Huawei’s tri-fold phone goes up for pre-orders ahead of launch on September 10

Huawei has opened pre-orders for its upcoming tri-fold smartphone called Mate XT Ultimate Design in the build-up to the launch on September 10 – a day after Apple 's fall event where the iPhone 16 series will likely arrive. The Chinese company is gearing up to introduce its next-generation foldable smartphone that will have three folds instead of the conventional two. A similar folding technology was demonstrated by TECNO earlier this month, but Huawei will likely be the first to commercially launch this technology on a smartphone.

According to Gizmochina, the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Edition is currently up for pre-orders on China’s JD.com. However, the company has not revealed the price, leaving interested customers puzzled about how much they will need to pay to own the device. Previous reports have suggested the tri-fold phone may cost CNY 149,000 (roughly Rs 1,76,000). The pre-booking amount paid by interested buyers will be adjusted to the final price of the phone on purchase. In case the buyer does not wish to proceed with the purchase, the pre-booking amount will likely be refunded.

While the price is under the wraps, the listing on JD.com has revealed the official design and key specifications of Huawei’s tri-fold phone. Available in two colours (Ruihong and Xuanhei) with vegan leather finish, the Mate XT Ultimate Edition has a slim profile, almost the size of a tablet. It has dual hinges, the technology of which could be one of the key talking points during the event. Huawei claims it has managed to keep the thickness of the device under 5mm. When unfolded, the device has a screen of around 10 inches, but in the folded state, it looks very similar to the Huawei Mate 60 RS. The octagonal camera module on the back has at least four sensors, including a periscope telephoto sensor for better optical zoom in photos. The listing has also revealed that the Mate XT Ultimate Edition will have 16GB/512GB and 16GB/1TB variants.