Samsung recently launched their much-awaited foldable phone at the MWC 2019. This phone, named as the Galaxy Fold, became the first foldable phone from Samsung. Also, it is also one of the first foldable phone worldwide after the Royole Flexpai.
However, Huawei also made a surprise announcement at the MWC 2019. This announcement was regarding the first foldable smartphone from Huawei. Yes, the company also announced the Huawei Mate X as company’s first foldable smartphone.
Now, it is fair to say that we expected MWC to have foldable phones. But the Huawei Mate X announcement came as a pleasant surprise. Also, Huawei went a step ahead with their Huawei Mate X foldable smartphone. Huawei added 5G support to Mate X which makes it the world’s first foldable 5G smartphone.
It is worth noting that Samsung and Huawei have taken different approaches in terms of foldable smartphones. As far as Samsung is concerned, they have opted for their Galaxy Fold to unfold inwards. However, Huawei’s Mate X folds outwards.
Huawei’s Mate X can be folded from a tablet into a smartphone seamlessly. Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, on the other hand, has a secondary display on top to use it as a smartphone. It does not mean that anyone’s approach is better than others because both of those approaches have their benefits and drawbacks.
It is fair to say that Huawei’s Mate X looks to be bigger and better than the Samsung Galaxy Fold. Because Huawei Mate X has an 8-inch display whereas the Galaxy Fold only has a 6.6-inch display. Huawei Mate X can be folded into half and both the screens can be used. Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, however, has a single 4.6-inch display on the front.
Also worth noting is the fact that neither Huawei nor Samsung have allowed journalists to use their foldable smartphones. This indicates that both the Mate X and Galaxy Fold have unfinished hardware and software. We also need to note that Samsung has a superior hand in terms of software.
Note that software plays a massive role in foldable phones due to the changing aspect ratio. We earlier saw videos of Royole Flexpai as well as Xiaomi’s foldable phone having good hardware but terrible software. Thus, it remains to be seen whether the software on Huawei Mate X can match Samsung’s prowess in terms of software. If so, Huawei might have a winning foldable phone on their hand.
Another aspect of choosing a better foldable phone among the two is its price. Both Samsung and Huawei have priced their foldable phones at a premium. By premium, we mean double the prices of an iPhone X or thrice the price of a OnePlus 6T.
Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, which is already said to be extremely limited, is priced at $1981. On the other hand, Huawei has priced its Mate X at €2299. Therefore, it is quite clear that Samsung Galaxy Fold is a better buy among the two.
However, we do feel that both foldable phones are massively overpriced. It remains to be seen if the prices of foldable phones are reduced massively. Otherwise, there is very less chance that we may see foldable phones in the hands of normal people around the world due to their prices.