Introduction
Huawei, a pioneer in foldable phones, is still making two variants – those that fold on themselves and those with the display that wraps around the outer body when folded. Another iteration on the second variant is what we have here – the Mate Xs 2.
Marking a full two years after its last flagship, the Mate Xs 2 comes with a number of hardware tweaks. The slight reduction in screen size from 8″ to 7.8″ has little effect on usability, but should help keep the weight down to a more manageable 255g. That display also now comes with a 120Hz refresh rate, a notch higher than the Mate X2’s 90Hz, and a selfie camera (or, shall we say, video call camera) featured in the top right corner — something the Mate Xs didn’t. Have one.
Things have also changed in the rear camera setup. The 50MP primary module from the P50 Pro (minus OIS) replaces the 40MP on the older model, although the ultrawide has dropped to 13MP from 16MP on the Xs. At the opposite end of the zoom range, the 3x-ish tele packs more zoom power than you’ll find on most compacts at the time of this writing.
There’s also a chipset upgrade, though it’s not the cutting-edge silicon you’ll find in the Mate Xs. Instead, we’ll see last year’s Snapdragon 888 in 4G-only form – the US-China dispute that hit Huawei hard is still taking its toll. And that manifests itself in a less-than-Google software package, which remains one of the strongest arguments against getting a Huawei phone – although we’ve heard some people list that as a pro.
The small increase in battery capacity (from 4,500mAh to 4,600mAh) can’t be felt, though it’s still nice not to suffer from weight loss. Meanwhile, 66W charging support promises faster upgrades.
Huawei Mate Xs 2 specifications at a glance:
- Body: Dimensions: 156.5×139.3×5.4mm; Folded: 156.5×75.5×11.1mm; 255 g.
- Demonstration: 7.80 inch foldable OLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, 2200x2480px resolution, 10.15:9 aspect ratio, 424ppi; Folded display: 6.50”, 1176x2480px, 19:9 aspect ratio.
- Chipset Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 4G (5 nm): Octa-core (1×2.84 GHz Cortex-X1 & 3×2.42 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4×1.80 GHz Cortex-A55); Adreno 660.
- Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 512GB 8GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS; NM (Nano Memory), up to 256GB (uses shared SIM slot).
- Operating System/Software: Harmonios 2.0.
- rear camera; wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, PDAF, Laser AF; Very wide angle: 13MP, f/2.2, 120˚; Telephone: 8 MP, f/2.4, 81mm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom.
- Front camera: 10.7MP, f/2.2.
- Video recording: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/960fps; Front camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps
- Battery: 4600mAh; Fast charging 66 W, reverse charging.
- Miscellaneous: Fingerprint reader (mounted on the side); NFC; Infrared port.
Huawei Mate Xs 2 unboxing
The Mate Xs 2 comes in a package that’s befitting of its price tag and unique status – it’s a fairly large box by today’s standards, made of thick dark gray cardboard and featuring golden lettering. The phone is opened in the top tray and the accessories are divided into separate boxes below.
This year’s case solution offers a bit more protection compared to the Xs’ stick-on plastic frame protector, though it comes with its own set of features, which we’ll discuss on the next page. If there is still a case in the box, it means that Huawei is not installing all of them It’s good to be responsible for maintaining that exposed folding screen as the end user.
Also included is a Huawei Super Charge adapter rated for 66W output, although it does have USB-A and we’d like to hold grudges against those in 2022. Two halves of the phone, which is done more easily as soon as Proprietary charging technology. But then the previous model had an adapter based on USB-C, so that’s not it, and this situation left us a little confused. Of course you get a USB-A-C cable.
Missing is the wired USB-C headset that the 2020 Xs shipped with. That’s already two downsides, though the headphones aren’t particularly overlooked, we reckon.