Smartphone OEMs have been comfortable with the usual design of foldable smartphones in the past years. While a few are experimenting with new ideas like a tri-folding design, the market stands with clamshell foldables that resemble old-school flip phones, and the large foldable smartphones that when unfolded are tablets. Huawei is one of the few experimenting with new ideas, and the Huawei Mate XT is a good example with its tri-fold display. Now, the brand brings an interesting idea that makes us think “How has no one thought of this before”. The Huawei Pura X arrives with a clamshell design, but it’s larger than conventional flip smartphones, offering a 16:10 aspect ratio and a square display.
Innovative Design for a Familiar Form Factor
We can say that the Huawei Pura X looks like a hybrid of a compact tablet and a flip smartphone. The phone has a 6.3-inch display with a 16:10 ratio and a portrait orientation. The cover panel accommodates three cameras and a 3.5″ square display. Its form factor is wider than conventional smartphones, but apparently, not to the point that you won’t be able to hold it with one hand.
Huawei’s new design allows the phone to be rotated when unfolded and used as a compact tablet. When folded, the hinge sits on the side and it looks like a traditional flip smartphone. When unfolded, the Pura X stands 143.2 mm tall and 91.7 mm wide, making it shorter but significantly wider than most smartphones. When folded, it measures 91.7 mm by 74.3 mm, giving it an unusual yet potentially practical form factor.
Huawei Pura X Specs and Features
Both sides of the Pura X have LTPO OLED panels with a 120Hz refresh rate. The folding screen reaches a peak brightness of 2,500 nits. Interestingly, Huawei bets on customization options with the new smartphone. The Cover screen has a variety of wallpapers, including live options with customizable animations. It also allows you to use the camera, and access messaging and health-related apps, calls, and music players. The 3.5-inch size is quite decent to allow easy and useful interaction with the display. It’s also possible to answer calls while the phone is folded thanks to the earpiece’s placement on the right beside the LED flash.
The Huawei Pura X features a triple-camera setup in a single row. It includes a 50MP wide camera (f/1.6, RYYB, OIS), a 40MP ultrawide camera (f/2.2, RYYB), and an 8MP telephoto lens (3.5x optical zoom, OIS). A spectral image sensor, first seen in the Mate 70 Pro, is also present. For video calls, Huawei placed a 10MP front camera inside the punch-hole of the main display.
The Huawei Pura X uses a teardrop hinge design with 1,900 MPa space-grade materials for durability. Since it’s launching in China, it supports satellite connectivity, but only with Chinese satellites and only on select memory models.
The Huawei Pura X packs a 4,720mAh dual-cell battery with 66W wired and 40W wireless charging. It also features heat-dissipating elements, including a graphite plate with 2,000 W/m·K thermal conductivity for efficient cooling.
Unfortunately, there are no details regarding the chipset of the Pura X. It’s the standard for Huawei nowadays to keep these things under radar. Curiously, the smartphone runs AOSP HarmonyOS 5.0 instead of HarmonyOS Next. The Pura X sells in the standard version and a Collector’s Edition. The latter features two exclusive panel designs and 16 GB RAM.
Pricing and Availability
The Huawei Pura X comes in Black, White, and Silver, with Pattern Green and Pattern Red available for the Collector’s Edition.
Pricing starts at CNY 7,499 ($1,035/€955) for 12GB/256GB and goes up to CNY 9,999 ($1,380/€1,270) for 16GB/1TB. Sales begin in China on March 21, with no word on a global release.
