Huawei Mate X6 Preview

By Mariyan Slavov

Updated: Dec 12, 2024, 10:30 AM

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Huawei Mate X6 Intro

Huawei ventured into the foldable market back in 2019 with the first iteration of the Mate X. It was a very interesting device, with its outward folding design, fiberglass, mechanical spring release mechanism, and 5.4 mm thickness.

Even by today's standards, the Mate X was an amazing phone. Now, five years later and a couple of generations down the Mate X line, we're standing in front of the Mate X6, the latest Huawei foldable.

It's a very capable camera phone that's just 4.6 mm thick when unfolded, and it comes with a 5,200 mAh silicon-carbon battery, which is downright amazing at that size and thickness. However, it has its flaws being a Huawei device.

The phone lacks Google mobile services, and the chipset inside is still lagging behind the modern silicon. Nevertheless, we're here in Dubai holding a sample in our hands and cooking up a fast preview for your amusement.

We'll add all the tests, widgets, and rankings once we get back to our super secret underground lab, so stay tuned for the full review.

Table of Contents:

Specs
Design and Display
Camera
Performance
Software
Battery and Charging
Should you buy it?

Huawei Mate X6 Specs

Camera mashup with a secret chipset sauce

Let's start with an overview of the Huawei Mate X6 specs:

Specs	Huawei Mate X6
Size and Weight	Unfolded: 156.6 x 144.1 x 4.6 mm Folded: 156.6 x 73.8 x 9.9 mm 239 grams
Display	Main: 7.93 inches, 1-120Hz, 2240 x 2440 pixels (~418 ppi density), 1800 nits peak Cover: 6.45 inches, 1-120Hz, 1080 x 2440 pixels, 2500 nits peak
Processor	Kirin
Software	Android based EMUI 15
Cameras	50 MP, f/1.4-f/4.0, 24mm (wide), PDAF, OIS 48 MP, f/3.0, 90mm (periscope telephoto), PDAF, OIS, 4x optical zoom 40 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120˚ (ultrawide), PDAF
Battery Size	5200 mAh
Charging Speeds	66 wired charge 50 wireless charging
Prices	12/512GB for $$$

Huawei Mate X6 Design and Display

Simply lovely

Right off the bat, the Huawei Mate X6 looks simply lovely. Foldable phones have finally matured to the point where they look and feel like regular phones in a folded state. The Mate X6 feels premium in the hand, especially our sample that features dark red (Bordeaux) vegan leather on its back.

The phone weighs just 239 grams and measures 156.6 × 73.8 × 9.9 mm when folded. That's more compact than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Pixel 9 Pro XL, or the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is shorter and narrower but also thicker, and finally the Honor Magic V3 comes very close in both size and weight.

Outside of those comparisons, the Mate X6 features a flat front and back, but the corners and the frame itself are nicely curved and have a rigid, reassuring feel to them. The four cameras on the back are housed in a circular bump, with some complex-shaped chamfering around it, and it also bears the XMAGE moniker on it.

There's a thin capacitive fingerprint sensor that doubles as a power button, an IR blaster on the top, the USB-C port on the bottom, some holes for the loudspeakers, and a SIM tray. Overall, the Mate X6 is a very stylish and clean-looking device.

This part will be populated with display tests and benchmarks, but for now, what we can say is that both the cove and the inner screens of the Mate X6 look really nice. The 7.93-inch inner screen has a 2240 × 2440 pixel resolution, resulting in around 418 PPI pixel density.

It has carbon fiber reinforcement underneath and a new coating, making it feel more like glass and less like plastic. We're sure you're most interested in the crease and how pronounced it actually is. Well, the crease is there, but it's pretty understated, and you can barely see it and feel it. The phone also closes without any gaps, but that's not news anymore.

The cover screen features a generous 6.45-inch diagonal and 1080p resolution. It's LTPO, just like the inner flexible one, and can do the 1-120Hz magic. It's also covered by Kunlun glass (basalt-based and quite strong) for protection. The phone sports an IPX8 rating, meaning it has pretty decent water resistance but no dust protection.

Finally, there's a uniform 2mm (or so) bezel around the main screen, and one peculiar thing is the placement of the selfie camera. On the inner screen, it can be found in the upper right corner of the device.

