Verdict
The Huawei Mate X6 is another gorgeous full - sized foldable with a fantastic photographic camera supplying , but it ’s ill let down by a software program surround that squeeze you to jump through too many hoops . Rivals but do n’t ask you to compromise anywhere near as much .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
While it ’s always imperative to refresh the product that ’s sat in front of you , I ’d be rest if I enjoin that using the Mate X6 over the past few week had n’t prompted me to think about what might have been .
Huawei ’s situation here in the West really has n’t interchange since I review theMate X3back in 2023 . The ship’s company continues to make some of thebest foldable phonehardware in the business , but its software continues to be scuppered by US sanctions .
Those constant have really channelise the direction of this revaluation onto two key considerations : is Huawei still ahead of the gang on computer hardware , and has it pull off to make any headway on its infamous Google problem ?
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With a hefty asking price of € 1,999 in Europe ( there ’s no sign of a UK departure at the time of writing ) , you have to hope so on both counting . Former Huawei sub - stain Honor now makes the best book - style foldable on the grocery in the Magic V3 , while theOnePlus OpenandGoogle Pixel 9 Pro Foldare furnish fierce contender . Things are n’t getting any easier for Huawei .
Design
Huawei has n’t reinvent its foldable innovation lyric with the Mate X6 , but it has managed to gently rarify things .
The phone looks and feels much the same as the Huawei Mate X3 I handled two old age ago – a premium full - sized foldable with tight tolerances and a solid , rounded aluminium skeletal system , with a prominent round camera faculty drawing the centre .
Huawei has round things up a average amount , however . Most notably , the Mate X6 is even thinner and lighter than before . At just 4.6 millimeter loggerheaded when open , and with a dead on target gapless flexible joint ( made of 1900 MPa ultra - high - strength steel ) , it manage to just about close call under the witching 10 mm mark when closed .
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That still makes it 0.6 mm thicker than the Honor Magic V3 , but no other foldable earphone feels so much like a normal phone when you ’re using it closed up . This is a full of life attribute if full - sized foldables are to become authentically mainstream propositions .
It facilitate that it weighs just 239 g. That ’s a little operose than theHonor Magic V3 , while the OnePlus Open and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 are a equal , but it ’s still light enough to keep the phone within ‘ normal ’ smartphone boundary – albeit tolerate mightily at the northerly border .
Another agiotage flourish I appreciated was the role of vegan leather on the back of my Nebula Red manikin . It aids greatly with grip in both unopen and open preference , and it also resist greasy fingerprints – utilitarian attributes in a telephone set that ’s designed to be handled more than most .
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One hardware conundrum that Huawei has n’t pull off to solve is proper dust resistance . Indeed , at a mere IPX8 , it does n’t even get as far as the IP48 - endorse Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 .
On the other hand , Huawei ’s 2nd - contemporaries Kunlun Glass is say to provide importantly ameliorate drop protection . I patently did n’t put this to the test , though , what with the whole € 2,000 terms tag .
Screen
You hopefully know the drill with these folio foldables by now : there ’s a with child straightforward filmdom that ’s accessible when you open it out , and a even - sized filmdom covering one of the exterior surfaces for when it ’s all closed up . Both video display are of a very high lineament .
The main event is a 7.93 - inch OLED panel with a 2240 x 2440 resolving and a 120Hz maximum refresh rate . With a point brightness of 1800 nits in limited HDR scenarios , its output is n’t as scorching as any of the major rivals we ’ve cite already , other than the Honor Magic V3 .
Even so , it ’s a pleasance to employ , with ample screenland space and accurate colour output . Huawei takes a different coming from its rivals in positioning the selfie tv camera in the top right recess , which feels less intrusive .
You ’ll certainly feel the free fall that vertically bisect the screenland , but there ’s no obvious ocular twisting unless you view the screen from an sharp angle .
The inner screen might be the bragging and more unequalled screen door of the two – and arguably the whole point of the foldable build factor – but for my money the smaller external covert is more important . It ’s the one I always finish up using far more of , specially while I ’m out and about .
gratefully , the Huawei Mate X6 ’s outy is as telling as its inny . Even more so , in fact . This is a nicely sized 6.45 - inch OLED with a 2440 × 1080 ( FHD+ ) resolving power and a 120Hz maximum refresh pace .
It actually gets shiny than the internal sieve , with an official visor public figure of 2500 nit . give what I just said about using this screen more out of doors , this is a overbold move , though it ’s notably half as promising as the Honor Magic V3 tantamount .
wise out of the box , Huawei will dynamically aline both the declaration and the refresh rate to beseem the current task . As is the way with all of our tryout phones when given the option , I cranked both to max throughout my time with the phone .
These are two gamy - timbre display , and they ’re sufficiently well - matched that you’re able to flutter from one to the other without experiencing a monumental shift in the experience beyond the obvious size of it difference .
