Huawei's Mate X3 arrives with waterproof lightweight body

For starters, the Mate X3 is much lighter than its competitors. It's just 239g (the Feathered Sand model is 241g), which is 24g less than the Galaxy Z Fold4. And Huawei manages the low weight without meaningful compromises in other areas - it has bigger displays, a bigger battery, and a periscope zoom camera. Impressively, when unfolded, the Mate X3 is only 5.3mm thick.

The book-style foldable has two 120Hz-capable displays. The cover screen measures 6.4 inches, and offers 2504x1080px resolution and 20.9:9 aspect. Inside you get a 7.85-inch panel with 2496x2224px resolution and near-square 8:7.1 aspect.

Huawei Mate X3

The Huawei Mate X3 is water-proof to the same IPX8 standard as the Galaxy Z Fold4. This is the first non-Samsung folding phone to achieve water resistance. Huawei also offers two-way satellite communication on the Mate X3.

The new hinge design tucks the folding dispay in on itself and as a result, the Mate X3 can close down flat. There's also the usual no-crease talk, but we'll have to judge it for ourselves. Despite its impressively slim waistline, the hinge supports the phone in multiple angles for those no-tripod selfies. There's also a split-screen mode for video calls and video watching, and a new nightstand mode that shows the weather and time.

The new flexible hinge

The Huawei Mate X3 packs a triple camera on the back, and two 8MP selfie cameras - one on each screen. The 50MP f/1.8wide camera is joined by 13MP f/2.2 ultrawide and 12MP f/3.4 5x telephoto shooters.

The Mate X3 runs Harmony OS 3.1. The chip of choice is the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, and it's packaged with 12GB of RAM. The Mate X3 tops out at 4G connectivity though, as the company is banned from purchasing 5G modems.

Inside there's a large 4,800mAh battery with 66W wired and 50W wireless charging support.

The Huawei Mate X3 will be China-only with no word on global availability. It starts at CNY 12,999 ($1,999, converted) for the 256GB model. Double the storage costs CNY13,999 ($2,050), while the top 1TB trim is CNY15,999($2,340).