Huawei Mate X6 Camera

Powerful

The Mate X6 packs a serious punch in the camera department, featuring four cameras on the back, plus two additional selfie snappers. Now, we'll have to do some proper testing inside our lab to rate the camera capabilities properly, but until then we can share some technical info about each camera along with some early samples.

The main snapper features a 50MP sensor straight from the Mate 70 Pro+, and it also has a variable aperture between f/1.4 and f/4.0. The 48MP telephoto lens can be traced back to the Mate 60; it offers 4.0x optical zoom, or the equivalent of a 90mm focal length.

The third camera in the mix is a 40MP ultrawide, which apparently is the same as the one on the Huawei 70 Pura, but the fourth sensor is the interesting one in the mix. It's a color spectral sensor that can read 1.5 million colors and help with the color reproduction via a special Fusion XD software engine.

Huawei Mate X6 Camera Samples:

Huawei Mate X6 Performance & Benchmarks

Mystery silicon inside

In the past couple of years and flagship Huawei generations, the company has been tight-lipped about the actual silicon inside its devices. It makes sense, as the US sanctions prevent Huawei from using Qualcomm processors or anything that can breach US patents.

Kirin chipsets are subsequently the only logical choice here, but it takes a lot of time, money, and effort for Huawei to get this silicon on the level of the flagship competition. That's the reason Huawei flagship phones come with 7nm and 6nm Kirin chipsets when the current flagship norm is 3nm.

That being said, we don't find the Mate X6 underpowered, no matter what chipset it actually uses. We managed to run Geekbench 6 on the phone, and you can find the results below, but again, the real-life performance of the phone is smooth and fluid.

Phone	Geekbench 6 single	Geekbench 6 multi
Huawei Mate X6	1579	4691

Phone	3DMark Wildlife Extreme High	3DMark Wildlife Extreme Low
Huawei Mate X6	1591	787

There's 12GB of RAM onboard, coupled with 512GB of storage on our test sample, which is in line with other modern flagship foldables out there. There's no microSD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, or a second SIM slot.

Huawei Mate X6 Software

Now, Huawei made news with the latest Harmony OS 5.0, also called "Next," mainly because it is no longer based on the Android Open Source Project and uses an in-house-developed kernel.

Sadly, the global version of the Mate X6 uses EMUI 15, which is a different experience altogether.

It's mostly a regular Android experience, barring the GMS, which you can sideload if you like, but it requires some additional time and energy. We're in the AI era, and there's some AI magic in a very simple form on the global version of the Mate X6.

You get AI Lens, a feature that can recognize and translate text; AI Touch (similar to Circle to Search); AI Tips; Suggestions; and that's pretty much it. We're guessing more AI features are coming to the Mate X6 globally at a later date.

Huawei Mate X6 Battery

Another silicon-carbon contender

The silicon-carbon tech is slowly becoming mainstream, and the Mate X6 is the latest phone to use this new technology. It's a hybrid tech, not radically different from the old lithium-ion battery design. What's new is the silicon molecules imbued in the graphite anode of the battery, resulting in more capacity per volume.

This technology has allowed Huawei to pack a 5,200 mAh battery inside the thin and lightweight body of the Mate X6. Our battery tests are pending, but first impressions are good; you can comfortably use the phone for a full day and maybe stretch that even longer.

As far as charging goes, the Mate X6 supports 66W of wired charging power and 50W wireless. It's nothing crazy but still way faster than other more popular flagship foldables such as the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Of course, stay tuned for our tests and battery rating.

Should you buy it?

The Huawei Mate X6 is not just a great foldable phone but a great phone, full stop. However, there are some caveats to this statement. The phone comes with the prerequisite of living without (or sideloading) Google Mobile Services and also not paying attention to synthetic benchmarks (as the chipset inside lacks raw power).

Getting this phone in the US is pretty hard, and you have to be really committed to be able to import one, and then there's the price. The base model retails in Europe for 1,999 euros pounds, and that's anything but cheap.

But if you're able to live with all those things listed above, you're gonna get one of the thinnest, most stylish, and camera-capable foldables out there.

Stay tuned for the full review and rating.

View Full Bio

Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.