HUAWEI Mate X foldable 5G smartphone launching in China in September.

HUAWEI announced its Mate X foldable 5G smartphone at MWC 2019. Till now we haven't seen any news on its availability. Moreover, after the huge debacle of the Samsung Galaxy Fold, Huawei was expected to take their sweet time.

After a long silence, the company has officially announced that the Mate X will launch in China in September followed by India at the end of the year.

HUAWEI President of Western European Region, Vincent Pang, says that the Mate X foldable 5G smartphone will launch in September or even earlier. It would launch in markets that have 5G support.

Now coming to the hardware, when folded, the Mate X has a 6.6-inch OLED screen on the front and 6.38-inch screen on the back. When unfolded you have a huge 8-inch screen in front of you. The mechanism used in the device is a Falcon Wing design with a stretchable hinge for a smooth and flat finish on both sides. The screen does not overstretch while folding or bulge and at its thinnest, the Mate X is just 5.4mm.

It runs on the Kirin 980 7nm SoC with Dual NPU and Balong 5000 5G modem. It was announced with Android 9.0 (Pie) with EMUI 9.1.1 on top. However, given the recent tussle between China and the US government, the Mate X may come with Huawei's homegrown HongMeng or Ark OS.

The phone has three cameras on the back including a 40MP main camera, a 16MP ultra-wide-angle camera and an 8MP telephoto camera. 

The device have 4500 mAh battery that can support a new adapter that can output at a maximum of 65W with an HW-200200CP1 charger. It is also has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner embedded into the power button.

At present there is no word on pricing, but you can expect the Huawei Mate X to cost north of $1500 at launch.