Huawei Mate XT Ultimate review

EMUI 14.2

The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate boots EMUI 14.2 on the global variant and Harmony OS 4.2 in China. This is one version below the latest available software from the company - EMUI 14.3 and Harmony OS 4.3, which is odd.

The global EMUI 14.2 includes an Android 12 core inside. The OS still supports APK installations via Huawei's AppGallery, APK Pure, or similar, and the Gbox app or microG app will let you download apps from the Google Play Store too.

EMUI looks quite familiar as it has not changed drastically over the years. It includes neat little things like large folders and cards - another name for the widgets that you can add for in-house apps, indicated by a bar under the app icon.

Air gestures and smart sensing are supported on the Mate XT - a familiar capability also found on previous Huawei models.

Huawei offers a lot of default apps to get you started. There is Huawei's Gallery, Music, Video, and Health apps. A File Manager app is available, as well.

There is also Smart Remote - you can turn your phone into a universal remote thanks to its IR blaster.

EMUI 14

You also get Petal Maps, Petal Search, and Huawei's own Browser.

Finally, let's talk about multi-tasking. Naturally, the big screen offers a lot more estate for work and play. EMUI 14 has a great multi-window implementation with intuitive actions and both horizontal and vertical splits with a relatively wide ratio adjustment range (not just 50/50), plus floating windows.

Multi-tasking

Transitions between the 1/3, 2/3 and 3/3 screen options are smooth and hassle-free.

As for AI features, you will find the usual Smart Remove feature in the image gallery editor (but it may not as smart as on other phones).

Smart Remove

Note that we were able to use Google Gemini without any issues on this phone, so you get access to Google's generative AI tool too.

Gemini

There is also AI Noise Cancellation during calls to intelligently filter out surrounding noise to ensure your voice comes through crystal-clear to the other side.

Some smart functions

Huawei's AppGallery handles the app installations by default, and it still includes advertisements and pop-ups, but it was less intrusive this time around than on previous encounters.

You can install other app repositories too, and they work just fine.

The best solution for making most of the Google-dependent apps working on the Mate XT is GBox. It's a small virtual machine based on the latest Android version, and it contains all Google services. You have a list of apps you can install right away, but you can also install extra apps from the integrated Play Store. Updates via the Google Play Store are also possible.

The GBox creates app shortcuts on your homescreen. Notifications are supported, of course. We had no issues running Google Maps, Google Drive, Chrome, or YouTube. Google Gemini works just fine, too.

Video streaming quality will also be limited by what the GBox emulation layer supports, but as we established 1080p+ HDR10 streams are available on YouTube and Netflix.

Performance and benchmarks

The Huawei Mate XT is powered by Huawei's Kirin 9010 chipset. This is not the maker's latest chip as seen on the Mate X6 (Kirin 9020), which we find a little odd. It might explain the lack of a 120Hz refresh rate.

Anyway, the Kirin 9010 packs an 8-core CPU - 1x2.3GHz Taishan Big + 3x2.18GHz Taishan Mid + 4x1.55GHz Cortex-A510 cores. It is manufactured on an SMIC 7nm node, known as N+2 locally in China, like the Kirin 9000s inside the Mate 60 series. It also contains the HiSilicon Maleoon 910 MP4 GPU.

Huawei Mate XT Ultimate comes with 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of UFS storage. The global version is the one with 1TB storage (as reviewed).

And now, let's see some benchmark scores.

Quite expectedly, the Mate XT offers mid-range performance at best, and it is behind the Mate X6 because the XT's chipset is a generation behind.

The CPU throttle test was incompatible with this version of EMUI, so we couldn't run it. But if the Pura 70 Ultra delivered 57% sustained performance, we will expect something in this ballpark, maybe a little lower.

The mid-range GPU offers 99% sustained performance in a completely unfolded state and 58% in completely folded mode.

The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate may be one of the most expensive smartphones out there, but it's definitely the slowest flagship to date. Huawei is still quite behind the competition in terms of chip making and it will take years to catch up with the likes of Qualcomm and Apple. The performance is enough for day-to-day operation, office tasks, and multimedia, but the gaming experience will be rather mediocre.