Huawei Mate X vs Samsung Galaxy Fold – Not for the folding wallet

The future keeps unfolding in front of the world with the official introduction of the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X. Seeing as the next step towards smartphone evolution, we are already seeing a promising future from the first generation of foldable smartphones. Whether it’s for the better or worse, it’s undeniably exciting to see how phones will look like in the next few years.

With all that said, it’s time to start comparing the first foldable phones on the (restricted) market.

Huawei Mate X and Samsung Galaxy Fold Differences

Advantages of Huawei Mate X

1. three screen modes
2. no display cutout
3. thinner build, bigger display
4. expandable storage via nano memory
5. larger 4500mAh battery
6. 55W SuperCharge

Advantages of Samsung Galaxy Fold

1. Dynamic AMOLED panel
2. 10MP +8MP selfie camera
3. 10MP selfie camera (when folded)
4. Samsung Dex and app continuity
5. 12GB RAM
6. Reverse wireless charging

Huawei Mate X and Samsung Galaxy Fold Similarities

1. triple main camera
2. AMOLED panels
3. Android 9.0 Pie
4. 512GB internal storage
5. USB Type-C
6. 7nm Flagship SoC

Which is a better buy between the Huawei Mate X and Samsung Galaxy Fold?

Hinge System

Starting with the design, both are sporting metal and glass builds but there’s one differentiating factor that separates them — the hinge. The hinge system of the Samsung Galaxy Fold is basically hidden when it’s unfolded. Thus, the display opening like a book — unfolding outwards. For the case of the Huawei Mate X, it works in the opposite. The display is unfolded inwards as if you’re stretching it out. As a result, the foldable screen of Huawei acts some sort of a hinge within and we suspect it’s a plastic display instead due to the wrinkle that we’ve seen from a photo during its showcase.

Moving towards the display, the Mate X has a larger real estate at 8-inch as opposed to the 7.3-inch of the Galaxy Fold. When both devices are unfolded, the former has edgy corners while the latter has rounded corners similar to the latest smartphones. A cutout also resides on the upper-right corner of the Galaxy Fold which houses a dual selfie camera (more on that later).

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Display Modes

Due to the fact that these phones are foldable, you can use each with its own set of display modes. See the following:

Galaxy Fold – unfolded (fullscreen), folded (cover screen)

Mate X – unfolded (fullscreen), folded (front screen and rear screen)

Since Huawei’s foldable phone folds outwards, the main screen is bent into two — one for the back and the other for the rear. You can use the bigger half of the screen as to how you use a normal smartphone while using the smaller half of the screen lets you capture selfies among others.

Confusing Camera Setup

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Speaking of selfies, the Mate X has a vertical grip protrusion that houses its triple main camera, LED Flash, USB Type-C port and a button latch to secure it when folded. This also allows the user to capture selfies when folded since there’s no selfie camera to use. It also means that the phone doesn’t lay flat on the surface when open. But for the Galaxy Fold, there’s a dual selfie camera when closed and a single cover camera when opened. In either mode, you can still use its triple main camera.

Whew. Now that’s done, time for the usual specs rundown.

Both are running their respective flagship SoC with the Fold using a Snapdragon 855 instead of its in-house Exynos 9820. As for the Mate X, it already uses its Balong 5G modem while Samsung promised to release a 5G variant of its foldable phone.

Battery-wise, the Mate X has a larger 4500mAh battery and a faster and upgraded 55W Huawei SuperCharge allowing for 85 percent charge in 30 mins. As for the Galaxy Fold, it has 4380mAh battery with 18W fast charging support and the reverse wireless charging like the Galaxy S10 series.

With all the innovation packed inside these foldable phones, the fingerprint scanners come in the form of a capacitive style which is actually embedded on the power button on the right side.

Software

On the software side, the Galaxy Fold comes out early as the better device due to its app continuity feature that lets you seamlessly continue what you’re doing when switching display modes. Not to mention its Samsung Dex feature. As for Huawei, they have yet to confirm if they’ll also bring its own desktop experience on the Mate X.

For the prices, we’re looking at Php103,000 for the Galaxy Fold. But what’s actually surprising is that the Mate X is more expensive at Php135,000. In fact, Samsung has a significantly larger RAM at 12GB as opposed to the 8GB of Huawei.

For the first generation, both the Mate X and Galaxy Fold impress not only on the innovation itself but the usability aspect as well. It’s only going to get better from here as both LG and Lenovo are already working on their own foldable takes.