MWC 2019 top launches: Huawei Mate X foldable 5G phone, Nokia 9 Pureview, Xiaomi Mi Mix 3

Huawei’s Mate X is the world’s first 5G enabled foldable phone and comes just days after Samsung launched its Galaxy Fold smartphone in San Francisco.

Huawei, Nokia, Xiaomi, Huawei Mate X, Huawei Mate X 5G, mwc, mwc 2019, nokia 9, nokia 9 pureview, nokia 9 pureview price, tech news

Huawei Mate X, a 5G-enabled smartphone that can fold into a 6.6-inch smartphone and unfold into an 8-inch tablet, on display at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. (Express photo: Anuj Bhatia)

The Mobile World Congress is yet to kick off, but there’s already a flurry of activity in Barcelona, Spain, with at least three big launches on Sunday. Huawei set the ball rolling with the Mate X, it’s version of the foldable phone, while HMD Global announced the Nokia 9 Pureview with five cameras.

Huawei’s Mate X is the world’s first 5G enabled foldable phone and comes just days after Samsung launched its Galaxy Fold smartphone in San Francisco. The Chinese telecom major said its foldable phone will start at a price of €2,299, much higher than the Fold’s $1,980 price tag, and will be available sometime in the middle of 2019.

Watch our first look video of the Huawei Mate X

Huawei Mate X is a 5G-enabled smartphone that can fold into a 6.6-inch smartphone and unfold into an 8-inch tablet. Unlike the Galaxy Fold, the Mate X has slightly curved screens that fold backward. When closed, there are screens on both sides. Huawei claims the Mate X is even thinner than Samsung’s device when it is folded. The Mate X measures in at 5.4 mm thick in tablet mode, and 11 mm thick when folded.

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The premium, high-end smartphone is powered by Huawei’s Kirin 980 processor and Balong 5000 chipset, which supports 5G.

HMD Global, meanwhile, launched the Nokia 9 PureView, the world’s first smartphone to feature five rear cameras with Zeiss optics. The camera has two RGB and three monochrome lenses.

In addition, the Nokia 9 Pureview produces images with three times more noise reduction, claimed Juho Sarvikas, HMD Global’s chief product officer. The phone will be priced $699 and become available in March. The company also showcased a feature phone Nokia 210, along with three other smartphones: Nokia 4.2, Nokia 3.2 and Nokia 1 Plus

Huawei claims the Mate X is even thinner than Samsung’s device when it’s folded.

The other big announcements came from Xiaomi which announced a 5G version of Mi Mix 3 priced at €599, expected to hit retail shelves in May. The Mi Mix 3 was originally announced in China last October but came with 4G LTE support.

The Mi Mix 3 has a big 6.39-inch HDR AMOLED display with 2,340 x 1,080 pixel resolution, is powered by Snapdragon 855 processor yoked with a X50 modem and comes with a 12MP dual rear camera.

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Nokia 9 PureView with 5 cameras has been launched at MWC 2019.

Xiaomi also showcased the Mi 9 for the European market. The Mi 9 sports a 6.39-inch AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution and is powered by the Snapdragon 855 processor.

The Mobile World Congress officially kicks off in Barcelona on Monday.

(The authors are in Barcelona on the invite of Huawei and Qualcomm)

Anuj Bhatia

Anuj Bhatia is a personal technology writer at indianexpress.com who has been covering smartphones, personal computers, gaming, apps, and lifestyle tech actively since 2011. He specialises in writing longer-form feature articles and explainers on trending tech topics. His unique interests encompass delving into vintage tech, retro gaming and composing in-depth narratives on the intersection of history, technology, and popular culture. He covers major international tech conferences and product launches from the world's biggest and most valuable tech brands including Apple, Google and others. At the same time, he also extensively covers indie, home-grown tech startups. Prior to joining The Indian Express in late 2016, he served as a senior tech writer at My Mobile magazine and previously held roles as a reviewer and tech writer at Gizbot. Anuj holds a postgraduate degree from Banaras Hindu University. You can find Anuj on Linkedin. Email: anuj.bhatia@indianexpress.com ... Read More