This week Huawei hosted its Xperience 2022 event, where the company revealed more than half a dozen new devices that it will be launching locally over the coming weeks.

The hero device, and first one shown off, was the Mate Xs 2, which also happens to be the company’s second foldable to arrive in SA, following the P50 Pocket earlier in the year. The Huawei Mate Xs 2 is slated for release locally from 1st September, with the device recommended to retail for R39 999.

While this is the first foldable with this form factor that Huawei has launched in South Africa, the latest iteration features a few notable improvements compared to the previous device.

To that end a new falcon wing hinge, as Huawei terms it, is present, allowing the device to fold flat. Added to this is a new durable coating for the foldable 7.8″ display to make it more scratch, dent and smudge resistant. The folding mechanism is said to be 70 percent flatter than its predecessor too, which tackles the crease that we often see on foldable devices.

Looking at some of the key specifications, the folding OLED screen offers up 120Hz in terms of its refresh rate, as well as a 2840×2200 resolution and 424 ppi pixel density. Shifting to some of the internals, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor is present, but sadly no 5G support, which was the case with the P50 Pocket too.

There is 8GB RAM and 512GB storage onboard, with the rear camera array featuring a 50MP wide-angle, 13MP ultra wide-angle and 8MP telephoto lenses present, along with a 10.7MP option up front for selfies.

Lastly a 4 600mAh battery is powering things, with support for 66W fast charging available that can deliver up to 90 percent battery life from 30 minutes of charge.

With Samsung announcing its latest foldable with the Galaxy Z Fold4 last week, it will be interesting to see how these two devices compare.