In the hours following Apple's iPhone 16 reveal, Huawei stepped onto the global stage with the Mate XT Ultimate Design — the world's first tri-fold smartphone — as if to remind the industry that the definition of a phone is still being written. Priced between $2,810 and $3,370 and engineered with dual hinges that unfold into a 10.2-inch tablet, the device is less a product launch than a philosophical provocation: how much complexity, weight, and cost will people accept in pursuit of possibility? With 3.7 million preorders already logged, the answer, at least for now, appears to be: quite a lot
Huawei's Mate XT tri-fold phone costs more than three iPhone 16s
Three hinges, three battery packs, three ways to use it—and a price tag to match.
Mark
So Huawei announced this tri-fold phone on the same day as the iPhone 16. Was that deliberate?
Mimi
Completely deliberate. They held their event just hours after Apple's keynote. It was a direct challenge—we have something more innovative than your incremental update.
Luke
But did they actually announce it that day, or did they just tease it? The source says they teased it before, then the event was on the same day.
Mimi
You're right—they'd been teasing it for days. The event itself happened Monday, just after Apple's. That's when they revealed the name and specs.
Mark
And the price is genuinely three times an iPhone 16?
Mimi
The math checks out. An iPhone 16 is $799. Three of them is about $2,487. The Mate XT starts at $2,810 for 256 gigabytes.
Luke
But that's before tax on the iPhone, and the Huawei price is in yuan converted to dollars. Exchange rates shift. The real comparison is probably messier than the headline suggests.
Mimi
Fair point. But even accounting for that, it's still roughly triple the price of a single iPhone.
Mark
What's actually innovative about the design?
Mimi
Two separate hinges that let it fold in a Z-shape. You can use it three ways: fully closed at 6.4 inches, partially open at 7.9 inches, or fully unfolded as a 10.2-inch tablet.
Luke
And how durable is it? That's the real question.
Mimi
Huawei claims it's durable, but there's no long-term data yet. More hinges mean more potential failure points.
Mark
Did people actually preorder it?
Mimi
3.7 million preorders before the price was even officially announced.
Luke
But that's a single retailer's number, and it's from before pricing. We don't know how many of those will convert to actual sales now that people know what it costs.
Mimi
True. That's the real test—whether the enthusiasm holds once people see the bill.
Le Pouls
- Huawei deliberately timed its announcement to land just hours after Apple's iPhone 16 keynote, turning a product reveal into a geopolitical and commercial counterpunch.
- The Mate XT's price — nearly triple that of a base iPhone 16 — sets a new ceiling for consumer smartphone ambition, yet preorders surpassed 3.7 million before official pricing was even confirmed.
- Two hinges, three battery packs, and a Z-shaped folding mechanism push engineering complexity into territory no commercial phone has entered before, raising urgent questions about long-term durability.
- At 298 grams and 12.8 millimeters thick when closed, the device's physical demands on its owner are as real as its technical achievements, potentially capping its appeal to a committed early-adopter class.
- The broader foldable market now watches to see whether tri-fold design becomes a new standard or an expensive detour, with real-world durability data still months or years away.
In the hours following Apple's iPhone 16 reveal, Huawei stepped onto the global stage with the Mate XT Ultimate Design — the world's first tri-fold smartphone — as if to remind the industry that the definition of a phone is still being written. Priced between $2,810 and $3,370 and engineered with dual hinges that unfold into a 10.2-inch tablet, the device is less a product launch than a philosophical provocation: how much complexity, weight, and cost will people accept in pursuit of possibility? With 3.7 million preorders already logged, the answer, at least for now, appears to be: quite a lot.
Huawei timed its announcement with deliberate precision — just hours after Apple's iPhone 16 keynote — unveiling the Mate XT Ultimate Design as a direct counterpunch to the world's most recognized smartphone brand. The message embedded in the price tag was hard to miss: the base model starts at 19,999 yuan ($2,810) for 256GB, with the top-tier 1TB version reaching $3,370. Each purchase includes earbuds, cables, and two chargers. Rumors had floated a $4,000 figure, so Huawei landed somewhat lower — though still steep enough to give most buyers pause.
What justifies the cost, at least on paper, is the engineering. Two separate hinges create a Z-shaped folding mechanism with three distinct display configurations: a 6.4-inch closed phone, a 7.9-inch mid-fold similar to Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 6, and a fully extended 10.2-inch 3K OLED panel that functions as a proper tablet. At its thinnest when fully open, the device measures just 3.6 millimeters — slightly narrower than a USB-C port. The tradeoff is weight: 298 grams, noticeably more than a conventional smartphone.
