Last night Huawei held an event for its Middle East and Africa region, announcing that two new flagship phones, as as well as some other hardware, are destined for our shores. The two phones are the P60 Pro and Huawei Mate X3.
The latter is the third foldable that Huawei will bring to SA, marking that the company views this relatively new segment as an intriguing one for local customers.
At the time of writing no official availability or pricing has been confirmed by Huawei Mobile South Africa for either new device, but the company is planning to host an event later this month where more details on the matter are expected.
In the interim, however, we were able to get some hands-on time with the Huawei Mate X3 at last night’s aforementioned event.
Here’s our initial thoughts.
The first and most immediate element of the Mate X3 that you notice is just how lightweight it is. It’s listed at 239g and is 11.08mm when folded. While the latter is thicker than a traditional smartphone, the former is certainly on par. During its presentation Huawei kept comparing the Mate X3 to the latest iPhone.
We asked Huawei’s product management team about this at a pre-briefing event a couple of weeks ago, and their answer was interesting. According to Huawei, this tactic was used in order to demonstrate to consumers how comparable a foldable is to a traditional phone in terms of handling and use. As such Huawei aims to emphasise that transitioning from a traditional phone to a foldable can be seamless.
Whether the tactic clicks with consumers remains to be seen, and we suspect pricing may play a more significant factor ultimately, but it’s clear that Huawei’s big selling point for this foldable is the thin and lightweight design.
As for other elements, we already prefer the inward fold of this model compared to the outward one of the Mate Xs 2. From a lifestyle perspective, it just makes a lot more sense. Foldables still have an aura of fragility to them, so protecting that expensive folding display is a must, and an inward fold does that.
Sticking with the fold, the crease is less noticeable on this device than in previous iterations. It remains to be seen how that holds up over time, but Huawei seems to be getting better with each new attempt.
As for what else struck us about the Mate X3, the Dark Green colour option is really nice, especially in the matte finish and fine sand texture of the rear cover. One thing that is missing is a stylus. Whether there is a reluctance to add this element across all foldable manufacturers is unclear, but it seems only natural to leverage this screen real estate with a stylus. Maybe for the X4?
We’re hoping to get a bit more time with the Huawei Mate X3 in the coming weeks, and should a review opportunity present itself, we’ll definitely take it up.
