The Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design was launched by the company in September as the world’s first mainstream tri-folding smartphone, although it’s only available in China (for now). It comes with three screens that can be folded in a Z-style. However, a recent smartphone durability test conducted by a popular YouTube user suggests that the displays may be more susceptible to scratches compared to standard smartphones or even conventional foldable models.

Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design Durability Test

Before delving into the tri-fold strength test of Huawei’s smartphone, YouTuber Zach Nelson, known by the alias JerryRigEverything, unboxed it. Being one of the most expensive production smartphones in the world with a starting price of RMB 19,999 (roughly Rs. 2,36,700), the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design comes with a lot of features including a carbon fiber body, 66W power adapter with dual USB ports. Type-C cables, an 88W car charger and a pair of Huawei FreeBuds 5 earphones.

In terms of durability, the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design seems to start showing scratches at level 2 on the Mohs hardness scale and has deeper grooves at level 3 with a razor blade. Although this will inevitably happen due to the laminated structure of the soft plastic folding screen, the test also showed that it is very easy to scratch even with fingernails. Scratches caused by fingernails become more noticeable after the screen is turned off.

While the scratches caused by the razor blade are no different from the durability of other folding smartphones, such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, which received scratches at a similar level, the scratches caused by nails on the Mate XT Ultimate Design appear more noticeable after the screen is turned off.

Another weak point of the Mate XT Ultimate Design is the hinge mechanism, as it is a three-fold smartphone. While misfolding screens is a warning, the smartphone was bent by a YouTuber without too much effort, suggesting that handling such an eloquent device can require extra care. At the same time, one of the folded edges of the screen is always exposed to the elements when it is fully folded.