Huawei Pura X Max Edges Out Samsung & Apple in the Wide Foldable Race

Huawei, which has been the first mover in quite a few aspects, is now the first to launch the so-called wide-foldable space with its new Pura X Max. It has a book-style folding design, but in a wide form factor. This could be the trend for the year, as Samsung is reportedly working on a wider version of the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Then there’s Apple’s iPhone Ultra, which could also use a wider design.

Huawei Pura X Max debuts officially, and packs a punch

The launch of the Huawei Pura X Max comes hours after its live images surfaced online. It features a 5.4-inch cover screen and a 7.7-inch internal display. While the original Pura X has a 16:10 aspect ratio, the Pura X Max has a fairly square book-style foldable design. The inner screen uses a flexible OLED LTPO 2.0 panel with an adaptive 1-120Hz refresh rate, 1,440Hz high-frequency PWM dimming, and up to 240Hz touch sampling rate.

The external screen also uses an LTPO 2.0 OLED screen with a 1440Hz high-frequency PWM dimming and up to 300Hz touch sampling rate. It’s also protected by second-gen Kunlun glass. Under the hood, the Pura X Max features the Kirin 9030 Pro chipset. This promises a 30% boost in performance over the Kirin 9020 chip in the Pura X.

Quite durable, too

The phone also gets a vapor chamber and a graphene sheet for heat dissipation during gaming and extensive multitasking. It boots HarmonyOS 6.1 out of the box. This is an independent system developed by Huawei. The foldable packs up to 16GB RAM and up to 1TB internal storage.

In terms of durability, the Pura X Max features an aluminum alloy. Then there’s the IP58/IP59 ratings for protection against dust, submersion, and high-temperature water jets. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0 with BLE, GPS, and USB Type-C 3.1 Gen1. The Huawei Pura X Max supports a stylus, the M-Pen 3 Mini. It’s mini in size to match the new form factor.

A versatile camera setup

As for photography, the Huawei Pura X Max features a versatile setup. It has a 50MP main lens with a variable aperture (f/1.4-4.0) and OIS. It also offers a 12.5MP ultra-wide lens with an f/2.2 aperture and a 50MP periscope lens with an f/2.2 aperture and OIS. All three cameras use RYYB sensors with a yellow sub-pixel instead of green. It gets two 8MP cameras for selfies, one on each display.

The cameras use Huawei’s in-house XMAGE image processing. The phone offers handy software features like AI Dynamic Photos, AI One-Click Filming, and AI Pose Recommendation, which the company already teased for the Huawei Pura 90 series. There’s a 5,300mAh battery with 66W fast charging over wire and 50W wireless charging.

Huawei Pura X Max’s global launch details not available

The Huawei Pura X Max’s price in China starts at CNY 10,999 (~$1,615) for the base 12GB + 256GB model; the 12GB + 512GB version costs CNY 11,999 (~$1,760); the 16GB + 512GB variant goes for CNY 12,999 (~$1,905); and lastly, the 16GB + 1TB version is priced at CNY 13,999 (~$2,055).

The foldable arrives in multiple colors, whose translated names include Interstellar Blue, Olive Gold, Zero-Degree White, Vitality Orange, and The Night is Dark. It’s not clear whether the phone will launch in global markets at the moment.