Huawei Head of Product Andreas Zimmer presents the 'tri-fold' Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design at the company's global launch event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Feb. 18, 2025. Handout 

KUALA LUMPUR – Huawei’s much-talked-about ‘trifold’ smartphone is finally being let loose on the rest of the world.

The Chinese tech giant held a global launch on Tuesday for some of its newest products, including the much-anticipated “triple folding” Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design.  

While the rest of the world was still focused on Chinese AI black swan DeepSeek, Huawei officials introduced tech journalists from around the world to what has been dubbed as a new class of gadgets–a phone that unfolds not once, but twice into a full-sized tablet.    

First unveiled in China in October last year, the Mate XT is the first smartphone that can unfold from a standard-sized 6.4-inch phone into a ‘mini tablet’ with a 7.9-inch screen, and then unfold again into a much bigger 10.2-inch full-sized tablet. It is also the first phone with an inward and outward fold.

The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design 'tri-fold' phone. Arthur Fuentes, ABS-CBN News

The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design 'tri-fold' phone. Arthur Fuentes, ABS-CBN News

The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design 'tri-fold' phone. Arthur Fuentes, ABS-CBN News

In its ‘normal’ single screen mode, the Mate XT has a 2232 × 1008-pixel resolution, this goes up in dual screen mode to 2232 × 2048, and in triple screen mode, the display expands to an even more generous 2232 × 3184 pixels.

Andreas Zimmer, Huawei’s Head of Product, said the unique design and which brings together three form factors into a single device offers several advantages. For business travelers, it means not having to bring several devices.

“When you're on a business trip take calls and quickly reply to messages on the single screen. After that sit back and enjoy the airport lounge while catching up with the latest news on the dual screen for better browsing. And then during the flight edit reports on the fully extended triple screen enjoying an even more productive and unprecedented tablet-like experience,” Zimmer said during the Huawei event in Malaysia’s capital.

Zimmer said the Mate XT was made possible by Huawei’s “advanced precision hinge system” which was designed with two synchronized tracks that support both inward and outward folds.

Despite having three full-sized smartphone screens, Huawei said the Mate XT’s thickness when folded was only 12.8mm. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 in contrast has a claimed depth of 12.1mm even though it folds only once. When unfolded, two of the Mate XT’s panels had a thickness of just 3.6mm each.  

Zimmer said despite its groundbreaking slim folding design, the Mate XT did not compromise on photography with a 50-megapixel main camera featuring an adjustable physical aperture, with 10 sizes, and a 5.5x optical zoom.

“We all know the best camera is always the one that you have with you and with this device (you will never miss any of these important moments,” Zimmer said.

The Mate XT also has a 5,600 mAh battery and 16 gigabytes of memory paired with 1 terabyte of storage. The Huawei Mate XT is available on Shopee.