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Introduction
Arriving a few months after the rest of the Mate 20 series phones, but considered by many as the best phone in the family - yup, that's the Mate 20 X for you. Four Mate 20 devices premiered last fall, but only one was intended for the mass market - the Mate 20 Pro. The Mate 20 didn't share its full feature set, while the Porsche model is a luxury few can afford. And here's where the Mate 20 X stepping in offering all the screen real estate you could possibly want in a phone.
Better late than never, as the old saying goes. The Mate 20 X was among the most interesting Mate 20 phones, but it never really saw the light of day outside of a few Southeast Asian countries. Not until recently, that is.
The Mate 20 X has now launched in a few European markets and while the chances are that the P30 is already around the corner, the Mate 20 X has niche of its own.
The 20 X is indeed the most memorable device of the Mate quartet - it has the largest of screens, the best of cameras, the fastest of processors, and the beefiest of batteries. It supports a Huwaei's M-Pen stylus and the gigantic OLED screen has the smallest of them notches.
The Full HD resolution isn't what we'd call exactly 'best', but it is the one to have if you are a gamer. And among other things, the Mate 20 X was indeed praised for its potential gaming prowess. You can even opt for a special hardware controller for a more immersive gaming experience.
We were eager to get this beast of a phone for a spin since its announcement, and here it is - finally in our hands. But before we dig into its productivity, gaming and photography skills, let's take a closer look at its specs.
Huawei Mate 20 X specs
- Body: dual-glass with metal frame; IP53-rated for dust and splash resistance
- Screen: 7.2" HDR OLED, 1080 x 2244 px resolution (346ppi); waterdrop notch
- Chipset: Kirin 980 chipset, octa-core processor (2xA76 @2.6GHz + 2xA76 @1.92GHz +4xA55 @1.8GHz), Mali-G76 MP10 GPU
- Memory: 6GB RAM, 128GB storage (expandable via Nano Memory - hybrid slot)
- OS: Android 9 Pie with EMUI 9;
- Camera: 40MP f/1.8 + 8MP f/2.4 OIS telephoto (80mm) + 20MP f/2.2 ultra-wide (16mm); 4K video capture, 720@960fps slow-mo, Leica branding
- Camera features: 1/1.7" 40MP sensor, up to ISO 102,400, 5x optical zoom, OIS + EIS, Variable Aperture, Portrait Mode, can shoot long-exposure without a tripod
- Selfie cam: 24MP, f/2.0 Leica lens, Portrait Mode with live bokeh effects
- Battery: 5,000mAh; Super Charge 22.5W
- Security: Fingerprint reader (rear-mounted)
- Connectivity: Dual SIM, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5 + LE, NFC, USB Type-C
- Misc: IR blaster, stereo speakers, M-Pen support
What a specs sheet - but that goes without saying as it's shaering the Mate 20 Pro's DNA through and through! The Huawei Mate 20 X enjoys a large AMOLED, larger than the Huawei Mate 20 Pro but has a more game-friendly resolution and notch size. Then, it also has the same Kirin chipset, the same triple-camera with 3x optical zoom, and a massive 5,000 mAh battery with Super Charge. What's not to like, right?
Well, the lack of water-proofing might be an issue, but the Mate 20 X does have proper stereo speakers and an audio jack.
But before we dig into any of that, let's do some unboxing.
Unboxing the Huawei Mate 20 X
The Mate 20 X, just like the star of the series - the Mate 20 Pro - comes packed within a black paper box. Inside you'd find the 22.5W charging brick, the special USB Type-C cable you'd need to fast charge the X, and a pair of earbuds.
The box also contains a transparent rubber case in some regions outside the EU, but we didn't get one along with ours. There was a factory preapplied screen protector, though.
Design
The Huawei Mate 20 X looks a lot like a stretched version of the Mate 20, and that's a pretty accurate description. The Mate 20 X has the same design, despite the size difference. It's a dual-glass phone with a metal frame in-between - and that's as modern as it can get today.
But size does matter in this case, and the Mate 20 X is betting on this big time, obviously.
The whole front is one giant AMOLED screen, 7.2" in diagonal. The panel has rounded corners that match the curves of the frame, and the bezels are minimal with the biggest one being the chin.
The waterdrop-like notch is here at the top of the screen. The Mate 20 X has the same 24MP shooter with a fixed-focus f/2.0 lens as the other Mate 20 phones.
Mate 20 Pro, Mate 20 and Mate 20 X
Just above the notch is one very tiny earpiece grille, but unlike the other Mate phones, the one on the Mate 20 X doesn't act as a second speaker. Instead, the X has two large and loud Dolby-powered speakers mounted symmetrically on its top and bottom sides, and they make for an outstanding listening experience. But more on that later.
The Mate 20 X, unfortunately, lacks a notification LED light. The only way to be in sync with your notifications is to enable the always-on display option, but that will take a huge toll on the battery life.
And before we move on to some other important parts, we should mention the pressure-sensitive screen of the Mate 20 X, which can register up to 4,096 levels of pressure. It supports the exclusive M-Pen for Mate 20 X (not to be mistaken with the M-Pen for MediaPad), but the stylus is not included in the retail bundle. And even if you buy it, there is no special place to dock the pen, so you'd have to carry it in a pocket or purse. At least you can charge the M-Pen with the Mate's charger and cable.
The Mate 20 X has a bit thicker metal frame than the rest of the Mates, and while it's still glossy and curved towards the front and back, that's the only major grip booster you will get. And it does a rather good job of keeping the phone secure between your fingers.
The top part of the frame has the audio jack, the IR blaster, and one of the speakers, while the bottom part has the USB-C port, the mic, and the other speaker. The Mate 20 X has the same hybrid SIM slot as the other Mates - a dual-nanoSIM tray, where you can swap the second SIM for one of Huawei's newly announced NM proprietary memory cards.
Huawei Mate 20 X
The SIM slot is secured with rubber sealing against dust and water, which is the only real evidence for the IP53 certification for dust and light splashes. The Mate 20 Pro is the only Huawei phablet so far to be fully water-proofed.
Mate 20 Pro, Mate 20 X and Mate 20
The so-called Hyperoptical backs of the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro quickly grew on us and we are happy to see the Mate 20 X uses the same rear panel. It's a glass piece, quite big in the X case, and its long edges are slightly curved towards the frame. The whole thing has this grippy vinyl-like texture, which not only looks brilliant but even sounds cool if you scratch it with your nail.
