World's First Trifold Smartphone Gets a White Makeover in UAE

HUAWEI Mate XT ULTIMATE DESIGN White Edition now available in UAE at Dhs 9,999. See specs, retail options, and unique features as of January 2026.

Huawei's Mate XT ULTIMATE DESIGN White Edition is now on sale in the UAE from 9 January 2026. The price? Dhs 9,999. That's not a typo, and it's not a conversion — this is the official UAE retail price for what Huawei calls the world's first trifold smartphone.

The White Edition brings the same trifold tech as the original Mate XT, but swaps the finish for white vegan leather and a marble-veined camera module. If you're comparing flagship phones this month, TCL's CES 2026 lineup and HP's CES 2026 announcements show there's plenty happening at the premium end of tech right now.

What You're Actually Getting for Dhs 9,999

The Mate XT folds down to roughly phone size, then unfolds to a 10.2-inch tablet. Huawei says you can use it in three modes: single screen (phone), dual screen (partial unfold), or full tablet. The hinge uses ultra-high-strength steel, which should mean better durability than early foldables — but we haven't tested it long-term yet.

Here's what the spec sheet says:

Display: 10.2-inch 3K screen when fully unfolded
Thickness: 3.6mm unfolded (thin, but fragile-feeling in practice with most foldables)
Design: White vegan leather back, gold accents, marble vein camera module
Camera: XMAGE system with ultra-wide to 5.5x telephoto, 10-step physical aperture
Hinge: Trifold mechanism, supposedly built for repeated use

The marble camera module is genuinely unique — Huawei says each one is slightly different because of the 80-layer forged steel construction. Whether that matters to you depends on how much you care about your phone looking different from everyone else's.

Trifold vs Regular Foldable: What's the Point?

Most foldables give you phone-to-tablet. The Mate XT adds a middle step — you can unfold halfway for a larger screen without going full tablet mode. In theory, this gives you more flexibility. In practice, we don't know yet if the hinge can take the constant folding and unfolding without getting loose.

The trifold design means more moving parts, which usually means more things that can break. Huawei claims their hinge is reliable, but foldables in general have shorter lifespans than slab phones — and trifolds add another layer of complexity.

If you're rough with your devices, wait for long-term reviews. At Dhs 9,999, you don't want to be replacing this in 18 months because the hinge gave up.

Camera: Physical Aperture and Marble Styling

The XMAGE camera covers ultra-wide to 5.5x telephoto, with a 10-step physical aperture you can actually adjust. This is useful if you shoot in manual mode and care about depth of field control. If you're an auto mode shooter, it won't make much difference.

The marble vein pattern on the camera module takes 22 days and 78 processes to create, according to Huawei. Each phone gets a unique pattern because of how the forged steel layers are formed. It's a design flex, not a photography upgrade.

We haven't tested the camera yet, so we can't say if it actually performs better than other flagship cameras. The specs look good on paper, but Huawei's post-Google photography performance has been hit-or-miss depending on the model.

UAE Pricing and Where to Buy

The Mate XT ULTIMATE DESIGN White Edition costs Dhs 9,999 in the UAE, available from 9 January 2026. You can buy it from Huawei's official online shop and authorised retailers across the UAE.

At this price, you're not buying raw performance — you're buying exclusivity and form factor. For context, that's more expensive than most flagship phones and many laptops. If you want the trifold experience and have the budget, it's your only option right now. If you just want a good phone, there are better-value options.