Huawei Unveils the Mate X, a Foldable 5G Smartphone That Costs $2,600 (techcrunch.com) 106
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The world's fastest growing mobile company has long had a chip on its shoulder when it comes to Apple and Samsung. For too long, the company has had to go out of its way to remind the world that it's capable of being every bit as innovative as those better established brands, a concept very much at the heart of the Mate X. The device lives right at the cross section of the year's biggest forward looking trends -- foldables and 5G, and unlike some of the concepts we've seen to date, the product does so with panache.
The device is thin, as far as tablets go, at 5.4 mm, unfolded. Closed, it's nearly double that, at 11 mm. Not thin, exactly, but still a heck of a lot easier to slip into your pants pockets than the 17mm Galaxy Fold. More impressive is what the company's been able to do with its displays. The screen is very much the thing on these products, and yet the Fold's outside screen only measures 4.6 inches. The Mate X, meanwhile, sports a pair of outward-facing displays, the larger of which measures 6.6 inches at 2480 x 1148 pixels, with a 19:5 aspect ration. The flip side is 6.38 inches, allowing for space for the camera bar -- a chin that folds over to meet the display. The system features a Leica lens and the design is such that photo subjects can see themselves on the outward-facing display as a shot is taken. On the device's side is a combo fingerprint reader/power button. The phone uses a proprietary "Falcon Wing" hinge to unfold and turn into a full 8-inch tablet. The report does note that there is "a visible crease in the middle of the phone." Inside are a pair of batteries that add up to 4,500mAh of power, as well as a Kirin 980 processor.
In a separate article, TechCrunch says the Mate X is expected to retail for about $2,600, proving that there is certainly a pricing premium with foldables and 5G phones.
The device is thin, as far as tablets go, at 5.4 mm, unfolded. Closed, it's nearly double that, at 11 mm. Not thin, exactly, but still a heck of a lot easier to slip into your pants pockets than the 17mm Galaxy Fold. More impressive is what the company's been able to do with its displays. The screen is very much the thing on these products, and yet the Fold's outside screen only measures 4.6 inches. The Mate X, meanwhile, sports a pair of outward-facing displays, the larger of which measures 6.6 inches at 2480 x 1148 pixels, with a 19:5 aspect ration. The flip side is 6.38 inches, allowing for space for the camera bar -- a chin that folds over to meet the display. The system features a Leica lens and the design is such that photo subjects can see themselves on the outward-facing display as a shot is taken. On the device's side is a combo fingerprint reader/power button. The phone uses a proprietary "Falcon Wing" hinge to unfold and turn into a full 8-inch tablet. The report does note that there is "a visible crease in the middle of the phone." Inside are a pair of batteries that add up to 4,500mAh of power, as well as a Kirin 980 processor.
In a separate article, TechCrunch says the Mate X is expected to retail for about $2,600, proving that there is certainly a pricing premium with foldables and 5G phones.
I like this foldable phone trend (Score:5, Insightful)
Some may say this new category of folding phones are too expensive, but I really like the idea of these things - it seems like a great combination of a phone which you always have, plus a better media/reading/creating surface to work with.
I am super curious to see how these turn out and eagerly await the comparison of models like this with the Samsung to be coming out... I really wonder how the folding action will feel (the Samsung sounded nice in theory).
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I'm hoping that the next Pixel is foldable like this, but also more reasonably priced. The form factor is finally a really compelling reason to upgrade.
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Some may say this new category of folding phones are too expensive
Apple has clearly demonstrated that all the profits in mobile are at the high end of the market.
Apple has raised prices, seen their market share sink, and their profits rise.
This is a smart move by Huawei, I can easily see my spouse buying one of these.
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OnePlus has clearly demonstrated that there is plenty of profit in mid-price phones, and there is no sign of the cheap end being abandoned due to lack of earnings.
In fact the more affordable end is where all the growth is, in China and India especially.
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Isn't that what this is? (Score:2)
The Samsung screen I thought, had a foldable screen that flexed in the middle so was continuous when opened...
The design of this Huawei device is the opposite, where there's a screen on front and back that fold put to meet each other - I think there is a hairline where the meet though it's very hard to see in the video they have in the story.
Re: Isn't that what this is? (Score:1)
Huawei flat out stole the screen tech from Samsung, then rushed it to market. Early Samsung designs considered a similar approach to what Huawei used, but went a different route due to material limitations. So it's no surprise they copied the earlier designs which will almost certainly end up having some pretty severe issues once they start being subjected to real world conditions.
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You'd have to assume that Samsung put theirs through a 100,000 fold/unfold cycle on a sample of a few thousand of these displays before going into production with them. I'd have thought that the hinge would probably fail first.
Nice try, Huawei astroturfer. (Score:1)
Nobody is going to want a 2600 dollar phone with a crease down the middle of the screen.
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All the problems of running Android on a tablet, with the addition of a line in the middle of the screen and a different screen aspect ratio for poorly behaved applications to fuck up or present big black bars that waste all that expanded screen. Great. Oh, and for only 3x the price of buying a phone plus a tablet.