The signature square-shaped camera setup is on the back, naturally, and it is identical to the one on the Mate 20 Pro - meaning a 40MP regular, 20MP wide, and 8MP OIS telephoto snappers. The fourth opening is for the dual-LED dual-tone flash.
The signature camera shape is on all three Mate 20 phones
Even though the Mate 20 X is larger than the rest, it's still rather thin and thus the camera setup is humping a bit. But thanks to the large size of the phablet, it doesn't wobble at all when lying on a flat surface.
Finally, the Mate 20 X features an always-on fingerprint scanner and it's mounted below the triple-camera setup on the back.
We sure left the most interesting stuff for the end of this chapter. The Mate 20 X spreads at 174.6 x 85.4 x 8.2 mm - not your ordinary smartphone for sure. This is 16mm taller and 8mm wider than the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. But this footprint is also 2mm both shorter and narrower than the Xiaomi Mi Max 3 with a 6.9" display.
The Mate 20 X weighs 232g, which is a lot, but also in line with Xiaomi's behemoth.
Now, let's talk handling.
The Huawei Mate 20 X is not for everybody and that's 7.2" OLED screen should have given it away instantly. If you are after a compact smartphone, you are looking at the wrong place. The Mate 20 X tries to offer the maximum of screen estate by stretching the limits of the definition for a smartphone.
And it succeeds. The Mate 20 still fits in most jeans side pockets, and you won't have problems when sitting. The X will surely be more comfortable in a backpack or purse, but if you are perfectly fine with putting any 6.5" smartphone in your pocket, there is a fat chance you'd get used to the Mate 20 X in a flash.
The Mate 20 X can be handled with one hand when necessary, the maker provides the necessary virtual controls for that. But most of the time you will need both of your hands, and that's no news for a 7.2" device, isn't it?
Huge OLED screen, tiny notch
The centerpiece of the Huawei Mate 20 X is that 7.2" AMOLED screen with a tiny waterdrop-like notch. Despite the large diagonal, the display has a resolution of 1,080 x 2,244 pixels or 346ppi. That's far from a top-notch pixel density, but still enough for both a daily driver and a multimedia device.
In fact, the 1080p screen of the Mate 20 X should be ideal for gaming, which is one of the key selling points of the phablet. It should allow for great app compatibility and top performance with the Kirin 980 powerhouse underneath.
The OLED panel has a Diamond PenTile matrix, like most of the OLEDs these days. If you stare long enough and at the proper content (text mostly), you might be able to tell it's a PenTile from the rough edges, but that's about the only time, really.
The screen of the Mate 20 X has two Color modes - Normal and Vivid. Each of those also has three sub-modes - Default, Warm, and Cold.
The Vivid option represents the DCI-P3 color space, while the Normal one switches to sRGB color space compliance. Huawei hasn't specified this anywhere, so we found that out empirically in our lab.
Anyway, the Mate 20 X comes set on Vivid by default and we suggest leaving it this way. The mode offers 460 nits of (manual) maximum brightness, but it can go as high as 655 nits in bright light if you leave it on Auto.
The minimum brightness we measured is just 1.8 nits.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0 | 459 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 655 | ∞ | |
| 0.002 | 508 | 254000 | |
| 0.003 | 657 | 219000 | |
| 0.347 | 491 | 1415 | |
| 0.554 | 778 | 1404 | |
| 0.313 | 460 | 1470 | |
| 0 | 412 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 582 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 653 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 367 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 658 | ∞ | |
| 0.002 | 323 | 161500 | |
| 0.008 | 638 | 79750 | |
| 0 | 445 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 633 | ∞ | |
| 0.339 | 496 | 1462 | |
| 0.367 | 518 | 1411 | |
The average deltaE we measured for the screen on Vivid is 4.4 with a maximum deviation of 7.8, which is not the best accuracy, but fine enough. You can fix the bluish whites by switching to Warm color temperature, but the overall accuracy won't improve by much.
The color accuracy for the Normal (sRGB) mode is better though with an average deltaE of 2.4 and a maximum deviation of 4.
The sunlight contrast on the Huawei Mate 20 X is excellent, but we expected nothing less from an AMOLED screen.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Apple iPhone XS
5.171 - Apple iPhone X
5.013 - Huawei Mate 20 Pro
4.965 - OnePlus 5T
4.789 - Samsung Galaxy S8
4.768 - Asus ROG Phone
4.765 - Samsung Galaxy S8+
4.658 - Samsung Galaxy S9
4.63 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Samsung Galaxy S9+
4.537 - Samsung Galaxy Note9
4.531 - Apple iPhone XS Max
4.516 - Sony Xperia XZ3
4.502 - Motorola Moto Z2 Play
4.459 - Oppo R11
4.454 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - Oppo RX17 Pro
4.434 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - Google Pixel 3
4.35 - Huawei Mate 20 X
4.337 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
4.324 - OnePlus 6
4.321 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 3
4.291 - vivo NEX Dual Display (second display)
4.289 - HTC One A9
4.274 - LG V40 ThinQ
4.256 - Oppo R15 Pro
4.251 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Nokia 8
4.239 - Google Pixel 2 XL (pre-update)
4.234 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
4.22 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
4.148 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
4.147 - OnePlus 6T
4.138 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
4.124 - vivo V11
4.113 - vivo NEX Dual Display
4.108 - Huawei Mate 10 Pro (normal)
4.096 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Huawei P20 Pro
4.087 - Xiaomi Mi 8
4.086 - Meizu 15
4.082 - Nokia 6 (2018)
4.052 - Google Pixel 2 (pre-update)
4.023 - LG V30
4.022 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - vivo NEX S
4.012 - Honor Magic 2
4.01 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3.998 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - LG G7 ThinQ (outdoor)
3.978 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Apple iPhone 8 (True Tone)
3.957 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Oppo Find X
3.954 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - OnePlus 5
3.914 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
3.901 - Motorola Moto G6 Plus
3.865 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
3.842 - Apple iPhone 6
3.838 - Microsoft Lumia 950XL
3.837 - Samsung Galaxy A6+ (2018)
3.834 - Sony Xperia XZs
3.818 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)
3.812 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3.767 - Sony Xperia XZ1
