Phone Comparisons: Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold Vs Huawei Mate Xts

The market has seen three tri-fold foldable smartphones thus far, two of which came from Huawei. In this article, we’ll compare two tri-fold devices, one from Samsung and one from Huawei. In other words, this is a Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold vs Huawei Mate XTs comparison. The Mate XTs is the latest tri-fold from Huawei, while the Galaxy Z TriFold is the very first device of that type from Samsung.

The Galaxy Z TriFold reviews are still not out, while the Mate XTs’ availability is kind of limited due to its launch market. This will be more of a spec comparison than anything else, but it should be interesting considering how different these two smartphones are. Even though they’re both tri-folds, they are different types of tri-fold devices. So, let’s get to it, shall we?

• Specs
• Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold vs Huawei Mate XTs: Design
• Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold vs Huawei Mate XTs: Display
• Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold vs Huawei Mate XTs: Performance
• Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold vs Huawei Mate XTs: Battery
• Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold vs Huawei Mate XTs: Cameras
• Audio

Specs

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold

Huawei Mate XTs

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold vs Huawei Mate XTs: Design

These two phones do look very different. The Samsung Galaxy Z Tri Fold has two displays, compared to one on the Mate XTs. There is the main display on the front (when unfolded), and a cover display on the back. Unlike the Huawei Mate XTs, the Galaxy Z TriFold has only two fold options. You can either use that huge main display, or the cover display on the back. There is no middle-of-the-road options.

The Huawei Mate XTs, on the other hand, allows you to fold its display once, and use a 7.9-inch display size. In other words, use the device as a small tablet of sorts. In addition to that, it has 10.2-inch and 6.4-inch options. The Galaxy Z TriFold only gives you 10-inch and 6.5-inch options. The Huawei Mate XTs’ display is constantly exposed because of its Z fold type, though on the other hand at least it doesn’t have a cover display totally exposed on the back. It all depends on what you prefer.

Both phones have three cameras on the back, though their camera islands look very different, as you’ll notice. Various materials are used across the two devices, including glass, titanium, aluminum, and more. The Galaxy Z TriFold is a bit heavier at 309 grams, compared to 298 grams of the Huawei Mate XTs. The two phones are almost identical in terms of thickness when folded, while they’re somewhat similar when unfolded as well.

The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold does come with an IP48 certification for water and dust resistance, while the Huawei Mate XTs does not offer any such certification. In all honesty it would be best to keep both of them away from water and dust.

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold vs Huawei Mate XTs: Display

The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold has two displays. Its main display is a foldable Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X panel. It offers a 120Hz refresh rate, and it supports HDR content. It has a peak brightness of 1,600 nits, and it’s a 10-inch display with a resolution of 2160 x 1584. The screen-to-body ratio here is at around 90%, while the display aspect ratio is 4:3. The cover display measures 6.5 inches, and it’s a Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X panel as well. The resolution is 2520 x 1080. This display offers a 120Hz refresh rate too, and it has a peak brightness of 2,600 nits. It’s protected by the Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2.

The Huawei Mate XTs, on the other hand, has only one display. That display, when fully extended, offers a 10.2-inch canvas and a resolution of 3184 x 2232 pixels. It’s an LTPO OLED display that can project up to 1 billion colors, and it offers a 90Hz refresh rate. It has high-frequency PWM dimming (1440Hz) and a screen-to-body ratio of around 92%. That display can be folded into a 7.9-inch format (2232 x 2048) or a 6.4-inch size (2232 x 1008).

Samsung’s displays offer a higher refresh rate, while the Huawei Mate XTs panel offers a higher resolution and a higher screen-to-body ratio. Huawei’s foldable panel is slightly exposed when the device is folded, while Samsung’s cover display is completely exposed when you’re using the main panel. Each display setup has its positives and negatives. All displays offer good viewing angles and good touch response. They’re also all quite sharp and vivid.

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold vs Huawei Mate XTs: Performance

Now, we didn’t really fully test either phone, but we did spend some time with the Galaxy Z TriFold. That phone packs plenty of power with the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. That 3nm chip may not be the latest and greatest from Qualcomm, but it’s the next best thing, and chances are that the phone will offer great performance. That’s what you’d expect for that price tag. That chip is paired with 16GB of RAM inside the phone.

The Huawei Mate XTs, on the other hand, is fueled by the Kirin 9020 processor, which is a 7nm chip. Huawei has to use older chips due to the US ban, and this processor cannot compare to the Snapdragon 8 Elite, it’s not even close. We haven’t really used the device so we cannot say how snappy it is, but it’s safe to say that the Galaxy Z TriFold will offer snappier performance. The Huawei Mate XTs also comes with 16GB of RAM. Neither phone offers storage expansion, by the way.

Simply based on the configurations that the two phones offer, we’d say that the Galaxy Z TriFold will be a better option for gaming, though neither phone is made with that in mind. That chip inside the Huawei Mate XTs could present a problem when it comes to more demanding titles. For less demanding games, everything should be fine. We haven’t really fully test either of them, so… we’re only guessing based on what’s on offer.

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold vs Huawei Mate XTs: Battery

Both of these tri-fold smartphones offer the same battery capacity, actually. Both of them pack in a 5,600mAh battery. The battery life is kind of a mystery at the moment, and it will also depend on how much time you spend on either of the display sizes on offer. That will play a huge role, actually. So the battery life will differ quite a bit based on the usage of each person. Don’t expect outstanding battery life times as some regular phones with 6,000-7,000mAh battery packs offer.

The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold supports 45W wired, 15W wireless, and 4.5W reverse wireless charging. The Huawei Mate XTs easily trumps that. The phone supports 66W wired, 50W wireless, 7.5W reverse wireless, and 5W reverse wired charging. Huawei’s tri-fold handset does offer faster charging across the board, it’s not even close. You’ll especially feel the difference when it comes to wireless charging.

Neither phone has magnets built into it or anything like that. It’s actually great that they offer wireless charging at all, considering size constraints.

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold vs Huawei Mate XTs: Cameras

The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold has a 200-megapixel main camera (1/1.3-inch sensor size), along with a 12-megapixel ultrawide unit (1/2.55-inch sensor size, 120-degree FoV). The third camera on the back of the phone is a 10-megapixel telephoto unit (1/3.94-inch sensor size, 3x optical zoom).

The Huawei Mate XTs, on the other hand, has a 50-megapixel main camera (1/1.56-inch sensor size, f/1.4-f/4.0 adjustable aperture), along with a 40-megapixel ultrawide unit. The third and last camera on the back is a 12-megapixel periscope telephoto unit (1/3.6-inch sensor size, 5.5x optical zoom).

The Huawei Mate XTs has better periscope telephoto and ultrawide cameras, at least based on sensor size, while the Galaxy Z TriFold has a larger main camera sensor. There’s a lot more to it than sensor size, of course, as the Mate XTs, for example, offer adjustable aperture on the main camera, amongst other features like laser autofocus and a color spectrum sensor. The camera setups here are very different.

Audio

We haven’t tested the speakers on either phone, so we can’t really comment on their performance. However, we do know that both devices include stereo speakers, at the very least.

Neither phone comes with an audio jack, but you can always hook up your wired headphones via the Type-C port. Alternatively, the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold supports Bluetooth 5.4, while the Huawei Mate XTs supports Bluetooth 5.2.