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Nobody is going to want a 2600 dollar phone with a crease down the middle of the screen.
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
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No need to buy these, unless you need to compensate something. You can get pretty good Android phones with security updates for a while for $200-300. The reason Samsung is even offering these is that there are enough fools that can lay their hands on enough money.
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And you continue to be stupid. First, whatever gave you the idea I could not afford an expensive phone? Maybe I have the money but see not point in spending it? This is just your deficient excuse for an intellect at work. And second, who ever in their right mind would want to get rich? It is basically a waste of time and energy and will make your live much poorer. Getting enough money to live decently is the thing to go after. Again, your mental capabilities do not fail to disappoint.
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This might actually be one of the cases where the market takes care of itself - there will be a few people that buy one of these because they simply must have the biggest shiniest thing out there, but the user experience will be terrible due to realities of the product that are outside Huawei's control - for example, how terrible Android is on tablets mostly due to very poor application support for larger displays and screen rotation.
Now we get to salt that painful tablet user experience with yet another sc
Prototype for people with too much money (Score:4, Insightful)
Nice idea, needs more time.
Or... for the same price (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Or... for the same price (Score:5, Funny)
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+1 Obscure reference (obscure for non-Canadians, anyway)
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I am not impressed! (Score:1)
While I congratulate Huawei on this achievement, I am not that impressed because that thing has a crease in the middle - seen if one looks closely.
Its price simply makes matters worse.
The question though is this: Where is APPLE?
Apple fanboys must be about to get a fit [of rage], because of lack of innovation or any news of it.
Ohh wait, the last "innovation was from buying a company that had a feature they liked; stuck this feature into the iPhone and fanboys/zealots screamed..."Yiihaaa!" "Nobody beats A
Re:I am not impressed! (Score:5, Insightful)
The question though is this: Where is APPLE?
There's nothing really new about a folding phone that morphs into a pad. Various folks have been talking about this for a long time.
I wouldn't be surprised if they even built prototypes and evaluated them internally. That fact that Apple has not even hinted at such a critter probably means that they decided that the product wouldn't be a big hit.
Time will tell if others have success with their models . . .
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The question though is this: Where is APPLE?
There's nothing really new about a folding phone that morphs into a pad. Various folks have been talking about this for a long time.
I have been talking about this for a long. Like millions out there. Talk is very cheap.
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I wouldn't be surprised if they even built prototypes and evaluated them internally. That fact that Apple has not even hinted at such a critter probably means that they decided that the product wouldn't be a big hit.
You have to remember Apple is a very new entrant into the market of the technology that enables foldable screens. The company forever shunned OLED while all their competitors adopted it.
There's no doubt Apple are watching this space closely, but it's been very clear over the past 5 years that Apple has become very much a careful follower than a technology leader so their silence may not be an indication that they don't think it's a hit, it may be more that they aren't convinced that the technology is actual
Re: I am not impressed! (Score:2)
The answer is that Apple already patented a folding phone and has worldwide exclusive rights to the alloy Liquidmetal that will be used in the hinges of folding phones.
https://patentimages.storage.g... [googleapis.com]
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Having the large screen on the outside is better in that it keeps the bend radius much larger and avoids the need for another small display on the outside, but on the other hand it leaves it unprotected which isn't great since it's not going to be covered with gorilla glass.
Apple will sit out for a generation or two, Tim Cook will say something about how only losers need to fold their tablets, before eventually making their own groundbreaking version.
Re: I am not impressed! (Score:1)
What a bizarre rant.
Apple hasnâ(TM)t invented much at all. They didnâ(TM)t have the first mp3 player, the first smartphone, the first tablet, the first high DPI display, the first 3G phone, the first LTE phone, etc. It would be a confused fanboy indeed who claims Apple is first to market with everything.
Appleâ(TM)s success comes from doing these things later, but better. They almost always wait, and it turns out fine. Hate âem all you want, but probably at least have base your hate on r
Where is Apple? Biding time. (Score:2)
The question though is this: Where is APPLE?
1) Waiting to see if people like folding phones.
2) Spending quite a lot longer until they comeuppance with a design they really like, instead of releasing a kind of hacky initial version.
That's the main thing I worry about with the initial versions of the folding phones, that they will not have design kinks really worked out for the first few revs.
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Far in the rearview mirror, but that's hardly new -- they were almost a full decade behind Samsung in offering AMOLED screens on their phones.
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It took quite a lot of convincing for them to move on from the "perfection" that is the 3.5" screen. I expect a similar delay in moving towards anything foldable.
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What are you talking about?
Apple already sells a lot of devices that cost way too much fucking money for the amount of value they deliver. This is just Huawei playing follow the leader once again.
Cry me a river (Score:1)
Well cry me a river. Perhaps if it wasn't a shill for the Chinese government to insert wideband listening devices into military installations then they would be a more trusted name in the western world.
