Huawei Debuts High-End Tri-Fold Phone With New Kirin 9020 Chip
Huawei Technologies has unveiled its second-generation tri-fold smartphone, a premium device a featuring a new, homegrown Kirin processor. The launch signals the company’s continued push into the ultra-high-end foldable market and marks a significant step in rebuilding its proprietary semiconductor capabilities.
At a launch event in Shenzhen on Thursday, Richard Yu, Huawei's Executive Director and Chairman of its Consumer Business Group, introduced the Mate XTs Ultimate Design. The event's most notable announcement was the inclusion of the Kirin 9020 chipset, the first new Kirin processor the company has publicly detailed on stage in four years.
The reveal of a new Kirin chip is a critical development for Huawei, which has faced severe U.S. sanctions restricting its access to advanced chip-making technologies. Paired with its HarmonyOS 5.1 operating system, the company claims the new hardware and software combination delivers a 36% performance improvement over previous-generation models.
Priced starting at 17,999 yuan ($2,520), the device squarely targets the premium segment of the smartphone market. Pre-orders for the Mate XTs began immediately in China, with the first sales scheduled for September 12, 2025.
Pioneering a Niche Market
Huawei is strengthening its position in the nascent tri-fold smartphone category. Following the launch of its first commercial tri-fold, the Mate XT, the company is currently the only major manufacturer to offer such a device. While the broader foldable market is gaining consumer traction, the triple-folding segment remains largely untapped, giving Huawei a first-mover advantage.
Advanced Display and Design
The core feature of the Mate XTs is its large, flexible display. The device is built around a single 10.2-inch high-resolution X-True screen that uses two hinges to fold into different form factors. Users can configure it as a 7.9-inch tablet or a more compact 6.4-inch smartphone. The display features a 3K resolution, a 92% screen-to-body ratio, and LTPO technology for an adaptive refresh rate. Despite its size, the company emphasized a lightweight design, offering the device in black, red, white, and purple vegan leather finishes.
Upgraded Camera System
The Mate XTs features a triple-camera system housed in a module with a "Star Diamond Design." The primary camera is a 50-megapixel wide-angle lens with optical image stabilization and a variable aperture (f/1.4-f/4.0). It includes a significant upgrade to the ultra-wide-angle camera, which is now a 40-megapixel sensor, up from 12 megapixels in the previous model. The setup is completed by a 12-megapixel telephoto camera with 5.5x optical zoom and 50x digital zoom, along with an 8-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies.
Productivity and Performance
Huawei is positioning the device as a productivity tool. The large screen supports the Huawei Pencil stylus for note-taking and drawing, as well as a dedicated Bluetooth keyboard with a trackpad. At the launch, Yu highlighted the phone's ability to run PC-level applications and its advanced multi-window functionality. He marketed the device as "a new-generation powerful tool for stock trading," adding, "I wish everyone to make big money." The phone is equipped with a 5,600mAh silicon anode battery and supports 66W wired and 50W wireless charging.
Pricing and Configurations
The Huawei Mate XTs Ultimate Design will be available in three configurations, all with 16GB of RAM:
- The 256GB storage model is priced at 17,999 yuan.
- The 512GB model is priced at 19,999 yuan.
- The 1TB model is priced at 21,999 yuan.