In the world of foldable smartphones, Huawei continues to be a trailblazer, constantly innovating and delivering products that redefine the way we interact with mobile technology. The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate, the latest flagship from the tech giant, takes foldable devices to the next level with its sleek design, cutting-edge features, and powerful performance. As we dive deep into the Mate XT Ultimate, this 2500-word review will explore every aspect of the device, from its design to its hardware, software, and overall user experience.
1. Design and Build Quality
The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate is a stunning device that exudes sophistication and premium quality from the moment you lay eyes on it. Huawei has always been known for its attention to design, and the Mate XT Ultimate is no exception. The phone features a foldable design that unfolds into a tablet-like display, giving users the versatility of both a smartphone and a tablet in one device.
When folded, the Mate XT Ultimate has a slim and compact profile, fitting comfortably in one hand. The hinge mechanism, which is one of the most crucial components of a foldable phone, feels solid and durable. Huawei has clearly put a lot of effort into refining the hinge, making it smoother and more reliable than ever before. It is rated for thousands of folds without wear and tear, which should reassure users concerned about the longevity of foldable phones.
Unfolded, the Mate XT Ultimate reveals its expansive display, a true work of art. The seamless transition between the folded and unfolded states is impressive, with no visible crease or distortion in the screen, which has plagued some foldable devices in the past. Huawei uses cutting-edge materials for the display, ensuring that it is both flexible and durable. The back of the device features a glass or ceramic finish, depending on the color variant, giving it an elegant look and feel.
The phone’s weight is balanced well, and while it is slightly heavier than traditional smartphones due to its foldable nature, it doesn’t feel cumbersome in daily use. The overall build quality is top-notch, and the Mate XT Ultimate feels like a luxury device in every sense.
2. Display
The Mate XT Ultimate’s display is undoubtedly one of its standout features. When unfolded, the phone boasts a massive 8.0-inch OLED display, providing users with a tablet-like experience. The OLED technology ensures vibrant colors, deep blacks, and excellent contrast, making it perfect for media consumption, gaming, and productivity tasks.
With a resolution of 2480 x 2200 pixels, the display is sharp and crisp, delivering a pixel density that ensures even the smallest details are rendered with clarity. Whether you’re reading articles, watching videos, or editing photos, the Mate XT Ultimate’s screen provides a fantastic visual experience.
The foldable display supports a 120Hz refresh rate, making the overall experience smooth and responsive. Scrolling through apps, web pages, and menus feels fluid, and the high refresh rate also enhances gaming and video playback. Huawei’s foldable display technology has made significant strides, and the Mate XT Ultimate sets a new benchmark in terms of display quality for foldable smartphones.
One of the challenges with foldable displays has always been the crease where the screen folds. Huawei has minimized this to the point where it’s barely noticeable during everyday use. This is a significant improvement over previous foldable devices, and it makes the Mate XT Ultimate feel like a truly premium product.
In its folded state, the Mate XT Ultimate has a secondary 6.8-inch OLED display on the front. This display is perfect for one-handed use, allowing you to perform quick tasks like checking notifications, making calls, or replying to messages without having to unfold the device. The front display also supports the same 120Hz refresh rate, ensuring a consistent experience across both screens.
3. Performance and Hardware
Under the hood, the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate is powered by the Kirin 9000S chipset, Huawei’s latest and most powerful processor. This chip is built on a 5nm architecture, offering a significant boost in performance and energy efficiency compared to its predecessors. Paired with up to 16GB of RAM, the Mate XT Ultimate handles multitasking, gaming, and demanding apps with ease.
In benchmark tests, the Mate XT Ultimate performs on par with other flagship smartphones, delivering snappy performance across the board. Apps launch quickly, and switching between them is seamless, thanks to the ample RAM and the optimizations in Huawei’s software. Gaming is also a breeze on this device, with titles like “Genshin Impact” and “PUBG Mobile” running at high settings without any noticeable lag or frame drops.
Huawei has always excelled in network technology, and the Mate XT Ultimate is no exception. The phone supports 5G connectivity, ensuring blazing-fast download and upload speeds in areas with 5G coverage. This makes it ideal for users who frequently stream high-definition content, engage in video calls, or use cloud-based services on the go.
