Huawei has the best first draft for a foldable phone
Summary
First there was Royole, a scrappy startup focused on building flexible displays, which simply had to rush some sort of product out on the market in order to say it was first with a foldable gadget of this kind. Where the Samsung Galaxy Fold gives you a compromised smartphone experience — 4.6-inch screen with bezels straight out of the early 2000s and a thickness to match — the Huawei Mate X is pretty much on par with modern flagships. The most ingenious turn to this entire design for me is the way Huawei has slimmed down the majority of the device and given the user a thicker grip section to house the cameras. The overriding reason for Samsung and Huawei’s reluctance to let us play with their new devices isn’t really about the hardware — I watched a Huawei rep handle the Mate X with the same casualness with which I use my phone. Samsung plans to release its Fold in April, and Huawei will follow with the Mate X in June, asking a higher price but also bringing the added hype sticker of 5G.
