Huawei’s wild tri-fold phone finally breaks out of China, and I’m excited

Huawei has just unveiled the Mate XT Ultimate in China, hot on the heels of the iPhone 16 Pro launch. While Apple focused on incremental upgrades, Huawei has taken a leap forward with its innovative form factor. And now, the company is taking its innovation global—Huawei has announced the world’s first tri-fold phone in Malaysia.

The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate boasts a 10.2-inch display with a resolution of 2232 × 3184 pixels. This display can fold into two additional form factors: a 7.9-inch book-style foldable (2048 × 2232 pixels) and a 6.4-inch slab phone (1008 × 2232 pixels). The three-screen mode offers a 16:11 aspect ratio, providing a more immersive media consumption experience compared to traditional foldable phones.

The tri-fold design of the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate features two hinges and folds twice—once inwards and once outwards. While there is a noticeable crease on the inner fold, the outer fold remains exposed. The hinges feel sturdy and can hold the phone in different positions without collapsing into single-screen mode. Magnets secure the folding sides, keeping them flush with the body. However, unfolding the outward-folding section may take some getting used to.

Although Huawei has not officially disclosed the chipset powering the Mate XT Ultimate, reports suggest it is equipped with the in-house Kirin 9010, a 7nm processor. The phone comes with 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. Despite not matching the power of flagship devices like the Galaxy S25 Ultra or OnePlus 13 on paper, the screen transitions between single, dual, and tri-screen modes are smooth in my hands-on experience.

However, the user interface feels outdated on the global variant of the device, which runs on EMUI 14 instead of HarmonyOS. Huawei has not emphasized any standout AI features on this device, which is surprising for the year 2025.

The global variant of the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate does not come pre-installed with Google apps, but there are ways to download almost any Google app, including the Play Store.

The new Huawei foldable phone features a triple-camera setup, with a 50MP main sensor equipped with optical image stabilization (OIS). It is accompanied by a 12MP ultrawide camera and a 12MP periscope telephoto lens with 5.5x optical zoom and OIS. On the front, there is an 8MP selfie camera.

The Huawei tri-fold phone is powered by a 5,600mAh silicon-carbon battery with 66W wired charging, 50W wireless charging, and 7.5W reverse wireless charging. The battery capacity is promising, but its performance with the large display remains to be seen.

The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate comes with a premium price tag of 19,999 yuan (~$2,800) in China and 3,499 Euros in Europe, which converts to approximately $3,660.

In my brief hands-on experience, I found the usability of the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate to be promising. The ability to carry a full-size multimedia tablet in my pocket is exciting, and it seems like this form factor will evolve further in the future, especially since Samsung has also teased a tri-fold phone at its Galaxy Unpacked event. While I hope for improvements to the UI in future updates, the Mate XT Ultimate remains a unique device in the market.