3.765 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Nokia 8 Sirocco
3.745 - Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact
3.729 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus (True Tone)
3.725 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Huawei P20
3.683 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact
3.675 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
3.597 - Huawei Honor View 20
3.597 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - Nokia 7 plus
3.479 - nubia Z11
3.466 - Huawei P10 Plus
3.456 - HTC U Ultra
3.453 - Motorola Moto G6
3.448 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
3.445 - Sony Xperia XA2 Plus
3.445 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
3.419 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
3.397 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
3.393 - LG G7 ThinQ
3.39 - Huawei P10
3.379 - Honor Play
3.349 - Nokia 5
3.261 - Nokia 6 (Chinese version)
3.244 - Xiaomi Mi 5
3.24 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
3.238 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Oppo Realme 2 Pro
3.235 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
3.19 - ZTE Nubia Z17
3.159 - Oppo R11s
3.153 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - Honor 8X
3.113 - HTC U11 Life
3.108 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - HTC U11
3.089 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
3.087 - HTC U12+
3.085 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
3.077 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Oppo F9
3.069 - Huawei P Smart 2019
3.069 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Xiaomi Mi Max 3
3.061 - Xiaomi Pocophone F1
3.059 - Huawei Mate 20
3.052 - Huawei Mate 20 Lite
3.051 - Motorola One (P30 Play)
3.026 - Apple iPhone 6 Plus
3.023 - Asus Zenfone 4 ZE554KL
3.019 - Sony Xperia XA1
3.012 - Motorola Moto X4
3.012 - Oppo Realme 2
3.006 - Sony Xperia L1
2.994 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - LG Q6
2.987 - Huawei P10 Lite
2.974 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
2.966 - Huawei P20 Lite
2.952 - Xiaomi Redmi 5
2.951 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Sony Xperia XA2
2.938 - Oppo Realme 1
2.932 - Razer Phone 2
2.932 - Xiaomi Redmi 4
2.92 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - Huawei Honor View 10
2.896 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)
2.877 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
2.877 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Nokia 3
2.871 - Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium
2.867 - Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite
2.862 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Nokia 3.1
2.837 - Realme U1
2.815 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Nokia 7.1
2.804 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Honor 10 (Vivid)
2.757 - Nokia 2
2.752 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Huawei Mate 10 (normal)
2.742 - Huawei Honor 7X
2.734 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
2.714 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Xiaomi Mi A2
2.696 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Xiaomi Mi A1
2.689 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - vivo V7+
2.671 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
2.654 - Huawei P Smart
2.563 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
2.561 - HTC U11+
2.556 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1)
2.556 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - Huawei Honor 10 Lite
2.497 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Vivo V7
2.404 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - HTC 10
2.378 - Oppo F3
2.376 - vivo V5 Plus
2.371 - Meizu m1 note
2.362 - Huawei nova plus
2.329 - Razer Phone
2.328 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Apple iPhone 4S
2.269 - Sony Xperia L2
2.266 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - HTC U11+ (EU)
2.253 - LG Aka
2.145 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Xiaomi Mi 4S
2.095 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - vivo V5
2.059 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi 3
2.001 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996
Battery life
The Huawei Mate 20 X is powered by a very large 5,000 mAh battery. The Mate 20 X supports the company's proprietary SuperCharge at 5V and 4.5A. The required cable and charger are bundled with the X and they can fill 47% of a depleted battery in half an hour and reach 100% in about 100 mins.
There is no wireless charging support on the Mate 20 X. That, and the 40W Super Charge support, are reserved for the Mate 20 Pro.
In our testing, the Mate 20 X lasted about 18 hours looping videos and north of 15 hours running our web browsing script. The 3G voice call test returned a 29h talk time.
The overall Endurance rating ended up 108 hours - the best among the three Mate 20 devices we've tested. While the standalone tests are in line with the rest of the gang, the larger battery helped for a better standby endurance and thus the higher battery rating.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSer App. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Huawei Mate 20 X for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Speakers
The Mate 20 X has stereo speakers, but not the one-real-one-pseudo type we've seen on many P and Mate phones lately. No, Huawei has opted for the real deal on the Mate 20 X - true identically large speakers - one at the top and another one at the bottom. And the earpiece is just that - an earpiece.
The maker has improved its speaker game. Both speakers sound equally loud, with deep bass and overall rich output. In fact, we played a music track on all three Mates, the P20 Pro, the iPhone XS, and iPhone X, and the Mate 20 X sounded much better than all of rest.
And after all this praise it shouldn't be a surprise that the Mate 20 X speakers scored an Excellent mark in our loudspeaker test.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 67.1 | 66.2 | 68.1 | Average | |
| 67.9 | 71.6 | 73.7 | Good | |
| 68.1 | 73.2 | 73.7 | Good | |
| 67.8 | 70.0 | 84.2 | Very Good | |
| 68.5 | 71.6 | 83.6 | Very Good | |
| 74.3 | 70.2 | 82.6 | Very Good | |
| 70.7 | 75.2 | 81.2 | Very Good | |
| 70.3 | 73.4 | 83.8 | Very Good | |
| 70.1 | 73.8 | 84.2 | Excellent | |
| 70.5 | 74.0 | 84.7 | Excellent | |
| 71.0 | 75.4 | 82.9 | Excellent | |
| 71.8 | 69.2 | 91.0 | Excellent | |
| 71.4 | 73.5 | 91.1 | Excellent | |
| 79.0 | 77.5 | 84.9 | Excellent | |
| 78.2 | 78.8 | 86.9 | Excellent | |
| 90.6 | 73.7 | 84.0 | Excellent |
Audio quality
Huawei Mate 20 X did well with an active external amplifier, outputting the test tracks with perfect accuracy and high volume.
