Huawei is betting you'll forget the Galaxy Z tri-fold once you see its cheaper Mate XTs

 While we're holding our breath to see what Samsung has to offer in terms of a tri-fold, Huawei is getting ready to release a successor to its Mate XT Ultimate Design, the world's first commercially available tri-fold. The best thing about it is that it could be priced lower than the original Huawei tri-fold.

The new cutting-edge foldable (which is well into tablet territory given its 10.2-inch screen size) is allegedly going to be dubbed Mate XTs, something we reported in early January 2025.

So, the original Mate XT Ultimate Design had a staggering price of €3,500 for markets outside China, which translates to about $4,100. Now, a report claims that its successor, the Huawei Mate XTs, could be priced at 15,000 yuan, which is closer to $2,100 when directly converted. Of course, if the Mate XTs steps outside China, the price for international markets will surely be higher, but it's safe to say that it'll be lower than $4,100.

Which is great: "traditional" foldables are still indecently expensive for many people. The Galaxy Z Fold 7, for example, the super-thin Samsung book style flagship, starts at $1,999. Meanwhile, the just-released Pixel 10 Pro Fold starts at $1,799. Even though it's thicker than the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and has a Tensor G5 chipset (that lags behind the Snapdragon 8 Elite which the Sammy phone offers), the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is a potent and capable handset.

But how about instead of an 8-inch screen (what today's "traditional" foldables offer) for ~$1,900 you get a 10.2-inch monster for a couple of hundred dollars more? If the Mate XTs starts at ~$2,100, that'll be really tempting for those who are after the biggest screen possible on a phone today.

Sure, the ~$2,100 price would be valid strictly for the China-exclusive model (as the international variant might be costlier) and one would have to put up with overseas shipping and the lack of native Google Services, as we pointed out earlier in our Mate XT Ultimate Design review. Another potential drawback is the fact that Huawei doesn't have access to top-shelf chips like the Snapdragon 8 Elite, so you can't expect the Mate XT to compete against Samsung, Oppo, Motorola rivals.