Huawei Mate X3 review

Design

The Mate X3 is rocking a very slick and industrial look. It looks incredibly modern, especially with the way it closes flat on itself. The foldable design has really come a long way.

The other really striking thing about the design is how thin the phone is when unfolded. 5.3mm is crazy thing for a foldable. It is barely thicker than the phone's USB Type-C port. Even when closed and doubled up at 11.08mm, the Mate X3 feels surprisingly thin - perhaps the slimmest foldable we've reviewed. Only the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 comes close (11.2mm), but it's a device that's only available in China.

The hinge on the Mate X3 is truly impressive. As already mentioned, it closes perfectly at a 180-degree angle with no discernable gap. There is no deceitful wedge shape in the two folding halves either. These are perfectly symmetrical, making the perfect folding more impressive. When unfolded, the hinge is perfectly flat too. The display crease on the inside panel is minimal out of the box, and the panel gets very flat when unfolded.

Unfortunately, the camera island on the Mate X3 is large and protrudes quite a bit, which makes for a wobbly phone when placed on a flat surface.

Speaking of the camera island, Huawei made sure to style it in a memorable way. The oval shape is complemented nicely by an asymmetrical chamfer.

The Mate X3 comes in a surprisingly wide selection of colors. Depending on which one you go for, the back of the phone will either be finished with a glass surface or feature an eco-leather layer.

Our review unit is in black with a frosted glass finish, which feels great and looks very classy with a subtle pattern.

Build quality

The Mate X3 feels very solid and well build. Of course, as with any foldable, the hinge is the main concern. It feels very stable and resilient to lateral flexing with practically no give. There is no wobble to the hinge, either - just a smooth and very satisfying motion from one end state to the other. The hinge itself is tension-based, with equal tension all throughout and the ability to stay in any random position. There is a noticeable "snap" in the two end stages of the hinge movement, which is reassuring and appreciated. All and all, we have absolutely no complaints about this hinge design.

The rest of the Mate X3 feels very solid as well. The phone's frame is made of aluminum, which has great tensile strength. Despite its large surface area, there is no flex to the phone even when unfolded. Color us impressed.

As already mentioned, the Mate X3 is the first non-Samsung foldable to come with ingress protection. It is rated at IPX8, meaning the phone is protected against water and should withstand a dip of up to one meter in fresh water for at least 30 minutes.

Of course, with all the moving parts in the hinge, there is no officially-rated protection against dust and other solids. You should always strive to keep a foldable away from those.

The cover display on the Mate X3 is equipped with Kunlun Glass for extra scratch and shatter protection.

Controls

The Mate X3 has a surprisingly standard control layout for a foldable phone. Looking at it unfolded, the left-hand frame is almost entirely empty, sans a couple of antenna lines and the SIM card tray. The latter can house two Nano-SIM cards or substitute one for a Huawei NM memory expansion card, making the slot a hybrid affair. Huawei is still sticking with its proprietary memory card format, which is also worth noting.

On the right-hand side of the phone, we find a volume rocker and a power button with a built-in capacitive fingerprint reader. Both of these are positioned pretty high up on the frame, making them a bit difficult to use unless you have really long thumbs.

The volume rocker is nice and tactile with a satisfying "click", whereas the power button is pretty easy to feel out since it is concaved and also provides decent tactile feedback.

The fingerprint reader inside it is always on and very accurate and snappy. Our only complaint with it has to do with its relatively small size and its inconveniently recessed location when the phone is closed. In this state, it is very difficult to actually use the fingerprint reader, and we found ourselves favoring face unlock while the Mate X3 is closed.

The Mate X3 has a pair of stereo speakers conveniently located on the top and bottom sides of the phone. Their location is generally good, but they can get covered up fairly easily while holding the phone.

The top side of the Mate X3 also houses a secondary noise-canceling microphone and an IR blaster. Huawei is one of the last manufacturers to continue offering IR blasters on its phones.

Besides a speaker, the bottom of the phone has a pair of microphones (for a total of three on the phone) and a USB Type-C port. Looking at just how much of the frame the USB Type-C port takes up offers a great perspective of how thin the Mate X3 is.

Connectivity

Unfortunately, as already mentioned, Huawei is yet to resolve its issues with purchasing 5G modems, which is why the Mate X3 is limited to 4G/LTE network connectivity. It still has Dual SIM Dual Standby support, though, which is great to see.

Regarding other connectivity, the Mate X3 has dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 with LE support, an IR blaster and NFC on board. For positioning, there is dual-band GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS and NavIC.

In terms of things that are notably missing from the Mate X3, these include a 3.5mm audio jack, notification LED and a radio receiver. Not that we expected any of these to make an appearance.

As already mentioned, the Type-C port on the Mate X3 is good for proprietary fast charging at up to 66W. The phone also supports up to 50W wireless charging and 7.5W reverse wireless charging. The Mate X3 is also one of a select few devices that supports video output via DisplayPort 1.2 through its USB Type-C port.

EMUI has its own custom video output mode and interface as well, meant to foster productivity.

The Mate X3 has a full set of sensors on board. There is an STMicro s001_004 accelerometer and gyroscope combo, an ams AG s001_003 light sensor and proximity sensor combo, a memsic s002_001 magnetometer and compass combo and a Goertek s002_001 barometer.