It also handled headphones perfectly with a well-contained hike in stereo crosstalk the only notable change. Loudness remained well above average too, adding up to a very solid overall performance.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.02, -0.03 | -91.5 | 90.2 | 0.034 | 0.0092 | -91.8 | |
| +0.04, -0.04 | -93.2 | 93.3 | 0.0038 | 0.056 | -69.3 | |
| +0.03, -0.20 | -94.0 | 94.0 | 0.0010 | 0.0066 | -88.1 | |
| +0.48, -0.05 | -92.7 | 92.7 | 0.0077 | 0.373 | -54.9 | |
| +0.02, -0.02 | -93.2 | 93.2 | 0.0014 | 0.072 | -90.6 | |
| +0.09, -0.07 | -92.7 | 92.6 | 0.0033 | 0.151 | -60.9 | |
| +0.02, -0.16 | -92.1 | 92.0 | 0.0017 | 0.013 | -85.6 | |
| +0.07, -0.07 | -92.1 | 92.4 | 0.0021 | 0.106 | -66.5 | |
| +0.01, -0.03 | -93.7 | 93.7 | 0.0017 | 0.0074 | -94.1 | |
| +0.03, -0.02 | -93.6 | 93.5 | 0.0033 | 0.046 | -93.2 |
Huawei Mate 20 X frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Android 9 with EMUI 9, as usual
The Huawei Mate 20 X runs Android 9 Pie under its thoroughly custom EMUI launcher, v9.0 in this instance. The Android purists are guaranteed not to like this combo, but Huawei has been working on its custom skins for years and nobody should have expected vanilla Android anyway.
Huawei has cleaned up the general interface and the settings panel has been simplified by hiding rarely used settings under "advanced" sub-menus in more categories. Huawei's built-in apps are getting updated navigation menus along the bottom of the screen to make them easier to reach.
The benefits of EMUI 9.0 also include GPU Turbo 2.0 support, quicker app starts, and there is a new Password vault.
You get a better Huawei Share too, which can share files with a PC and print documents wirelessly.
A travel assistant by HiVision and in-house developed Digital balance app that tells you how much time you are spending on your phone and gives you the option to limit yourself (the screen will go monochrome after the time is up) are in the package.
But in spite of all the novelties and newer Android version, the EMUI looks familiar so upgraders should feel right at home.
The Mate 20 X doesn't have an under-display fingerprint reader, nor it employs 3D face scanning tech. Just like the Mate 20, the Mate 20 X has a regular fingerprint sensor on its back, an always-on one - very fast and accurate, as usual.
Face Unlock is available, but it just uses the front camera, which means it's less secure and can potentially be fooled by a picture. So, if privacy is of utmost importance, you may want to avoid this option.
You can either embrace the notch, or you can opt to mask it with a black status bar that extends all the way down to the bottom edge of the notch. The Mate 20 X has one of the smallest notches around, so we'd imagine few people would choose to hide it.
Huawei has also implemented its version of the iPhone's gesture navigation - swipe up for Home, swipe up and stop midway for Task switcher, or swipe from the left or right edge of the screen for Back.
Notch control • Gesture navigation
Out of the box, there is no app drawer on the EMUI 9 - it's a single tier interface akin to iOS. However, if you prefer Android's usual two-tier layout, you can enable it from the Display settings.
Lockscreen • Covers • Homescreen • Homescreen styles • Digital Balance • Digital Balance
EMUI has Magazine lock screen, as usual, which cycles through a bunch of wallpapers (covers), so you see a different one every time you fire up the display.
Huawei's EMUI offers plenty of customization and features, smart rotation, and lift to wake. Themes are supported, too, and there is a lot to choose from.
Fingerprint • fingerprint enrolment • Face recognition • Themes
The notification shade is a standard affair, with the usual Huawei take on the graphics. There's a brightness slider and a row of toggles, and you pull down again for more toggles.
Multitasking is a familiar affair too. Tap-holding the Recents key will let you activate the split screen mode. You could have a video playing on top of the two windows if for some reason you find that useful.
Notification area • Toggles • Recent apps • Split screen • Split screen
From the Phone Manager app, you can access shortcuts to storage cleanup, battery settings, blocked numbers, Virus scan powered by Avast, and mobile data usage.
Huawei's own Music app offers a way to listen to stored MP3s, while Huawei's Health app offers Google Fit syncing and step counting. There's a file manager app and a note-taking app. And if you don't like any of those - there is an abundance of alternatives in the Play Store.
There is an improved AI-powered gallery with EMUI 9. In addition to the automatic sorting with highlights, you will get an automatic but editable Spotlight Reel.
There is no FM radio on the Mate 20 X, though.
Finally, Huawei Mate 20 X features an IR blaster on its top side. Thanks to its Smart Remote companion app, you can control all of your appliances with your Mate.
Phone Manager • Music Player • Gallery • Huawei Health • Files • Smart Remote
Kirin 980 powers the Mate 20 X
Huawei Mate 20 X, just like the rest of the Mate 20 family, utilizes the latest Kirin 980 chip by HiSilicon. This is the first chipset in an Android phone built on the 7nm manufacturing process and it's promising plenty of power and efficiency gains over its predecessor and other 10nm chipsets.
All Mate 20 phones use Kirin 980
The Kirin 980 uses an 8-core CPU design with 2x high-performance Cortex-A76 cores running at 2.6GHz and 2x Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 1.92GHz and 4x power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores that go up to 1.8GHz. The processor makes use of ARM's DynamIQ architecture, which is the evolution of big.LITTLE and allows any subset of cores (or all together) to work simultaneously depending on the workload.
Kirin 980 SoC has a Mali-G76 MP10 (ten-core) GPU, which should offer tremendous performance and efficiency gains compared to its predecessor Mali-G72 in the Kirin 970. This is the first time Huawei has a flagship-grade and competitive GPU to show off. And if someone is not convinced that Huawei was way ahead of the completion last October, just look at the newly announced Exynos 9820 chip by Samsung that will power the next generation of Galaxy S and Note - it has the same Mali-G76 GPU but instead of 10, it employs 12 cores.
EMUI 9's GPU Turbo 2.0 is supported by six games in total for the time being. It allows all those games to run smoothly and steady at 60 fps at full resolution. GPU Turbo 2.0 is new, but Huawei is also working with game developers to enable it in even more popular games though we won't be holding our breath.
The 7nm manufacturing process isn't the Kirin 980's only claim to fame. The chipset is also the first to support 2133MHz LPDDR4X memory and incorporates a dedicated dual NPU chip. Huawei calls the latter "Dual-Brain Power" and can help recognize up to 4,500 images per minute, which is around 120% faster than last year's single NPU chip on the Kirin 970 SoC.
And now it's time to run some tests.
