The Huawei Mate XT is a feat of engineering, but is a tri-fold phone necessary?

When it was realized that we had reached "peak" slab smartphone design, I wondered what would be next, if anything. I didn't grow up on Star Trek, so the concept of a foldable communicator wasn't something that I really hoped for. That being said, it didn't take long for me to be enthralled by the idea of a foldable phone following the unveiling of the original Galaxy Fold.

Although I didn't get in on the ground floor, I've carried a foldable phone with me practically nonstop since getting my Galaxy Z Fold 2. However, because there's still quite a bit of room for improvement in this form factor, I haven't really paid much attention to the rollable and tri-fold concepts. That's now changed with the announcement of the Huawei Mate XT.

It's not like this is a new idea, as we've seen concepts of similar devices for the past few years. But every time I see a picture or video of the Mate XT, I can't help but feel like this is an even bigger innovation than the current crop of foldable phones.

For one, there aren't any compromises when it comes to the cover screen, mainly because there isn't one. It's just a regular phone with a 6.4-inch screen, offering a traditional experience, much like what the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and OnePlus Open do. Unfold it once, and you're greeted with a 7.9-inch screen, which is larger than the Galaxy Z Fold 6 but falls short of the 9 Pro Fold.

Unfold it one more time, and you're presented with a 10.2-inch tablet. I mean, sure, you can use it as a phone, but it's really just a tablet. So that begs the question: is the Mate XT a phone that unfolds to become a tablet, or is it a tablet that can be folded up into a phone?

The answer is pretty obvious, as it's not like you'll want to toss the Mate XT unfolded like you would any other tablet. But this is still an intriguing idea on a few different fronts. First, we can't help but wonder about the durability of both the screen and the hinges. Instead of one point of failure (the first hinge), there's now double the potential of ending up with a broken slab of glass with the second hinge.

Even though Samsung has been releasing foldable phones for the past five years, they still aren't as durable as something like the Galaxy S24 Ultra, nor do they have an outwardly folding screen. The worst part is that you can do everything right, treating it like your Grandma's Fine China, only to wake up one day and find that something happened to the inner screen.

Something else to consider is that the Mate XT is incredibly thin—it's just 3.6mm thick when unfolded. That's thinner than the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and even the Honor Magic V3. I can't help but wonder just how sturdy the Mate XT's frame is and whether this is another potential fail point.

Moving past the potential hardware pitfalls, software is something else that needs to be considered, just to a lesser degree. In some of the hands-on videos that I've seen, it appears as though apps dynamically adjust to the three different screen sizes without much of a headache.

Since Huawei is still prohibited from using Android, it's managed to make all of this work through HarmonyOS. It's also not like foldable phones and tablets are a new form factor, so app developers have been able to implement the necessary APIs to provide a better experience. Essentially, the Mate XT is three devices in one, and it's just a matter of apps being able to identify and adopt the appropriate form factor based on how the phone is unfolded.

With that in mind, it's an intriguing idea to think about having a single device that truly can operate as your "one and only" mobile computer. Do all of the normal "phone" stuff on the first screen, unfold it if you want to play a game or watch a movie, and then unfold it again to get some work done, provided you remember a stand and Bluetooth keyboard.

While it's possible to turn the Galaxy Z Fold 6 into a computer, the display might still feel a bit cramped. The alternative is to plug the phone into a monitor (or something like the NexDock) and enjoy the fruits offered by Samsung DeX. Also, Google is finally taking the idea of Desktop Mode seriously, as evidenced by the new external display settings found in Android 15 QPR1 Beta 2.

However, neither of those solutions is quite as handy as being able to just grab your laptop or tablet and enjoy an even larger display. And with the Huawei Mate XT, you don't even need to do that, as you can just unfold the phone and start using it as a tablet. Convenience and flexibility are the key, and for the time being, Huawei seems to have killed three birds with one stone.

There are other considerations to make, such as the fact that the Mate XT isn't broadly available and is limited to just a handful of regions. Huawei is still limited by the trade restrictions imposed more than five years ago. Sure, you might be able to import it, but that's going to cost an arm and a leg, segueing nicely into the last point that I want to touch on.

The starting price for the Mate XT is 19,999 yuan and goes up to 23,999 for the top-end model. This roughly equates to paying $2,800 for the base model with 256GB of storage or $3,370 if you want 1TB.

Although this might not be the case for everyone, there's a decent chance you could find a cheap used car that's still running for the same price. Or, you could buy FOUR PS5 Pro's for the same cost as the base model Mate XT. I could go on, but I think you get the point.

A better comparison would be to point out that for $2,800 for a single device, you can spend much less and get a phone, laptop, and tablet. For that, you could get the Galaxy Z Fold 6, Galaxy Tab A9 Plus, and the Chromebook Plus Spin 714. How much more useful would it be to have three different devices as opposed to just one? That's a question that only you can answer.