Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET
Huawei unveiled the world's first tri-fold phone, the Mate XT Ultimate, in its home country late last year. We weren't holding out hope for a global release, but it's finally coming outside China after receiving a record number of preorders -- even before the pricing was announced.
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The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate pushes the boundaries of what you can expect from a phone by fitting a 10.2-inch screen inside your pocket -- all in a slimmer form factor than more recent foldable phones. I've spent 24 hours with the tri-fold phone, and here's what makes it better than any other book-style foldable on the market right now.
The design itself is a technological marvel
Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET
It's hard to be surprised or excited when seeing a new phone these days, but the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate is different. Despite knowing what to expect after unboxing, I was still pleasantly surprised when I first held it in my hands and folded it into a slab-phone form. Over the first 24 hours, I've used it for browsing, multitasking, gaming, attempting to install Google apps, and simply folding and unfolding it for the fun of it.
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If we're talking numbers, the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate is 3.6mm thin when fully unfolded and 12.8mm thick when folded. For context, Samsung's last-gen Galaxy Z Fold 5 measured 13.4mm in thickness, while the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is just 0.7mm thinner than Huawei's tri-fold.
When folded, you can feel the thickness and its 298g weight in hand, but unfold it once or twice, and it shines. The hardware feels impressive, with an inward-folding crease that is smaller than some mainstream foldables, while both hinges feel sturdy. It also sports a satisfying magnetic click when you fold it down to single-screen mode.
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