There are few consumer tech products that are as interesting as the Mate XT; Huawei somehow managed to create a tri-folding design that actually holds up to daily use, and the device gives us a great preview of where foldables are headed. There are so many things to like in the Mate XT; it is the thinnest foldable you can buy today, with Huawei outmatching the Find N5 in this regard.
The phone has unmatched flexibility; you can use it as a regular slab phone, a fold-out device, or a full-fledged 10.2-inch tablet, and I switched between all three modes extensively in the two months I had the foldable. The internals aren't quite on par with the best that Qualcomm has to offer, but I didn't run into any slowdowns as such, and the battery life is fantastic considering the sheer size of the device.
But the most impressive feature has to be the cameras; most foldables have a camera system that doesn't measure up to traditional flagships, and this is one of the main reasons why I still haven't switched to one as my daily driver. I enjoyed using the Find N5, but it doesn't deliver the same caliber of photos as the Find X8 Ultra or Vivo X200 Pro.
This is where the Mate XT has a distinct advantage; Huawei put its best imaging modules into the device, and the foldable easily pulls ahead of every other device in this category. I tested it against the Find N5, and there's no question that Huawei did a stellar job with both photos and videos. What's interesting is that the Mate XT manages to hold its own against the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, and that is an achievement in and of itself.
The Mate XT produced photos with accurate color rendition; it was an overcast day, and the foldable did a good job highlighting that. The Find N5 has cooler colors, and it had issues with shadows, often failing to deliver the same level of detail around the edges.
Both foldables did a decent job in this image, but once again, the Find N5 has increased contrast and saturation, and it doesn't quite have the same accuracy. It also loses out on detail when you zoom in to the image.
You get great versatility with the Mate XT as well, and the phone delivers the same caliber of photos with the wide-angle and tele lenses. The wide-angle camera has a greater field of view, and it produces better quality of photos than the Find N5.
Similarly, the Mate XT did a good job preserving color balance at 2x and 5.5x zoom, and you get a good amount of detail.
The biggest difference is with portrait shots; in this photo, the Mate XT got all the details right and correctly blurred out the background while having both phones visible, and it took several tries to get a similar result on the Find N5.
In a similar vein, the Mate XT does a great job in low-light situations, producing consistent colors and managing highlights well.
What's notable is how well the phone holds up against the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, which has one of the strongest camera packages of any 2025 device.
Xiaomi does a better job overall as the sensor is able to take in greater light, and the brand's camera tuning delivers cleaner photos with great vibrancy. That said, the Mate XT is pretty close, and that is praiseworthy.
The differences between the two is diminished in low-light scenarios, particularly when using the wide-angle lens.
On the whole, Huawei did an incredible job with the Mate XT. While the main attraction is clearly the panel that unfolds to a 10.2-inch tablet, the cameras and great battery life turn it into a fantastic daily driver. Yes, it is the costliest phone around — by a significant amount — but the device is an all-rounder like no other.
With a unique tri-folding design and outstanding cameras, there really isn't a foldable quite like the Mate XT.
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