You'll be able to pre-order the foldable Huawei Mate XS from March 14, but it won't be cheap

Huawei is making good on its promise to bring its second foldable smartphone to Australia, with Mate XS pre-orders kicking off on March 14 ahead of an April 9 release date. It will cost you, however. The Mate XS will retail for $3,999 locally.

A $3,999 smartphone is hard to justify no matter how advance the tech behind it, but it's an even trickier proposition with the Mate XS. The Mate XS runs Android, but without Google apps and services.

As with the Mate 30 Pro, the Google-less Mate XS is a casualty of the ongoing dispute between the US government and Huawei. While the foldable runs the open source version of Android - Android Open Source Project, or AOSP - with Huawei's EMUI 10 skin it's missing the Google apps and services many of us have come to rely on. This means the Mate XS will ship without the Play Store, Google Maps, YouTube, Gmail, and more, all as a result of the trade ban.

While it is technically possible to "sideload" Google apps and services onto Huawei Android devices, Google actively discourages this.

However, Google applied for a license that would allow it to resume business doing business with Huawei at the end of February. If the license is granted, Huawei smartphones would be able to run Google apps and services again. It is unclear when a decision regarding the application will be made.

Microsoft was granted a similar license at the end of last year, which allows Huawei to manufacturer laptops that run Windows.

In the meant time, the Mate XS will ship with Huawei's own app store on board. The Huawei App Gallery hosts over 45,000 apps. For comparison, the Google Play Store has almost 2.5 million apps, and the Apple App Store has almost 2 million. Quantity and quality are two different things, but when testing the Huawei Mate 30 Pro last year, we found almost every big name app absent. Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, Netflix, Spotify, Uber, Tinder, and more were all missing. TikTok was the only familiar face.

In terms of the device itself, an 8-inch tablet that folds in half. Folding the Mate XS splits it into a 6.6-inch display on the front, and a 6.38-inch display on the back. When folded, both screens are exposed. However, Huawei says the screen should be more durable than its predecessor thanks to a new structure.

Other key specifications for the Mate XS include a Huawei-made Kirin 990 processor with 5G support, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a 4,500mAh battery. The camera configuration is made up of a 40MP primary camera, 8MP 3x telephoto camera, a 16MP ultra-wide camera, and a Time-of-Flight camera.

The Huawei Mate XS will be available through JB Hi-Fi, Mobileciti, and the Huawei Store in Chatswood, NSW. Anyone who purchases the Mate XS will get a complimentary leather envelope case for the phone, valued at $199.

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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