Huawei Mate Xs 2 announced with SD888 4G and stylus support, MatePad SE tags along

Huawei believes there’s a market for outer folding phones and its newly announced Mate Xs 2 is its latest attempt. A direct successor to 2020’s Mate Xs, Huawei Mate Xs 2 brings a slight redesign as well as bumped up specs.

Huawei Mate Xs 2

The OLED display unfolds to a 7.8-inch diagonal with a 2480 x 2200px resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. When folded around the back, the screen shrinks to a more manageable 6.5-inches with a 2480 x 1176 px resolution. You also get a 10MP selfie cam tucked in to the top right corner. Despite the large form factor, Mate Xs 2 comes in at 255 grams which is notable improvement over the Mate Xs which tipped the scales at 300 grams.

Mate Xs 2 brings a refined double rotor hinge mechanism which is touted to improve long-term durability and also leaves no visible crease on the display.

Mate Xs 2 screen and hinge mechanism

Huawei is also praising the improved durability of the polymer-covered display thanks to a new four-layer structure. Mate Xs 2 supports Huawei’s M-Pen 2s stylus so you can jot down notes or doodles on your tablet-sized phone.

Like the Mate X and Mate Xs, Huawei went with a triple camera array on the Mate Xs 2. There’s a 50MP main cam, a 13MP ultrawide snapper and an 8MP telephoto module with 3x optical and 30x digital zoom and OIS.

The foldable is powered by the Snapdragon 888 4G chipset with 8/12GB RAM and up to 512GB of built-in storage. Mate Xs 2 boasts a 4,880 mAh battery with 66W fast charging and boots Huawei’s HarmonyOS 2.

Huawei Mate Xs 2 comes in white, black and purple colors. It starts at CNY 9,999 ($1,512) for the 8/256GB trim and goes up to CNY 12,999 ($1,966) for the 12/512GB model. Open sales in China are scheduled for May 6.

Alongside Mate Xs 2, Huawei announced a new budget tablet dubbed MatePad SE. The tablet brings a 10.1-inch IPS LCD with a 1920 x 1200px resolution and Huawei’s Kirin 710A chipset. You get a 2MP selfie cam and a 5MP rear shooter. HarmonyOS 2 covers the software side while the battery is rated at 5,100 mAh and supports 10W charging.

Huawei MatePad SE

Huawei MatePad SE comes in a single dark blue color and retails for CNY 1,500 ($226) in its 4/128GB Wi-Fi only trim and CNY 1,699 ($257) for the model with cellular connectivity.