Storage options for the Mate XT Ultimate range from 256GB to 1TB, depending on the model you choose. This provides ample space for storing apps, photos, videos, and documents, and with the fast UFS 3.1 storage, file transfers and app installations are lightning quick.
The device also features a large 5000mAh battery, which provides excellent battery life, even with the power-hungry foldable display. In real-world usage, the Mate XT Ultimate easily lasts a full day of heavy use, with screen-on times exceeding 7 hours in many cases. For lighter users, the battery can stretch to two days without needing a recharge. Huawei’s 88W SuperCharge technology ensures that when you do need to recharge, you can get up to 70% battery in just 30 minutes, making it one of the fastest-charging phones on the market.
4. Camera System
Huawei is known for producing smartphones with excellent camera systems, and the Mate XT Ultimate continues this tradition. The phone is equipped with a triple-camera setup on the rear, co-engineered with Leica, consisting of a 50MP main sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide sensor, and an 8MP periscope telephoto lens with 10x optical zoom.
The main 50MP sensor delivers stunning photos in almost any lighting condition. In daylight, the camera captures vibrant, detailed images with excellent dynamic range. Colors are true to life, and the level of detail in landscape shots and close-ups is impressive. Huawei’s AI-based image processing further enhances the quality of photos, optimizing settings like exposure, white balance, and sharpness to deliver the best possible results.
In low light, the Mate XT Ultimate excels thanks to its advanced night mode, which brightens up scenes without introducing too much noise. Even in challenging conditions, such as dimly lit indoor environments or night-time cityscapes, the camera captures sharp, well-exposed photos that retain detail and color accuracy.
The ultra-wide 12MP sensor is perfect for capturing expansive landscapes or group photos, while the periscope telephoto lens allows for impressive zoom capabilities without sacrificing image quality. At 10x optical zoom, photos remain clear and detailed, and the digital zoom can push this even further, though with some loss in quality at the highest magnifications.
On the front, the Mate XT Ultimate features a 16MP selfie camera, which takes sharp, vibrant self-portraits. Huawei’s AI beautification features are present, but they’re subtle and don’t over-process images, which is a welcome change from some competing devices.
Video recording on the Mate XT Ultimate is equally impressive, with the ability to shoot 4K video at 60fps. The stabilization is excellent, ensuring smooth footage even when recording handheld or while moving. The ultra-wide and telephoto lenses can also be used for video, providing users with plenty of creative options when shooting.
5. Software Experience
The Mate XT Ultimate runs on HarmonyOS 3.0, Huawei’s custom operating system. HarmonyOS has matured significantly over the years and now offers a smooth, user-friendly experience that feels polished and cohesive. The interface is clean, with plenty of customization options for users who like to tweak their device to suit their preferences.
One of the standout features of HarmonyOS is its multi-window and split-screen capabilities, which are especially useful on a foldable device like the Mate XT Ultimate. Users can run multiple apps side by side, taking full advantage of the large 8.0-inch display. Whether you’re browsing the web while watching a video or editing a document while chatting with colleagues, the Mate XT Ultimate handles multitasking with ease.
Huawei’s ecosystem of apps and services is also tightly integrated with HarmonyOS. While the phone does not come with Google Mobile Services (due to ongoing restrictions), Huawei’s AppGallery has grown significantly, offering a wide range of apps to choose from. For those apps not available on AppGallery, there are alternative methods to install them, such as through APK files or third-party app stores.
HarmonyOS also excels in device-to-device integration. If you own other Huawei devices, such as a MateBook laptop or a Huawei smartwatch, you can seamlessly connect and transfer files between them. The device mirroring feature allows you to control your Mate XT Ultimate from your Huawei laptop, making it easy to reply to messages or manage notifications without picking up your phone.
6. User Experience and Practicality
The user experience on the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate is one of seamless integration and fluidity. The combination of powerful hardware and intelligent software optimizations makes using this phone a joy in both its folded and unfolded states.
For productivity, the Mate XT Ultimate is a game-changer. The large foldable display allows users to tackle multiple tasks simultaneously, such as running two apps side by side or reviewing documents while taking notes. The multi-window functionality works flawlessly, and the device handles even the most demanding tasks with