Beneath the surface, the complexity deepens. Three separate battery packs — one per display section, each just 1.9 millimeters thick — combine for 5,600mAh of capacity with fast charging support. The camera array includes a 50-megapixel main sensor, a 12-megapixel ultrawide, and a 12-megapixel periscope lens, alongside an 8-megapixel front camera positioned for folded-mode use. The device runs HarmonyOS 4.2 with AI features and 16GB of RAM.
The market responded before pricing was even confirmed: Chinese retailer Vmall logged 3.7 million preorders, signaling genuine appetite among early adopters willing to bet on unproven durability. More hinges mean more failure points, more stress on display materials, and more unknowns over time — questions that Huawei's launch-day claims cannot yet answer. Whether the Mate XT represents the future of mobile form or an ambitious dead-end will ultimately be written not in preorder numbers, but in how those devices hold up across months of daily life.
Huawei timed its announcement with surgical precision. Just hours after Apple's iPhone 16 keynote on Monday, the Chinese manufacturer held its own event to unveil what it had been teasing for days: the world's first tri-fold phone. The device, called the Mate XT Ultimate Design, arrived as a direct counterpunch to Apple's latest flagship—and the price tag made the statement unmistakable.
The base model iPhone 16 starts at $799. Three of them would cost roughly $2,487 before tax. The Huawei Mate XT's entry price sits at 19,999 yuan, or about $2,810 for the 256-gigabyte version. Step up to 512 gigabytes and you're paying 21,999 yuan ($3,090). The top-tier 1-terabyte model reaches 23,999 yuan, or $3,370. Each purchase includes a pair of Freebuds 5 earbuds, USB-C cables, and two chargers. Rumors had suggested a $4,000 price tag, so Huawei came in somewhat lower—though still steep enough to make most consumers pause. The company is likely banking on higher international pricing if it decides to sell the Mate XT beyond China.
What makes the device technically remarkable is its engineering. Two separate hinges enable a Z-shaped folding mechanism that creates three distinct usage modes. Closed, the phone measures 6.4 inches with a thickness of 12.8 millimeters. Partially unfolded, it becomes a 7.9-inch display similar to Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 6. Fully extended, the screen stretches to 10.2 inches—a proper tablet experience powered by a 3K OLED panel. At its thinnest points when fully unfolded, the device measures just 3.6 millimeters, slightly thinner than a USB-C port. The weight, however, tells a different story: 298 grams, noticeably heavier than a traditional smartphone.
The battery architecture reveals the engineering complexity underneath. Rather than a single power cell, Huawei integrated three separate battery packs, one per display section, each measuring just 1.9 millimeters thick. The combined capacity reaches 5,600 milliamp-hours, and the system supports fast charging. The camera setup includes a 50-megapixel main sensor, a 12-megapixel ultrawide lens, and a 12-megapixel periscope camera on the back. The front-facing camera, an 8-megapixel sensor positioned on the left screen for use in folded mode, handles selfies. The device runs HarmonyOS 4.2 with built-in AI features and comes equipped with 16 gigabytes of RAM.
The market response has been striking. Before Huawei even announced the official price, Chinese retailer Vmall reported 3.7 million preorders. That figure suggests genuine appetite among early adopters willing to bet on a device with no proven track record of long-term durability. The tri-fold form factor introduces complexity that conventional foldables avoid—more hinges mean more potential failure points, more stress on the display materials, more variables in how the device ages. Huawei has made durability claims, as did Tecno when it unveiled its own tri-fold concept earlier, but real-world data will take months or years to accumulate.
The timing of Huawei's announcement—deliberately scheduled to overshadow Apple's event—reflects the competitive intensity in premium phones. By introducing a device that pushes the boundaries of what a phone can physically do, Huawei positioned itself as the innovator while Apple refined its existing formula. Whether that translates to sustained sales beyond the initial wave of enthusiasts remains an open question. The Mate XT is undeniably impressive as engineering. Whether it's the future of phones, or an expensive dead-end that proves single-hinge foldables were the right design all along, will depend on how many of those 3.7 million preorders convert to actual purchases and how those devices hold up in daily use.
Citations marquantes
Huawei claimed the tri-fold device would be durable, though real-world durability data remains unavailable.— Huawei (via product claims)
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