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Performance
While it ’s predominantly gift as a software government issue , one of the heavy smasher Huawei has been pressure to take by those US sanction relates to its access to advanced branch chip technology . As such , the Huawei Mate X6 is stuck using a sub - par home - brewed Kirin 9020 poker chip , game by 12 GB of RAM .
With that enunciate , it represents a famed 40 % performance jut over the Kirin 9010 that so underwhelmed us in theHuawei Pura 70 Ultra . This despite the fact that Huawei subsidiary company HiSilicon has stuck with a rather date 7 nm manufacturing process .
In cold hard benchmarking term , however , that ’s still not enough to make the Huawei Mate X6 in any means competitive with most of its rivals .
you’re able to see the comparative benchmark results below , but the TL;DR of it is that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 bunch ( encompassing all but one of the Mate X6 ’s key challenger ) crushes the Mate X6 in both CPU and GPU terms . It does manage to hold its own against the Pixel 9 Pro Fold with its own underpowered usance chip shot , which is progress of variety .
I ’d love to let the cat out of the bag more about how that translate to real - world operation , but the simple fact is that I was unable to source my common demand test games ( Genshin Impact , Wreckfest , and now GRID Legends ) through Huawei AppGallery or its Petal Search system . But that ’s an outcome for another section .
In day - to - twenty-four hour period terms , I had no performance complaints . I was able to turn tail windowed apps over another full - CRT screen app without exit , and zipping around the UI find dissipated and mobile . Unlocking the phone feels flagship - smooth , while firing up and snapping with the camera app proved suitably fleet .
Camera
You have to pass it to Huawei , it never uses the engineering challenges of the folding form factor as an excuse to compromise on camera tone .
It ’s still tug things forward with the Huawei Mate X6 , which boasts three hard tv camera . The main 50MP wide detector is arguably the most interesting one here , not just for the tone of its shots , but for the inclusion of a variable aperture .
soda pop into Pro mode in the Camera app , and you ’ll find the power to adjust between f/1.4 and f/4.0 apertures . This is a actual mechanical system too , as you’re able to see if you look at the main camera whilst manipulating that practical Pseudemys scripta .
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Using this you may adjust the degree to which your foreground subject field is in focal point against an artfully blurred background , aka bokeh . A wider aperture also let more visible light in , sacrifice you more options when using Pro setting in depressed light .
I ’d wish to see Huawei and any other manufacturers using such a system ( theNubia Z70 Ultraalso latterly had one ) integrating it more into the main photographic camera UI , perhaps with some variety of rebranded aperture priority modality . As it is , I mistrust that a average proportionality of Huawei Mate X6 users wo n’t even realise that this feature article is there , or else will block about it .
Even in even decimal point - and - shoot manner , however , the Huawei Mate X6 camera has much to recommend it . Shots are sharp , generally well divulge , and natural looking .
There ’s clearly plenty of processing going on in the background , as there is with every smartphone , but Huawei shows admirable restraint in not punching those color up too much . It ’s enough to make me think that the presence of a consecrated Ultra Chroma Sensor might not be a full gimmick .
One area where I might slightly question Huawei ’s photographic taste is in Night modal value , where snap can look capriciously well - light . It ’s a testament to Huawei ’s image processing mastery , but it does n’t always capture the shadowy reality of the scene .
Huawei ’s 48MP f/3.0 periscope telephoto television camera is a strong performing artist , capturing sharp and readable 4x optically soar shots that equate the tone of the chief sensor praiseworthily well .
whizz in a petty further , and 10x hybrid zoom shots still bet jolly good , while at the extreme end , even 100x shots look way cleaner than many other headphone ( though still too grainy for me to really require to take them regularly ) .
The 40MP f/2.2 ultra - wide does n’t rent the side down , even if it is the weakest of the three cameras . Detail level obviously are n’t a match for the other two sensors , and there ’s a niggling softness at the edges , but they still look snappy and tonally reproducible .
What with this being a full - sized foldable , there are technically two front - face cameras here – one 8MP f/2.2 unit on the outside , and one 8MP f/2.4 example the inside .
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They both take becoming enough selfies despite their circumscribed pixel count , albeit with the odd battle with dynamical range . Both will be relegated to video call duty when you find the Flip Screen clitoris , which allow you use the master tv camera for the job .
Software
The Huawei Mate X6 hightail it on EMUI 15.0 , which is a heavily modify UI running on a pretty old gist of Android 12 .
It ’s a familiar - looking UI with the kind of iOS - way split apprisal centre that many Android manufacturers use these 24-hour interval . As antecedently mentioned , it ’s courteous and snappy , and Huawei ’s schism screen system have you run two apps simultaneously in split screen , with a third tuck off to the side .
All in all , it ’s far from my favourite UI , but it ’s fast and customisable , and surely not meaningfully worse in cosmopolitan surgery than rival efforts from Xiaomi and Oppo .
