Huawei Mate X beats Galaxy Fold
Ridiculous bezels waste too much space on the Galaxy Fold, putting the Mate X in front, writes Krishan Sharma.
The past few weeks have seen the announcement of two foldable smartphones: Samsung’s Galaxy Fold and Huawei’s Mate X.
Both phones unfold into a tablet, sport eye watering price tags and will land on store shelves in mere months. Based on what we’ve seen at MWC – the biggest mobile trade show of the year – it’s the Mate X that makes the most compelling case for a foldable future.
Each phone takes a different approach, with Samsung opting to put the display on the inside so that opening the device feels as natural as opening a book.
As a result, the company had to put in a second screen on the front, so that it can be used as a smartphone when folded up.
Unfortunately, Samsung chose to use a ridiculously bezeled 4.6-inch front display, with a huge amount of wasted space on either side, resulting in a small screen that looks archaic by modern smartphone standards. Considering that most people buying a foldable will use it primarily as a smartphone and as a tablet second, it’s a pretty significant compromise.
Unfolding the device reveals a 7.3-inch display which, again, seems a little cramped to use as a tablet. What makes matters worse is that the display is flanked by a large camera notch on the right hand side of the screen.
By contrast Huawei puts the screen on the outside of the fold, while also eliminating bezels and camera notches from the equation. This results in a device that, when closed, has a larger and higher resolution 6.6-inch display on the front as well as a 6.38-inch display with cameras on the back. You can use either the front or back for smartphone duties. Opening the device gives you an edge-to-edge 8-inch display for tablet-related tasks such as watching movies or reading a digital magazine.
The hinge design of the Mate X also means that when it is in the closed position there’s no gaps, giving it a cleaner, slimmer look when in smartphone mode.
As the screen is on the inside of the Galaxy Fold, Samsung has left a gap on purpose to prevent the two halves of the display from scratching each other when the device is closed. The result is a thicker frame that makes the Galaxy Fold look bulkier in comparison to the Mate X
(17 millimetres v 11mm).
The Mate X packs a slightly larger battery and will charge quicker with Huawei’s proprietary SuperCharge system, which is able to charge the battery from dead flat back to 85 per cent in just 30 minutes.
As glass doesn’t like to fold, both devices are layered with a plastic surface instead, which scratches easier.
This is where the Galaxy Fold will have an advantage, as the interior display is always protected when the device is closed.
On the wrap-around Mate X display, the scratchable display will always be exposed to whatever surface it is set down on. Leaving it in your pocket with your car keys or sliding it across the table every time you pick it up is likely to leave unavoidable scratches.
The Galaxy Fold has a whopping six cameras distributed throughout the front and back of the device, while the Mate X’s four cameras are smartly housed on a vertical camera bar, so you can use them no matter how you’re holding the device.
In phone mode you can shoot with the cameras pointing towards or away from you, and in tablet mode you use those same cameras pointing away.
Having a screen on the back also enables ‘‘mirror shooting’’, which lets the person you’re taking a picture of see how they look while the picture is being taken.
Software is a big unknown at this point, and could make or break either device depending on how its handled.
At this early stage I would give the edge to the Galaxy Fold as it looks a bit more polished, with nice animations and transitions as content spills from the small smartphone screen onto the larger tablet screen seamlessly.
Overall, the Mate X offers a larger display on all fronts with a more refined design, thinner frame and gapless hinge with minimal compromises.
Of course, there’s still question marks over the durability of the hinge and screen in the long-term, but for now the Mate X is the foldable phone to beat.
The author travelled to Barcelona as a guest of Oppo and Huawei.