Delayed Huawei Mate X could power-up with new processor and upgraded camera

Huawei Mate X was supposed to launch next month after the Shenzhen-based company pushed back its June release date. However, the folding flagship phone has been pushed back again, with the next attempt to get the handset onto store shelves worldwide purportedly planned for sometime in November.

If Huawei takes much longer, it'll be dangerously close to a full year since the hotly-anticipated Mate X was unveiled at MWC (and we spent some time testing it!).

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According to a report from Neowin, the foldable phone that eventually arrives later this year will be a little different from the one we tested at MWC earlier this year.

First up, Neowin claims Huawei will upgrade the Mate X with an as-yet unannounced chipset, most likely to be branded as Kirin 990. The same system-on-a-chip will be used to power the next-generation Huawei Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro. 

Furthermore, Huawei is believed to be looking to upgrade the camera technology in the folding Mate X to the same as its P30 Pro launched earlier this year, which was a dramatic step forward in terms of optical and AI-assisted zoom, as well as low-light photography. 

Most importantly, these tweaks should mean the Huawei Mate X feels like a flagship smartphone when it launches towards the end of the year, rather than a year-old handset that's been gathering dust in a warehouse for 12 months while every one of its competitors shipped better cameras and newer specs.

Elsewhere, it seems like the specs will remain largely the same – a speedy 5G chipset, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a 4,500mAh battery cell. Huawei seems to be keeping the fold on the outside of the phone, rather than on the inside – like closing a paperback novel – as the Samsung Galaxy Fold has opted to do.

There's no word on the rest of the phone's specs. Originally, the Mate X was said to come with a fast 5G chip, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a 4,500mAh battery. 

And the operating system? Well, that's a little tougher to pin down at the moment. Google has confirmed that new Huawei-built hardware will not be able to run its apps, including the likes of Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps – or anything else currently available in the Google Play Store for that matter.

The restriction is the result of the ongoing US trade ban with the Shenzhen-based company.