Huawei has launched a new folding phone, the Mate X6, and it looks great, but alongside it has come a “normal” phone called the Nova 13 that’s actually more interesting. What could possibly be more interesting than a foldable? I’ll explain, but lets start with the Mate X6, which still has some surprises inside.
Huawei Mate X6
Huawei produces two different types of folding phone (three if you count the trifold Mate XT), and the Mate X6 is the latest in its book-style range, putting it in competition with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, the OnePlus Open, and the Honor Magic V3. It’s almost as thin as Honor’s foldable at just 9.85mm thick when folded up. And at only 239 grams, it matches the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s weight too. When open, it has a 7.93-inch screen with a 2440 x 2240 pixel resolution and a 1Hz to 120Hz refresh rate, a feature repeated on the outer 6.45-inch cover screen. There’s a choice of colors and finishes. The Nebula Red and black models have a vegan leather rear cover, while the Nebula Gray model has an unusual fiber cover with a unique 3D texture.
Huawei has used a stronger aluminum frame, a carbon fiber plate inside the body, a liquid steel water drop hinge, and new second-generation Kunlun glass to increase the Mate X6’s durability. The phone also has an IPX8 water resistance rating. Engineers have reconstructed the internal architecture to add more antennas to improve reception, allow for a larger 5110mAh battery, and to use a graphene layer for heat dissipation.
The camera is impressive for a folding phone. Huawei’s tried-and-tested 10-stop mechanical aperture — going from f/1.4 to f/4.0 — is paired to the 50-megapixel main camera, something we’ve not seen on a foldable before. It’s joined by a 40MP wide-angle camera and a 48MP telephoto camera for 4x optical zoom photos. The telephoto camera is used for macro shots at a distance of five centimeters.
What Huawei isn’t saying is what processor is used or what software will be installed on the global Mate X6. Little is said about them on the brand’s Chinese website, where the phone was announced earlier in the year, aside from Huawei’s own HarmonyOS 4.3 being installed and the option of 12GB or 16GB RAM, or 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage.
Huawei Nova 13 and Nova 13 Pro
The Mate X6 looks great, so what’s special about the Nova 13? The Nova 13 Pro specifically has a front camera unlike any we’ve seen. There are two front cameras, a 60MP main and an 8MP close-up portrait camera with a 2x optical zoom and a 5x digital zoom. We’re used to seeing these specs on rear cameras rather than the front, making the Nova 13 Pro a superb option for live streaming and selfies.
On the back, the phone has a similar main camera to the Mate X6. The 50MP camera also has an adjustable aperture from f/1.4 to f/4.0, along with optical image stabilization (OIS) and a telephoto camera for 3x optical zoom shots. Huawei’s Nova series have traditionally been lifestyle-orientated midrange devices, but the camera specs for the Nova 13 Pro put it up against the brand’s top Pura camera phones.
The rest of the specifications include a 6.76-inch screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 5,000mAh battery with 100-watt wired charging, and EMUI 14.2 software. Again, Huawei doesn’t talk about the processor. There are several colors available, including Loden Green, white, and black.
Price and availability
At the time of writing, Huawei has not provided price or release information, but we will update this article when the phones are released. Expect the phones to be available in the U.K. and parts of Europe, but not the U.S..