Huawei Mate X3 review 2024: great foldable phone

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It was challenging to write a review for the Huawei Mate X3. On the one hand, it boasts the most incredible foldable hardware I’ve ever seen, and I’ve tried each and every foldable phone that’s ever been made available to the public in commercial markets. If we’re only talking about the hardware, it makes the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 look like it’s from an earlier generation.

However, the Mate X3 does not provide users with simple access to services that are utilized by billions of people around the world, and its pricing is at the upper end of the range for mobile phones. Because of these latter two limitations, the Mate X3 has no chance of becoming anything other than a niche enthusiast phone in places other than China, where it was originally designed and manufactured.

Huawei Mate X3 Specifications

The third iteration of Huawei’s foldable phone is a thinner and lighter book-style gadget. This Huawei device does not have built-in compatibility for Google’s services.

Specification	Details
Battery	4,800mAh
Ports	USB-C
Front camera	8MP; 8MP
Rear cameras	50MP wide, 12MP periscope, 13MP ultrawide
Weight	239g
Dimensions	Unfolded: 156.9 x 141.5 x 5.3 mm Folded: 156.9 x 72.4 x 11.08 mm
Storage	512GB, expandable with Huawei NM SD card

Huawei Mate X3: Design and Screen

When folded, the Huawei Mate X3 has a thickness of 11.08 millimeters, and when unfolded, it has a thickness of 5.3 millimeters. This makes it 3 millimeters thinner than the phone from the previous iteration, the Mate X2. This is a significant achievement in engineering for a device that carries two complete displays with it.

The weight, which clocks in at only 239g, is just as astonishing as the size. As a result, it is one of the most compact and lightweight folding book-style devices currently available on the market at the time of this writing. In point of fact, it is not that much thicker than a typical smartphone; hence, it will not cause bulging in your pocket like other folding phones that are either thicker or wider.

Huawei Mate X3: Cameras and Video

The early foldables featured camera systems that were fairly terrible, especially considering the price. Recent evidence, on the other hand, has begun to tip the scales in a different direction. The Google Pixel Fold has provided users with what is likely the best experience available from a foldable camera to this point, largely due to the superior image processing capabilities of Google.

With the release of the Mate X3, Huawei has demonstrated its prowess in the field of hardware engineering, moving it closer to Google’s position at the top of the heap.The primary sensor in this setup is a respectable 50-megapixel device that also features PDAF, laser AF, and OIS. The combination of this feature and Huawei’s significant prowess in image processing results in photographs that are vivid, crisp, well-focused, and have good HDR.

Huawei Mate X3: Software and Updates

This impacts not only Google’s own cloud services like Drive, Photos, and Docs, but also third-party apps like Uber and Citymapper that rely on Google Maps data. Neither WhatsApp nor Facebook nor Netflix nor PayPal are available in the Huawei AppGallery.

Sideloading is an option for some of these apps, albeit it’s not always the most straightforward method and not all apps will download from the first APK site you discover. You can make Google function by isolating it in a sandbox. If you don’t understand any of this, don’t buy this phone! Huawei apps were also an option.

Huawei Mate X3: Battery Life

The Mate X3 has a 4800mAh battery, which is the same as what other foldables of this style have. In normal use, the phone will last about a day. This includes watching movies, taking pictures, making calls, etc. It’s about what I’d expect from a normal flagship phone, which is pretty good when you consider that the battery is running two screens.

The phone didn’t do very well in our PCMark10 battery test, lasting only 7 hours and 8 minutes. But this was a regular use of the main display. In real life, I switch between the outside and inside screens. It’s also about the same number as most of the other book-style foldables we tested.

Huawei Mate X3: Pricing and Availability

In just a few short weeks, it will also become available in Germany and a number of other European nations. In China, the price of the phone is 17,730 yuan, which is around $2,400. In the United Kingdom, the price is £1,999 ($2,540), but in other European nations, the price is €2,199 ($2,400).

Final Words

Almost no one should even entertain the idea of purchasing a Huawei Mate X3. It is quite pricey, it does not have 5G, its CPU is not up to the very latest standard, and the fact that it does not have support from Google will render it nearly worthless for the great majority of people who use apps.

It is a terrible shame that this is the case because the Huawei Mate X3 is now the market leader when it comes to foldable premium hardware. If you want the best, you should get it. When folded up, it has the same size and weight as a standard smartphone, but when opened up, it transforms into a small tablet that is both slim and powerful.

Huawei Mate X3 review: The good and The bad

The engineering that went into the Huawei Mate X3 is nothing short of astounding. Huawei was successful in creating a smartphone that is remarkable on a lot of fronts.

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