Introduction
Although it’s only April, somehow we’ve already torn down two foldable phones this year! Now we’ve got our hands on the third, Huawei’s Mate Xs. And unlike those other foldables, the Mate Xs wears its fragile plastic OLED screen on the outside, even when folded.
The Mate Xs isn’t sold in the US, and can’t utilize any of Google’s mobile services without a little hacking. Instead, Huawei built their own suite of services, including an App Gallery and Mobile Cloud service. No Play Store here! Let’s tear it down and see what else Huawei has done to make this $2,700 foldable tick.
Video Overview
- Many components are modular and can be replaced independently.
- The fragile folding display is replaceable, if you're determined.
- Battery replacements are straightforward, but unnecessarily difficult thanks to the herculean adhesive.
- Every repair starts (and ends) with stubborn, glued-on outer covers.
- The charging port is soldered directly to the main board.
Final Thoughts
Repairability Score
2
Repairability 2 out of 10
(10 is easiest to repair)
(10 is easiest to repair)