There ’s still far too much bloatware , however . I can understand the bit of Huawei apps here – it needs to take a vast Google - forge void – but the folder full of bad - lineament games is irritate on a premium - price telephone .
Let ’s address that deficiency of Google access head - on , because it ’s the freehanded reason I would n’t recommend the Huawei Mate X6 to anyone . With no prescribed admittance to the Google Play Store and Google Mobile Services , the sound ca n’t readily get at the gist apps and APIs that work the backbone of the standard Android experience .
I ’ve already refer that I was unable to get Genshin Impact up and running . I managed to source the APK single file for the secret plan , but when it came clock time to log into developer Hoyoverse ’s servers at set - up , I function up against a Google log - in brick wall .
Even Huawei ’s own Petal Search work around permit me down here . This is a pretty strong but clumsy app search system that drag in app files from around the vane , allegedly gain the process of source apps through less official mean more untroubled and nonrational .
It was never as easy as it should have been , but here , it directly - out stopped working for me after the first twenty-four hours or two . Even a belated mill reset did n’t fix the issuing .
bewilderingly , I was still capable to get Petal Search results from within Huawei ’s AppGallery App store . Even then , the likes of Netflix and Genshin Impact did n’t show up , forcing me to scour the risky west of third - company app stores through the WWW internet browser .
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Technically savvy types are no doubt readying their protestation relating to the MicroG Project workaround , which can give out the app experience to something approximating normal Android . I play a set - up way out that stand for this only did n’t exploit for me , but even if it had the point would continue : the Huawei Mate X6 ’s app experience is a total tidy sum out of the corner .
Battery Life
Huawei has steadily upped the size of it of its foldaway battery , to the gunpoint where the Mate X6 lead on a very respectable 5110 mAh cell . That ’s cock-a-hoop than theSamsung Galaxy S25 Ultra‘s , allow alone the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 ’s .
This results in a foldaway phone that ’s comfortably serious enough to last you through a day of moderate to heavy usage . The Honor Magic V3 can obviously pair a alike capacitance with a more effective 4 nm chip , but the Huawei still holds up sanely well .
30 minute of arc of sluttish gambling run down 5 % of a battery charger , while an minute of Netflix consume up 4 % on the internal screenland . The latter sound like a great result , but it ’s worth noting that the Netflix experience on the Huawei Mate X6 bunk at SD resolution and without HDR .
give the limitation of our usual trial materials , I flow the PC Mark Work 3.0 benchmark trial , which simulates a range of piece of work - refer tasks , and I immortalize a scotch of 10 hr and 55 minute . This pitches it somewhere in the midriff of the foldable pack .
There ’s a comely 66W wired charge provision , and such a battery charger is bundled into the box . unluckily , my own trial model did n’t follow with said charger included . Using a 120W Vivo battery charger , it took an hour and 12 minute to go from empty to full , but the prescribed charger should bring that well under the 60 minutes mark .
You also get supporting for up to 50W Qi radio charging , though you ’ll ask to purchase the requisite official battery charger for the job .
Should you buy it?
The Huawei Mate X6 offers some of the best foldable computer hardware out there , and there are software workarounds to its glaring outcome if you ’re unforced to bound through some basketball hoop .
Fresh out of the box , the Huawei Mate X6 offers no admission to Google apps , and even many popular third - party apps .
Final Thoughts
The Huawei Mate X6 is another slight and stylish foldable phone that practically no - one in the West should buy . Its ironware is faultless , with a gloriously slim body , realised tv camera , rich organic light-emitting diode screens , and decent stamina .
However , on-going indorsement mean that it is n’t as potent a performing artist as most of its contender , while the want of Google app keep hammers multiple nails into the coffin . There are workarounds , but the out - of - the - box experience really is n’t up to snuff .
specially not now that the foldable choice are so strong . The Honor Magic V3 catch very close to ‘ better of both worlds ’ status , with many of the same appealing hardware attributes and none of the more glaring package bent - ups . Elsewhere , Google ’s secondly - gen foldable provides everything that the Huawei does n’t on the software front , alongside a very militant camera .
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It ’s always been gruelling to provide a convincing case for buying Huawei ’s foldables , as well - progress as they are . Now that the unencumbered competition has begin to catch up ( and even overtake it ) , that case has become all but impossible to make .
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How we test
We examine every mobile speech sound we review soundly . We use industry - standard trial to liken lineament the right way and wherever possible we drop time using the speech sound as our main gadget over the review period . We ’ll always tell you what we find and we never , ever , swallow money to review a product .
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FAQs
It ’ll last you a full Clarence Shepard Day Jr. on a individual electric charge .
7.93 inches external , 6.45 inches external .
Yes , the Mate X6 extend up to 50W Qi charging .
Test Data
Full Specs
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