Benchmarks
Benchmarks scores have been driving the industry for quite some time. Many Chinese makers try to impress with higher and higher (AnTuTu) results, leading to tampering with the phone performance in order to look favorable in the eyes of the users.
At IFA 2018 in Berlin Huawei officials confirmed that the manufacturer is using benchmark detection software to deliver the best possible results, only because its competitors are doing it and it wouldn't want to be at a disadvantage.
Huawei then promised to make this hidden Performance mode available to anyone and now it's live in the new Mate 20 phones. You can find the switch in the Battery settings. Previous Huawei phones are getting this option soon, too. The Performance mode offers a small speed boost at some occasions, but not for long as the device gets warm and the phone automatically reverts to its safe settings until it cools down.
The results - well, about 10-12% boost across all benchmark tests for the first run. Yes, that's it. You can get a sustainable 5% boost from the regular mode over time, while the 10% bump is for the first few minutes only. So, we are not sure if the extra heat and battery drain are worth the hassle.
The Mate 20 X, no matter regular or performance mode, is on top of the whole Android pile in, when it comes to multi-core processor performance. You can see the 10% gain from the performance mode quite clearly here.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XS Max
11432 - Huawei Mate 20 (perf.)
10138 - Huawei Mate 20 X (perf. mode)
10118 - Huawei Mate 20 Pro (perf.)
10110 - Honor Magic 2
9887 - Huawei Mate 20 X (normal)
9851 - Huawei Mate 20
9793 - Huawei Mate 20 Pro
9712 - ASUS ROG Phone
9230 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 3
9065 - Samsung Galaxy Note9
9026 - Razer Phone 2
8923 - Samsung Galaxy S9+
8883 - Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium
8509 - Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Snapdragon)
8349 - Huawei P20 Pro
6679
The single-core result of the Mate 20 X CPU comes short of the Mongoose cores of the Galaxy Note9. The performance mode helps a bit, but still not quite enough.
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XS Max
4777 - Samsung Galaxy S9+
3771 - Samsung Galaxy Note9
3642 - Huawei Mate 20 X (perf. mode)
3404 - Huawei Mate 20 (perf.)
3401 - Huawei Mate 20 Pro (perf.)
3390 - Honor Magic 2
3316 - Huawei Mate 20 Pro
3291 - Huawei Mate 20
3284 - Huawei Mate 20 X (normal)
3277 - ASUS ROG Phone
2514 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 3
2429 - Razer Phone 2
2424 - Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium
2419 - Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Snapdragon)
2199 - Huawei P20 Pro
1907
The Kirin 980 chipset has Mali-G76 10-core GPU in charge of graphics. The performance, while an improvement over the previous Kirin 970, wasn't that impressive on the Mate 20 Pro because of the higher 1440p resolution. The Mate 20 X, on the other hand, has a less needy 1080p display and should offer better, if not chart-topping performance.
In terms of sheer power, the Mate 20 X is as powerful than the Snapdragon 845's Adreno GPU.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XS Max
99 - Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Snapdragon)
61 - ASUS ROG Phone
60 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 3
60 - Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium
58 - Huawei Mate 20
55
55
54
53
53
53
51
47
45
40
The onscreen performance is top-notch as the Mate 20 X has an edge over the 1440p-boasting flagship crop.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XS Max
60 - Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium
57 - ASUS ROG Phone
54 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 3
52 - Huawei Mate 20 (perf.)
51 - Huawei Mate 20 X (perf. mode)
49 - Huawei Mate 20
47 - Honor Magic 2
45 - Huawei P20 Pro
37 - Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Snapdragon)
34 - Razer Phone 2
33 - Huawei Mate 20 Pro
27 - Huawei Mate 20 Pro (perf.)
27 - Samsung Galaxy Note9
25 - Samsung Galaxy S9+
24
The compound benchmark AnTuTu confirms the flagship nature of the new Kirin 980 chipset. If performance mode is enabled, both Mates score 10% higher and come on top of both charts beating the rest of the Android gang.
AnTuTu 7
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XS Max
353210 - Huawei Mate 20 (perf.)
308307 - Huawei Mate 20 Pro (perf.)
308050 - Huawei Mate 20 X (perf. mode)
304403 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 3
292353 - ASUS ROG Phone
290975 - Razer Phone 2
285051 - Honor Magic 2
274466 - Huawei Mate 20 Pro
273913 - Huawei Mate 20
273913 - Huawei Mate 20 X (normal)
267358 - Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium
264734 - Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Snapdragon)
264044 - Samsung Galaxy Note9
248823 - Samsung Galaxy S9+
246660 - Huawei P20 Pro
209884
The Mate 20 X is not only as powerful as Huawei advertises it to be, but one of the most powerful Android smartphones right now. The chip offers the fastest processor on the Android market, as usual, while its GPU punch is on par to that of the most current Adreno by Qualcomm and is quite future-proof given the fact that the next generation of Galaxy flagships will be utilizing the same GPU.
The Kirin 980 is manufactured on the cutting-edge 7nm process, but if you expected it not to heat up - you'd be wrong. The chip does release a reasonable amount of heat and the Mate 20 X does have one hot warm spot around its camera when you subject it to a lot of pressure. The phone won't go as hot as the previous Mates though, not even as the most recent Mate 20 and 20 Pro, probably because of its larger body. Some throttling may occur after running consecutive benchmark tests but only then.
The performance mode unlocks the full potential of the Kirin 980, which gave us a 10% boost in benchmark scores. Running the phone at room temperature in this mode makes the phone quickly heat up, then it throttles things down a bit, and you only get about 5% of sustainable benefit after that.
The Mate 20 X runs buttery-smooth its operating system and there is not a single game that won't run flawlessly at 1080p resolution. Overall, the Kirin 980 is one of those chipsets worth having in your phone and bragging with its speed. And while we can't consider the Mate 20 X as better than Nintendo Switch, it's not because it lacks the punch - it's simply not an (optimized) gaming console but a brilliant all-in-one device.
The triple camera from the Mate 20 Pro
The Huawei Mate 20 X has the same triple-camera that premiered on the Mate 20 Pro. This means the primary is a 40MP camera with f/1.8 lens. It spits 10MP photos by default as due to the Quad-Bayer filter this is its native resolution, but if you feel like it - you can still opt to save the 40MP image.
There is also an 8MP snapper with 80mm f/2.4 long-range lens and optical stabilization - once again lifted from the P20 Pro.
