With the global launch of the Mate Xs 2, Huawei resurrects its original “outie” foldable in a new, stronger chassis. At first glance, there’s very little that’s “new,” with almost every part of the Mate Xs 2 looking like its two-year-old predecessor. But the devil is in the details, and Huawei has made several improvements here that really give the outie form factor a fighting chance. Whether they’re enough to truly challenge the more prevalent inward-folding design seen in the likes of the Mate X2 and Galaxy Z Fold 3 is something we’ll only know after spending more time with it. For now, here are our first impressions of the Huawei Mate Xs 2.
Huawei Mate Xs 2: Hands-on impressions
First things first: the display. The Mate Xs 2 has a single 120Hz foldable OLED panel, measuring 6.5 inches on the diagonal when folded and 7.8 inches when unfolded. Because there’s only one screen — at 2,480 x 2,200 pixels when open — you get the same high refresh rate screen whether the phone is open or closed. From my short time with it so far, it looks like a really nice panel.