Huawei has announced today that their first globally available foldable phone, the Mate Xs, will be available to pre-order in Australia from March 14th for $3,999.

The Mate Xs was announced last month at a virtual event in the wake of the cancellation of Mobile World Congress (MWC) due to the growing concerns over the spread of Covid-19 (Coronavirus).

The Mate Xs foldable form factor uses Huawei designed Falcon Wing which includes more than 100 interlocking parts. A 6.6-inch main screen and 6.38-inch secondary screen on the rear with the phone unfolding to become an 8-inch tablet perfect for both work and play.

Huawei says the display uses a durable Aerospace Flex Display Film which is 80% more durable than a single layer design of gold film and won’t compromise screen quality.

Huawei has beefed up the specs on the Mate Xs with a HiSilicon Kirin 990 processor which includes a 5G modem, 8GB RAM and 512GB of on-board storage with a NM (Nano Memory) card slot (up to 256GB). The phone also includes a Flying Fish Fin Cooling System that uses flexible graphene to ensure the phone won’t overheat.

Of course this is Huawei so they’ve included top of the line camera hardware with a SuperSensing 40MP Leica quad camera array. The 40MP main sensor has a Wide Angle Lens and there’s an 8MP sensor with 3x optical Telephoto lens which combines a 30x Digital zoom to give a 45x Hybrid zoom. There’s also a 16MP sensor with ultra-wide lens and a time of flight depth sensing camera as well.

Larking Huang, Managing Director of Huawei Consumer Business Group in Australia said ‘We’re excited to bring the HUAWEI Mate Xs to Australia. Ideal for tech seekers or anyone who craves performance, design and usability. Australian consumers will benefit from an unprecedented, immersive experience, all at the touch of their fingertips. Offering large dual displays, ultra-slim foldable form and all-day usage – Australians will be able to do business on the go or watch movies‘.

While the Huawei Mate Xs runs Android 10 with their custom EMUI 10 overlay, the phone does not include Google Mobile Services or access to the Google Play Store. The ongoing restriction on trade with the US means that Huawei is building out their Huawei Mobile Services which includes their own app store called the Huawei AppGallery.

Huawei has worked on the foldable screen experience offering the option to run two apps alongside each other. They also allow you to drag and drop images and text from one application to another.

The Huawei Mate Xs will be available to pre-order from March 14th from JB-HI Fi, Mobileciti, the Huawei Authorised Experience store in Chatswood. Huawei says the phone become available nationally on April 9th.

The Huawei Mate Xs will be available to pre-order in Interstellar Blue for $3999 and comes with a complimentary envelope leather case (valued at $199) as well as a VIP service to help consumers set up their new device.

We’ll be getting hands on for a review of the Huawei Mate Xs as soon as possible.

Name:Huawei Mate Xs
Dimensions: Height: Unfolded: 161.3mm, Folded: 161.3mm
Width: Unfolded:146.2mm, Folded: 78.5mm
Depth: Unfolded 11mm (grip side), 5.4mm (other side), Folded: 11mm
Weight:Approx. 300g (Battery included)
Display:Unfolded: 8 inches
Folded: Main screen: 6.6 inches, Secondary Screen: 6.38 inches
Type: OLED
Colour: 16.7 million
Resolution:
Unfolded: 2480*2200
Folded Main Screen: 2480 x 1148, Secondary screen: 2480 x 892
Processor: HUAWEI Kirin 990 5G
CPU:2x Cortex-A76 Based Cores 2.86GHz + 2x Cortex-A76 Based Cores 2.36GHz + 4x Cortex-A55 Cores 1.95GHz
GPU:16-core Mali-G76
NPU:Dual Big Core + 1 Tiny Core NPU (Neural-network Processing Unit)
Storage:8 GB RAM+512 GB ROM
External Memory Support:NM Card, support exFAT and FAT32 format up to 256 GB (not inbox)
OS:The Mate Xs 5G comes with Android 10, EMUI 10 and the Huawei AppGallery. This device doesn’t come with Google Mobile Services.
Camera:Rear Camera:
Main Camera: 40MP Wide Angle Lens, f/1.8 with AIS
Second Main Camera: 16MP Ultra Wide Angle Lens, f/2.2 with AIS
Telephoto Camera: 8MP Lens, f/2.4 with OIS (Optical Image Stabilization)
Depth Camera: HUAWEI Time-of-Flight (TOF) Camera
General Camera Technology:
Camera Technology supports (phase focus, contrast focus and HUAWEI AI Image Stabilization).

Front Camera:
(The Rear Camera also doubles as a Front Camera) Product Supports Mirror Shooting for Portrait Photography, Allowing both Photographer & subject to visually see the photo before capture
Battery: 4500mAh (Typical Value), 4400mAh (Rated Value)
Charging: 40W HUAWEI SuperCharge