Finally, the monochrome camera has been replaced with an ultra-wide-angle 16mm 20MP snapper behind a f/2.2 lens.
As an added bonus to the ultra-wide-angle camera, Huawei says everyone will be able to shoot some impressive macro shots with all cameras as the phone can focus from as close as 2.5cm.
Huawei likes to mark its zoom as 3x optical and 5x hybrid, just like on the Pro. You will find 3x and 5x options in its camera app, while the wide-angle camera is called 0.6x. Well, if we have to be technically correct, when you compare the focal lengths of the wide and tele ends (16-80mm in 35mm terms), we'd say the Mate 20 X offers a 5x optical zoom as opposed to 3x. Even when the hybrid magnification adds a bit on top of that, you essentially get an overall 8x magnification. Of course, this is only a nuance in wording and would not concern regular users, but we just wanted to mention this to avoid any confusion. When presenting the camera samples below, you will see we name the cameras as Huawei does.
The camera app is enhanced by Huawei's AI just as before. There is Master AI 2.0, which can now recognize and tune settings for up to 1,500 different scenes. Huawei has made it less aggressive on the trees and skies, after the negative feedback they received for the P20 Pro where the Greenery and Blue Sky modes were over the top. We are happy with the presets used on the Mate 20 X but if you'd like to keep the Master AI turned off, the switch for that is hidden in the Camera app's Settings page.
Photo • Aperture • Pro • All modes • Settings • Settings
The camera app itself hasn't changed much since the Huawei P20 Pro. First off, you have a mode selector on the bottom. You swipe left or right to change modes, but you can't swipe on the viewfinder, just on the selector itself. Swiping up and down doesn't switch between front and rear camera either, you have a button for that (admittedly, it's at the bottom within easy reach). Basically, you're still wasting the viewfinder by not having gestures enabled on it, except for pinch to zoom.
As for zooming, a tap on the '1x' button in the viewfinder toggles consecutively the '3x' (80mm), 5x (135mm), and the 0.6x (16mm) cameras. The 5x mode is what Huawei refers to as hybrid zoom (as opposed to optical one). The camera tandem will work in conjunction to deliver a sharp and detailed image, quite successfully as you'll see.
There's a Pro mode here where you can adjust parameters yourself - ISO (50 to 102,400), shutter speed (1/4000s to 30s), exposure compensation (-4 to +4EV in 1/3 stop increments), and white balance (presets and light temperature). You can also choose the metering mode (matrix, center-weighted and spot), and the focus mode (single, continuous and manual). If the phone thinks you messed up the exposure, an icon will pop up to warn you.
The monochrome mode is still available in spite of the Mate 20 X not having a B&W camera. It's in the 'More' section, where the extra modes are: Monochrome, Panorama, and HDR, among others.
Since bokeh effects became all the rage, Huawei phones have had both a Portrait mode, and an Aperture mode. There's now more differentiation than ever between the two. In Aperture you can choose the simulated aperture in the range from f/0.95 to f/16. Post shot, you can change the aperture and the focus point within the Gallery.
In Portrait mode you can enable and disable the background blur (why disable it, though), but you can also choose the bokeh shapes - circles, hearts, swirl or discs - and those turned out really nice! You can also opt for simulated lighting, and you can even add some beautification on a scale from 0 to 10.
Portrait • Portrait Lighting • Portrait Blur • Portrait Beauty
The Mate 20 X records video up to 4K resolution at 30fps - there's still no 4K/60fps mode, though. You can, however, choose between h.264 and h.265.
There's super slow-mo recording as well, in what's become the industry-standard 720p/960fps, as well as 'regular' slow-mo in 720p/240 and 1080p/120fps. While the regular slow-mo clips are only limited in length by your free storage, the super slow-mo clips last precisely 10s - 6s of slow-mo and two seconds of regular speed action on both ends.
Huawei is offering the so-called HiVision smart assistant as part of the camera app. It's basically a smart lens, which automatically recognizes landmarks, art, and food. Some of the smart functions include text translation and calories count.
Huawei HiVision
Image quality
The default (wide-angle or 1x) photos come from the 40MP sensor, and after the phone works its magic on them, it saves a resulting 10MP image. There is one easy rule with the Mate 20 X - if the ultra-wide-angle camera didn't take it, then it's a 10MP photo. That's right; even the 8MP zoom camera spits out 10MP images - go figure!
Anyway, the 1x photos which are captured during the day are as flagship-level as they come. There is plenty of detail, impressive dynamic range, lively and accurate colors, superb contrast, and, overall, very nice rendition. The images are sharp enough, but not over-sharpened.
Huawei Mate 20 X (1x) 10MP samples
If you really need to shoot in 40MP - you ca do it - but the samples you'll get are far from impressive. The resolved detail is nothing impressive, the images are soft and noisy, and while they get to keep the great dynamic range, the photos were never meant to be the ones you keep for the generations. We shot all the scenes in 40MP as well, and you can see for yourself why you shouldn't use this option. Oh, and the files are 15, sometimes even 20MB big.
Huawei Mate 20 X (1x) 40MP samples
The 80mm tele camera is only 8MP, but the photos we get out it are 10MP, so we suspect the 40MP one lends a hand through some image stacking because the '3x' shots turn out as great looking as the regular 1x ones without any signs of upscaling. They are sharp and detailed, bringing your subjects closer. The color, contrast, and dynamic range are equally brilliant, even if the noise levels are a tiny little bit higher.
Huawei Mate 20 X (3x) 10MP samples
The hybrid 5x zoom is digital, and you can tell right away. Huawei enhances the digital zoom by combining information from two of the snappers, and the photos come up somewhat better than if you were to zoom and crop the 3x pics by yourself. It's not a ground-breaking boost, but the benefit is still noticeable.
Huawei Mate 20 X (5x) 10MP samples
Finally, we snapped some 20MP shots with the ultra-wide-angle camera, too. There is enough resolved detail in those images. The color rendition is excellent, true to life, the noise levels are more than tolerable, and the dynamic range is often superb, probably due to the multi-stacking magic.
There is noticeable corner softness and visible chromatic aberrations, but it was to be expected with such a wide lens. Those don't ruin the picture and are quite hard to spot if you are not pixel peeping from up close.
