Huawei Mate XT Ultimate: A Foldable Powerhouse Review

In recent years, foldable smartphones have captured the attention of tech enthusiasts and consumers alike, and Huawei has consistently been at the forefront of this innovation. The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate continues this trend, delivering a premium foldable experience with a blend of cutting-edge technology, superior design, and an immersive user experience. This review will break down the various aspects of the Mate XT Ultimate to help you determine whether it’s worth your investment.

Design and Build Quality

The Mate XT Ultimate boasts a futuristic, ultra-sleek design that immediately sets it apart from conventional smartphones. At its core, it features a large foldable OLED display, which folds outward. When folded, you have a compact smartphone with a 6.5-inch screen that’s quite manageable for one-hand use. Unfolding it transforms the device into a tablet-like 8-inch display, offering a huge canvas for productivity, media consumption, and multitasking.

The hinge mechanism is where Huawei truly excels. The Mate XT Ultimate features a refined Falcon Wing hinge, which feels incredibly smooth when unfolding or folding the device. This hinge is robust and durable, giving users confidence that it won’t wear out with regular use. Despite its foldable nature, the phone feels solid and well-built, thanks to the aerospace-grade materials used in its construction.

However, foldable devices are often criticized for their vulnerability to scratches, and the Mate XT Ultimate is no exception. Huawei has incorporated a layer of durable protective coating, but users should still handle the device with care, particularly when unfolded.

Display

One of the Mate XT Ultimate’s key selling points is its display. The 8-inch foldable OLED panel delivers vivid colors, deep blacks, and excellent contrast levels, making it a visual treat. The resolution is sharp enough to ensure that text, images, and videos appear crisp. Whether you’re browsing the web, watching videos, or editing documents, the large screen offers a truly immersive experience.

When folded, the 6.5-inch cover display is just as impressive. It has a high pixel density, ensuring the visual quality remains consistent even in this more compact mode. The foldable nature of the display allows for split-screen multitasking, and the software is well-optimized to make switching between apps seamless.

One potential downside is the visible crease in the middle of the unfolded screen, which is inherent in most foldable smartphones. While it's not disruptive to everyday use, some users may find it noticeable when using the device in bright light or at certain angles. Overall, the display remains one of the Mate XT Ultimate’s strongest features, offering versatility for work and play.

Performance and Hardware

The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate is powered by the Kirin 9000 processor, which is the company’s latest and most powerful chipset. Built on a 5nm process, the Kirin 9000 delivers top-tier performance, allowing the Mate XT Ultimate to handle demanding applications, gaming, and multitasking with ease. Coupled with 12GB of RAM, the phone performs admirably even under heavy loads.

Huawei has integrated a 5G modem into the Kirin 9000 chipset, ensuring that the Mate XT Ultimate is future-proofed for next-generation mobile networks. 5G support means faster download speeds, better streaming quality, and more responsive browsing, making the device perfect for power users who are always connected.

For storage, the device offers up to 512GB, which should be more than enough for most users. Huawei also includes its Nano Memory (NM) card slot for further expandability, although NM cards are not as widely available as microSD cards.

The Mate XT Ultimate also features a robust battery life, thanks to its 5000mAh battery. Despite the power-hungry display and 5G capabilities, the phone lasts a full day on moderate use. The device supports 66W Huawei SuperCharge, allowing for rapid charging, as well as 50W wireless charging, which is impressive for a foldable phone.

Software: HarmonyOS

The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate runs on Huawei’s in-house operating system, HarmonyOS. After Huawei’s split from Google, HarmonyOS became the cornerstone of its software ecosystem. While it shares some similarities with Android, Huawei has designed HarmonyOS to better support the foldable form factor and leverage the extra screen space.

The software allows seamless switching between the folded and unfolded states of the phone. Huawei’s Multi-Window feature enables users to open two apps side by side, and there’s a floating window feature for managing additional tasks without disrupting your main workflow. This makes the Mate XT Ultimate ideal for multitasking, whether you’re working on a document while referencing a webpage or responding to emails while watching a video.

However, one major downside is the lack of Google services. Instead, the phone relies on Huawei’s AppGallery, which has been steadily growing but is still not as comprehensive as the Google Play Store. While many popular apps are available, some are missing, and users may need to rely on web apps or third-party app stores for specific software.

Cameras

Huawei’s reputation for excellent smartphone cameras continues with the Mate XT Ultimate. The phone is equipped with a quad-camera setup, developed in partnership with Leica, ensuring that the phone excels in mobile photography.

The main 50MP camera produces sharp, vibrant photos with excellent dynamic range. In good lighting conditions, the level of detail is impressive, and colors are rendered naturally. Night photography is equally strong, thanks to Huawei’s AI-enhanced night mode, which brings out details in low-light situations without excessive noise.

The 12MP ultra-wide camera offers a broader field of view, which is great for landscape shots or group photos. It performs well in various lighting conditions but does introduce some distortion around the edges of images, which is typical of ultra-wide lenses.

The 8MP telephoto lens supports 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom, and up to 50x digital zoom. While the digital zoom tends to lose clarity, the optical zoom produces crisp, detailed images even at a distance.

Huawei’s attention to detail extends to the front-facing camera, which is a 16MP sensor housed in a punch-hole cutout. Selfies come out well-balanced with accurate skin tones, and the camera also supports AI-driven enhancements for beautification.

Audio

Huawei has equipped the Mate XT Ultimate with stereo speakers, delivering a loud and clear audio experience. The speakers are well-tuned for media playback, offering decent bass, mids, and highs. While it doesn’t quite match the sound quality of high-end dedicated audio devices, it’s more than adequate for watching videos, playing games, and making video calls.

For those who prefer using headphones, there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack, so users will need to rely on wireless audio or USB-C wired headphones. Huawei’s wireless ecosystem, including its FreeBuds series, pairs seamlessly with the Mate XT Ultimate, providing a smooth experience for wireless audio.

Final Verdict

The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate is a highly refined foldable smartphone that delivers in nearly every aspect. Its stunning design, versatile display, powerful performance, and excellent cameras make it a top contender in the foldable market. However, its high price and the lack of Google services may be a deterrent for some users. If you’re willing to embrace Huawei’s ecosystem and can handle the Google limitations, the Mate XT Ultimate offers a glimpse into the future of mobile devices with unmatched flexibility and power.

In conclusion, the Mate XT Ultimate is a premium device targeted at enthusiasts and professionals who need a cutting-edge device for both productivity and entertainment. While it may not be perfect for everyone, it undeniably pushes the boundaries of what foldable technology can achieve, making it one of the best foldable phones available today.

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