8-inch screen when opened, and folds into a 6.5-inch elongated smartphone when closed. Its OLED display has a resolution of 2480×2200 pixels and a screen refresh rate of up to 120Hz.
It is a mere 5.4mm thin and made with ultralight materials, bringing its total weight to 255g. In comparison, Samsung’s recently unveiled Fold 4 is 6.3mm thin and weighs 263g. Huawei’s foldable also uses the same display as it folds outwards, whereas the Samsung folds inwards and has two separate displays.
Huawei says the Mate Xs 2 features its latest innovation – a first-of-its-kind “double-rotating falcon wing hinge” design for a smooth folding experience. It says it is more durable with a composite screen structure that absorbs and mitigates the force of the impact, making its drop resistance 2.5 times better and its impact resistance 2.8 times better than its predecessor, the Mate Xs.
The large screen supports video calling for up to 12 people on Huawei’s MeeTime, and smart multiwindow support for floating windows and multitasking using intuitive slide-and-swipe movements.
Its rear camera features a trio of lenses – a 50MP true-chroma camera, 13MP ultra-wide, and an 8MP telephoto, complemented by a 10.7MP ultra-wide selfie camera.
The Mate Xs 2 runs on a Snapdragon 888 4G octa-core chip with an Adreno 660 graphics card, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and uses a USB-C earphone jack. It has 4600mAh battery that supports 66W fast charging, but the plug is available separately.
It is powered by Huawei Mobile Services, which runs the Huawei App Gallery for apps. The Mate Xs 2 is available from 1 September for an eye-watering near-R40 000. In comparison, Samsung’s Fold 4 has 5G and runs on Google Mobile Services, including access to the Play Store.
MateBook X Pro and D16
Huawei also unveiled two laptops, the 14.2-inch MateBook X Pro, available in two finishes, and the 16-inch MateBook D16.
MateBook D16
The MateBook X Pro is Huawei’s high-performance MacBook Pro equivalent, lightweight at 1.26kg and in a new ink blue shade. It runs on Intel’s 12th-generation Core i7 processor with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.
The 14.2-inch display has a 3.1K resolution and features a 10-point multitouch display. It supports Huawei’s AI Touch-Free interactions, which let you pause or play a video with hand gestures, including swiping up, down, left, or right.
The 720-pixel webcam supports Smart Conference, with various video conferencing modes, such as follow-cam, virtual backgrounds, eye contact and beauty mode.
The large pressure sensitive touchpad supports a range of gestures with either multiple fingers or the corners that can minimise, close windows, take screenshots, adjust brightness, screen record, fast forward/rewind, adjust volume and access notifications.
MateBook XPro
The Super Device ecosystem will seamlessly pair with other Huawei products including phones, tablets and earphones and support multiscreen collaboration with supported Huawei devices.
Ports include 2x Thunderbolt 4, 2x USB-C, and a 3.5mm audio and microphone 2-in-1 jack. The power button doubles up as a fingerprint sensor.
The MateBook D16 is a larger 16-inch laptop aimed at those who spend a lot of time in front of their screens, thus has a low blue light hardware certification from TÜV Rheinland. Weighing 1.7kg, it is powered by Intel’s 12th-generation Core i7 chipset, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. It has a full-sized keyboard with numeric keypad, a fingerprint power button, and a 1080p HD camera.
Ports include 2x USB-A, 2x USB-C, 1x HDMI, and a 3.5mm 2-in-1 headset and microphone jack. It has Huawei’s Smart Conference and Super Device features.
The MateBook X Pro costs R35 999 for its aluminium alloy finish, and R39 999 for its premium edition. The Matebook D16 costs R25 999. All laptops run Windows 11.
Tablets and wearables
Huawei’s latest tablet is the 10.4-inch MatePad with a 2K display, has quad speakers and supports multitasking and multiscreen collaboration. It works with Huawei’s second-generation M-Pencil, has 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and packs in a 7250mAh battery. It costs R6 499 standalone, or R6 999 with a keyboard.
MatePad
Huawei’s wearables are extensive and pair with Android and iOS, which includes a new Watch GT 3 Pro, Watch D, Watch Fit 2 and Band 7.
WatchD
The top-of-the-range Watch GT 3 Pro titanium edition promises 14 days of battery life, whereas the ceramic edition offers seven days, and both can be topped up using fast wireless charging for 10 minutes that yields a full day of use. The titanium edition costs R10 999 and the ceramic costs R13 999.
New to the line-up is the blood pressure monitoring Watch D with a personal health focus that supports ECG readings, SpO2 blood oxygen readings and management for sleep, stress and skin temperature. It offers more than 70 workout modes and seven days of battery life. It will retail for R9 999.
The upgraded Watch Fit 2 has a 1.7-inch full colour display that now has a speaker, supports Bluetooth calling, app downloads, a voice assistant, quick message replies, animated workouts and automatic SpO2 monitoring. It costs R3 299.
Lastly, the entry-level Band 7 features an ultra-thin 9.99mm design paired to a 1.47-inch screen, comes in four colours and promises two weeks of battery life with more than 4 000 watch faces. Health tracking includes automatic SpO2, heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, stress management and 96 workout modes. It costs R1 699.
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