Huawei Mate 20 X (0.6x) 20MP samples
The ultra-wide-angle cam can also do for macro shots just like the other cameras. These are quite good in quality and will do for the occasional shooting of flower petals, bugs, and other tiny peculiar things. Yes, chromatic aberration is still noticeable here and there, but it's inevitable.
Huawei Mate 20 X (0.6x) 20MP closeup samples
Master AI ver.2.0 is available on the Mate 20 X and it no longer gets you oversaturated Greenery and Blue Skies photos. If the phone recognizes a Blue Sky or Greenery scene, the algorithm applies only some contrast boost and minor saturation of the blues or greens. But nothing over the top as on the P20 Pro.
Normal • Master AI • Normal • Master AI
Huawei has always tried to excel in low-light photography and the Mate 20 X has the maker's most advanced setup and algorithms to date.
The 10MP low-light photos we took with the regular 1x camera are very impressive. It has bright f/1.8 aperture and even though it lacks optical stabilization, the shutter speed won't go lower than 1/20s, so blurred images are highly unlikely.
The pictures are very good - enough detail for a low-light scene, nice exposure, excellent contrast, and some nice-looking colors.
Huawei Mate 20 X (1x) 10MP low-light samples
The Mate 20 X has the company's signature Night mode. It will produce some stunning results, even if it has its limitations. It creates pseudo long exposures by stacking multiple frames gathering light along the way. We're talking three-, sometimes five-second-long hand-held exposures which would otherwise result in a blurry mess. Those are not always keepers and you still need to have a reasonably steady hand, but you'll be getting usable photos in situations you'd otherwise get none. The phone also does a remarkable job of retaining color where others would lose saturation.
If the phone is mounted on a tripod and you opt for the Night Mode, it will shoot for 12 seconds and you will get one very impressive shot, sharper than if done handheld, and with barely noticeable moving objects such as people or cars. The first image from the samples below was shot on a tripod, while the rest were captured handheld.
Huawei Mate 20 X (1x) 10MP Night Mode samples
The optical zoom doesn't work at night. Instead, the phone digitally zooms and then crops from an image taken with the regular snapper. The telephoto snapper has darker f/2.4 lens, which explains why Huawei isn't even trying to use it.
The 20MP camera has f/2.2 aperture and isn't optically stabilized, so the regular low-light photos are rather disappointing. You can see what's on them, but they are blurry, and the noise reduction has smeared a lot of the fine detail.
Huawei Mate 20 X (0.6x) 20MP low-light samples
The Night Mode works with the ultra-wide-angle camera, too, but the pictures are not as impressive as the ones from the regular wide-angle shooter. So, better stick with the default camera for those.
Huawei Mate 20 X (0.6x) 20MP Night Mode samples
And here you can see how the Mate 20 X cameras compare against other Huawei snappers in our extensive pixel-peeking database.
10MP: Huawei Mate 20 X vs. Mate 20 Pro vs. P20 Pro in our Photo compare tool
10MP: Huawei Mate 20 X vs. Mate 20 Pro 3x zoom vs. P20 Pro 3x zoom in our Photo compare tool
40MP: Huawei Mate 20 X vs. Mate 20 Pro vs. P20 Pro in our Photo compare tool
Portraits
Huawei Mate 20 X has three cameras on its back and would have been inexcusable if Portrait Mode wasn't present. You can't choose the blur strength as you could before, though. Instead, you can use one of the few bokeh highlights shapes - circles, hearts, swirl or discs.
The subject separation is fine, not the best we've seen, but still. The different effects are also a departure from what we're used to seeing, and we found them cool and a breath of fresh air.
Huawei Mate 20 X 10MP Portraits with different bokeh effects
Then there are Portrait Lighting effects, which also have a passable subject separation, but weren't our cup of tea.
Huawei Mate 20 X 10MP Portraits with different Lightning effects
Finally, in addition to those blur and/or lighting effects, you can also use various skin and face beautifications, but we didn't dig deep there.
Aperture
The Mate 20 X also features the so-called Aperture Mode. It lets you do post-shot re-focusing and simulates apertures in the f/0.95-f/16 range. It is used for non-human subjects and does well with the subject isolation even with more complex shapes.
f/1 • f/2 • f/4 • f/16
f/1 • f/2 • f/16
Selfies
The Mate 20 X features one very familiar selfie camera - a 24MP f/2.0 snapper with fixed focus for selfies at the front, borrowed from the P20 series. It can do portraits with various effects as usual.
We'd trade half of those megapixels for autofocus any time, or, at least, for a focus sweetspot that's further from the phone, because as things stand right now, you need to shoot your face from pretty close for it to be in sharp focus. So as long as you stay within the camera's fixed focus sweet spot, the level of detail is quite amazing. Colors are faithfully represented, and dynamic range is good for a selfie camera.
Huawei Mate 20 X 24MP selfies
There is AI HDR turned on by default for the selfies and we strongly recommend leaving it on. It does a splendid job in recovering what's lost from the highlights and makes for a massive improvement in the dynamic range.
The front camera has the same Portrait mode as the main one, but the subject separation is far inferior. You can see ears and hair have gone missing on some of the shots. The cool blur effects have made it to the selfie portrait mode, too, which is nice.
Huawei Mate 20 X 24MP Selfie Portraits with different bokeh effects
And you can, of course, use Portrait Lighting effects, if those are your thing.
Huawei Mate 20 X 24MP Selfie Portraits with different Lightning effects
Video recording
The Huawei Mate 20 X isn't introducing any new shooting modes over the P20 Pro or the other Mate 20 phones, which means there is still no 4K at 60fps. You have a choice between the h.264 and h.265 codecs.
There is an always-on electronic stabilization available in every mode but it's not as good when shooting at 1080p/60fps. The EIS won't work on the optically-stabilized telephoto camera either and footage from that is extremely jerky.
You can shoot video with each camera in any resolution and use the 0.6x, 1x, 3x, and 5x triggers as you prefer. Oddly, we found out that in 1080p at 60fps the 3x footage is not from the telephoto camera but is digitally zoomed from the normal one.
The 4K footage from the main camera is very good - there is more than enough resolved detail, excellent dynamic range, true to life colors and superb contrast, and the picture is sharp enough but not over-sharpened.
The 4K clips from the ultra-wide-angle and telephoto camera are good, but not as good. The picture is softer, the noise levels spike, and the resolved detail isn't on par. Still, those are pretty usable.
