Huawei Mate X3: Finally, another waterproof foldable to challenge the Galaxy Z Fold 4

Other than their P60 and P60 Pro, Huawei also launched their latest foldable smartphone, the Huawei Mate X3. Compared to last year’s Mate Xs 2, the Chinese giant’s newest iteration of the foldable looks much more appealing, but whether or not it’ll be able to take on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4—arguably the gold standard in this segment—remains to be seen.

The first thing you’ll notice on the Mate X3 is that it’s a return to the inward-folding style like the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and their own Mate X2 from 2021. The book-like form factor has you looking at a main display that’s 7.85-inches big. It uses an OLED panel pushing out a 2224 x 2496p resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate; no mention of any ultra-thin glass used here, but Huawei does claim it has an impact-resistant design here.

As for the outer display, it’s a 6.4-inch, FHD+ OLED screen with a 1-120Hz refresh rate and a layer of their homebrew Kunlun Glass over it for scratch resistance. The hinge in particular appears to have been revamped by Huawei, with it now being the free-stop variety like in the Galaxy Z Fold 4. This allows you to have it open anywhere between fully open and fully closed, opening up the kind of features seen on the Galaxy Z Fold 4 with its Flex Mode tool. Another big improvement here is an IPX8 water resistance rating, bringing it on par with Samsung in this regard.

Under the hood, the Mate X3 features the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 albeit the 4G-only version of the chip. No mention of how much memory the Mate X3 will come with, but there will be up to 1TB of storage available with expandable storage also available via Huawei’s proprietary NM storage card. It comes with Harmony OS 3.1 out of the box in China, but as expected even if the Mate X3 goes global there won’t be support for Google Mobile Services here.

In the camera department meanwhile, the Mate X3 has a triple rear camera setup, with a main 50MP, f/1.8 ‘ultra sensing’ camera using an RYYB sensor and optical image stabilisation, along with a 13MP ultrawide camera and a 12MP periscope telephoto shooter offering a 5x optical zoom. You’ll also find a pair of 8MP, f/2.4 front cameras on the foldable, one located on the outer display and another on the inner display.

Notably, despite its size, Huawei has managed to make the Mate X3 relatively light, coming in at just 239g—lighter than even the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max. Keeping the lights on here is a 4,800mAh battery with 66W fast charging as well as 50W wireless fast charging and 7.5W reverse wireless charging. Other features of note include a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, stereo speakers, two way satellite messaging via the Beidou satellite system and support for NFC, Bluetooth 5.2 and WiFi 6 connectivity.

Available only in China for now, it starts at CNY12,999 (~RM8,433.61) and there’s no word just yet on whether it’ll arrive in other regions. However, the Mate X3 does have a product page on their global site already, meaning it may make its way out of China eventually. Don’t expect it to be cheap though; the Huawei Mate Xs 2, the last of its foldables to have been launched in Malaysia back in May last year, came with a hefty RM7,999 price tag.