Samsung a few days ago surprised fans and competitors by unveiling the Galaxy Fold in all its glory, well before the Galaxy S10’s name was even mentioned on stage. Samsung’s started the Unpacked event with a segment worthy of a “one more thing” moment, as the Korean giant knew well ahead of time what would follow at MWC 2019. Samsung’s main Android threat right now would surely launch a foldable handset of its own, one it has been teasing for months now. Thanks to a leak on Friday we already know what the device is and exactly what it’ll look like. The Huawei Mate X is labeled as the world’s first 5G foldable phone on a billboard spotted in Barcelona, and it’s the anti-Galaxy Fold, if you will.
Huawei did not unveil any new smartphones last year at MWC 2018, choosing to postpone the launch of the P20 series until March. As we got closer to this year’s mobile congress, Huawei confirmed that it’ll do the same thing with the P30 series, which will be unveiled in late March in Paris, France. That left us wondering what Huawei might unveil at the show, other than the expected tablet and laptop updates — if any — as well as updated news about its 5G network technology. Yes, Huawei’s teaser suggested that a foldable phone might be unveiled at the show, but we weren’t really expecting anything major.
Let’s not forget that aside from Friday’s leak, we haven’t seen any rumors about the Huawei Mate X. Huawei did confirm in the past that it’s making a foldable of its own and that the phone will sport 5G connectivity, but that’s about all we knew.
The image above revealed many details about the handset, aside from its commercial name. We’re looking at an all-screen foldable device with tiny bezels, as well as a thicker edge that houses the triple-lens camera. Thanks to a very smart design, that camera should work both as a primary camera and as a selfie cam, depending on whether the device is open or folded shut. Moreover, the main screen is placed on the outside of the phone, wrapping around one of the sides. Comparatively, the Galaxy Fold’s main screen is found on the inside, with a second smaller screen found on the phone’s back.
That’s not nearly enough information and we’ll have to wait for Huawei’s press event to start to see everything the Chinese tech giant has prepared for this year’s Mobile World Congress. You can watch the action as it happens live in the embedded video beginning at 8:00 AM EST, and you’ll find out accompanying live blog from Barcelona below.