The 5x zoom works in videos, too, and while it looks purely digital, it does a pretty fine job at zooming and capturing what's happening, so don't be afraid to use it.
The 1080p footage looks somewhat sharper and these are among the better 1080p videos we've seen. The resolved detail is great, as are the colors, contrast, and the dynamic range. There is a drop in the quality when you switch to 3x and 5x, but the videos are still perfectly usable.
The 1080p videos at 60fps have a reduced field of view, but other than that, they are pretty much on par with the 30fps ones as far as picture quality is concerned. The telephoto camera doesn't work in 60fps, though.
As usual, we've provided samples straight out of the camera for you to download - 2160p@30fps normal (10s, 30MB), 2160p@30fps 3x zoom (10s, 32MB), 2160p@30fps 5x zoom (10s, 34MB), 2160p@30fps ultra-wide-angle (11s, 31MB), 1080p@30fps normal (10s, 15MB), 1080p@30fps 3x zoom (10s, 14MB), 1080p@30fps 5x zoom (10s, 15MB), 1080p@30fps ultra-wide-angle (10s, 13MB), 1080p@60fps normal (11s, 25MB), and 1080p@60fps ultra-wide-angle (13s, 27MB).
Finally, you can use our Video Compare Tool to see how the Huawei Mate 20 X cameras stack against others when it comes to video capture.
2160p: Huawei Mate 20 X against the Mate 20 Pro and the Mate 20 in our Video compare tool
2160p Ultra-Wide: Huawei Mate 20 X against the Mate 20 Pro and the Mate 20 in our Video compare tool
Final thoughts
We have never been keen on Huawei's flagship fragmentation and it's getting worse with each new series. While we could get behind the release of a normal and Pro model for the P series, the Mate versions never really made sense. And the Mate 20 lineup is not an exception, on the contrary.
The Mate 20 Pro is the model intended for the global market, but the mere presence of this Pro moniker hints for other options. And if a customer wants to see them, well, they are not available to him. This just doesn't make sense, at all.
Mate 20 X between the Mate 20 Pro and Mate 20
But it is what it is, and the Mate 20 X is finally available for purchase outside China. It took four months for Huawei to begin selling this in Europe, and it's only official in a couple of markets, but that's a huge step in the right direction. On top of that, various online retailers are shipping the Mate 20 X across the world, so pretty much anybody can get it now.
The Mate 20 X was shaping as the best Mate 20 phone owing to its massive screen, gaming skills, class-leading camera, S-Pen-like stylus, and huge battery, but Huawei never really meant to push its sales. While it could have been the Pro model, the maker instead considered it more of a limited fan edition, rather than a full-fledged package.
Here is hoping the Mate 20 X does sell well and Huawei reconsiders what the Mate 30 series should look like next fall.
The Competition
The Mate 20 X has the largest screen in a smartphone so far, flagship camera, chipset and all, and this is quite enough to leave it without competition.
The only phone to come close to Huawei's behemoth is the Xiaomi's Mi Max 3 with a 6.9" 1080p LCD screen. The Mi Max 3 is a mid-ranger with a Snapdragon 636 chipset, but other than that, it offers one very good 12MP camera with large pixels, a massive 5,500 mAh battery, and is super cheap at about €250.
Speaking of Xiaomi, its most current large phone is the flagship Mi Mix 3 slider, which has a notch-less 6.4" 1080 AMOLED, Snapdragon 845 chip and great all-round camera experience. It's cheaper than the Mate 20 X, but you'd be losing the extra camera skills.
The Galaxy Note9 with its 6.4" QHD AMOLED screen is Samsung's offer if you want a phablet, and it ships with an S-Pen and a dedicated slot for it within the Note's body. It's equally powerful, the screen doesn't have a notch, and is now cheaper than the X, too.
Vivo's NEX S has a 6.6" AMOLED screen, notch-free as well, flagship-grade Snapdragon 845 chip, and a good-enough camera. It's as limited as the Mate 20 X, if not more, but it might be cheaper where officially available. If you are after a smartphone with a large screen, you should check this one out. The pop-up selfie camera might not be your thing, though, so you have been warned.
Finally, Apple has the iPhone XS Max with a 6.5" 1242p AMOLED screen and is probably best equipped to compete with the Mate 20 X despite the different operating system. The iPhone's screen has an eyesore of a notch, sure, but is one of the largest screens around. Then Apple's A12 Bionic chip is currently the fastest chipset in a smartphone. The XS Max is fully water-proofed, but while its camera is quite capable, it is not as versatile as the Mate's and lacks Night Mode. The XS Max is a bit more expensive than the Mate 20 X.
And of course, if you оьхъщ a Huawei like the Mate 20 X, but a bit smaller and cheaper, you can always go for the Mate 20 Pro or Mate 20.
Xiaomi Mi Max 3 • Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 • Samsung Galaxy Note9 • vivo NEX S • Apple iPhone XS Max
The Verdict
The Huawei Mate 20 X is not everyone's cup of tea because of that giant 7.2" screen. While it is a joy for gamers, it might be a nightmare as a daily driver because of that size. Then again, the Mate 20 X is about 15-17mm taller than the most recent bunch of phablets - the Galaxy Note9, iPhone XS Max, Mi Mix 3 - so its footprint might be not so tough to stomach after all.
And if size is what you are after, the rest is as flagship-grade as it can get right now. The Kirin 980 chipset is one of the best, the triple-camera on the back might be the most-skilled setups to date, and the battery life is pretty awesome. There are also some nice touches like the true stereo speakers, the audio jack, and the stylus support if you need one.
Overall, the Huawei Mate 20 X is one of the best flagships right now, even four months after its premiere. No other modern phone can match its screen size, and this alone could have won Huawei the whole phablet category. If only Huawei has thought this through last fall...
Pros
- Excellent 7.2" AMOLED screen, game-friendly resolution
- Long-lasting battery, fast charging available
- Class-leading chipset and performance
- One of the best camera setups money can buy in a smartphone
- True stereo speakers, loud at that with flagship-worthy output
- M-Pen support, if that's your thing
- Audio port, IR blaster
Cons
- Is not water-tight, just splash resistant
- No wireless charging, no LED notification light
- Proprietary memory cards with limited availability
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