As for the device, it's certainly blingy, but I think very few people will decide they need to spend that much money on such a device. I can't think
Not thin? (Score:5, Insightful)
This was my PDA in the late 1990s [pagesperso-orange.fr]. It was 25mm thick closed. It fit in my pocket perfectly fine.
My last two phones were 8.5mm and 6mm. They were actually too thin - I kept dropping them when I tried to hold them by the edges. I ended up buying cases for them not to protect them, but to make them thicker so I wouldn't drop them so often. I really wish they'd just put a bigger, multi-day battery into these and make them closer to 10-15mm thick. That would also alleviate most of the complaints about the battery being non-replaceable. You could limit the charge/discharge cycle to between 10%-90% or 20%-80% (like they do on EVs), increasing lifespan from around 600 cycles to closer to 2000 cycles before the battery wears to half its capacity when new.
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You know that Blackberry sells one, right?
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My understanding is that LiPo battery wear mostly occurs at the top of the charge curve: a charge cycle 80%-0%-80% does about the same damage as 80%-20%-80%, but gives you more energy. A reason for avoiding low states of charge (below 20%) is that the internal resistance is higher, so it can't deliver a high current, but that's only relevant for worn-out phone batteries where the phone might shut down unexpectedly.
Reference: https://accubattery.zendesk.co... [zendesk.com]
Can we have it NOT be a phone? (Score:2)
It's still too small to use for creating things, let's not kid ours
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Is it too late (Score:2)
To patent the origami phone? Little cube you keep on your keychain folds out to a 24in screen when you hit the button. And I'm sure I can sell it for at least 10k!
Almost like the movie (Score:1)
"Huawei, phone home."
Too large when folded (Score:2)
This phone shares a number of problems with the Samsung offering (other than the ridiculous price, which I will not discuss.) First, when folded, both phones remain WAY TOO LARGE! Second, when folded, both phones (especially Samsung's) have a main screen that is TOO SMALL! That's right, this does not contradict the first observation.
One can tell that these are first efforts. The concept is great, and hopefully things will improve a lot over the next couple of years. For the time being, I'll be giving them
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Wow (Score:2)
Gimmick vs usefulness (Score:2)
There is a very fine line between a gimmick, and something that is genuinely useful on a regular basis. Many hybrids at the hardware level have been attempted. There are some I thought would be useful but turned out to have pretty much zero consumer demand. For example, cell phones with an e-ink display on that back that could always show information with zero battery drain and provide an optimal display for daylight reading. Nope. It was tried both as native device and as an add on case, and neither ca
Scratchy (Score:3)
In order to flex like this I can guarantee they do not have anything nearly as protective as glass on that screen. I would much rather have mine on the inside where it is protected with a smaller glass-shielded screen on the outside.
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Samsung said that it's some kind of plastic. I guess you will want a screen protector.
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On the inside it isn't bad, its protected, kinda like those old flip phones.
No more Huawei for me (Score:2)
I can overlook the alleged spying stuff (is it that they can, or that they aren't rolling over for FBI/CIA?). But they seem to regard a charging bug as a WON'TFIX and that means the Honor 8 that I have now is the last one I buy from them. When I connect a device that should source power TO the phone and the phone refuses to be charged, but insists on trying ti charge the device? NOPE! If they can't be bothered to fix something that basic, I can't be bothered to buy from them again.
Wisdom (Score:2)
Is the ability to learn not only from your own mistakes, but the mistakes of others as well.
Someone else asked where is Apple in all of this and right now, Apple is, amusingly, watching this event fully understanding what is about to take place.
There is a limit to what folks will pay for a smartphone. Apple learned this the hard way with their pricing arrogance and it cost them.
It seems, Huawei wasn't paying attention.
As such, they are about to learn that very same, painful lesson as Apple did.
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Pair of batteries (Score:2)
"Inside are a pair of batteries that add up to 4,500mAh of power"
I'm trying to unpick this without being facetious, but it's hard; this sentence is just a technical disaster.
A pair of batteries is still a battery. A pair of cells is a battery.
4,500mAh could be more simply expressed as 4.5Ah, but lets skip past that to the declaration that it's 4,500mAh of power. Which it isn't - power is a factor of current and voltage, the latter of which isn't specified - and returns us to the "pair of batteries" part.
I
Such a stupid trend (Score:2)
Huawei seem to have wrapped their screen on the outside of the clamshell. At least means t
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The average person spends 3.5 hours / day on a smart phone. If this phone lasts you for 3 years that is somewhere around 0.50 / hour. Not bad IMO.
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And even if they did it it doesn't negate the argument that the usability of these things is just flawed.
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I agree with the not lasting 3 years, but if it did....
as for the usability, I think this is a great idea, a mobile tablet. Nothing like when you are waiting for something to be able to pull a nice sized tablet out of your pocket. Now if we could get it to fold 4x or something like that... It's the future in my opinion.
Screens not going to last. (Score:2)