Tag Archives: huawei

Huawei Finally Fixed the One Flaw That Followed Its Tri-Fold Phone

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Huawei’s original tri-fold phone made headlines for unfolding into a tablet, but closing it back down left one part of the flexible screen exposed to scratches and pocket grit. The Mate XT 2 Ultimate Design fixes that flaw at the architecture level, not with a case. Instead of the old zigzag fold, a new wing-style hinge tucks both sides of the screen inward, so every part of the display faces itself once it’s closed.

That trick rests on a second-generation hinge system built around a dual-axis wing structure and an industry-first connecting-rod synchronization mechanism, keeping both folding axes moving in perfect step. The load-bearing core uses 2,400 MPa steel arranged in a five-arm arc, an upgrade that pushes overall impact resistance up 100 percent and drop resistance up 90 percent compared to the outgoing model.

Designer: Huawei

Unfold it fully, and a 10.2-inch 3K OLED panel spreads out at a 90Hz refresh rate, easily the largest screen tri-fold owners have gotten yet. Keep it folded and a 6.5-inch cover display takes over instead, running at 120Hz with peak brightness reaching 6,500 nits. Switching between the two feels less like opening a phone and more like choosing between a notebook and a full tablet.

A hardware privacy mode sits at the center of that inner display too, using an independent dual-pixel design that narrows the viewing cone from the sides while keeping the view sharp head-on. A double tap on the cover screen or a dedicated shortcut key switches it on, so a crowded train seat or an open-plan desk doesn’t turn into a screen-sharing session anyone asked for.

Protection extends to the materials themselves. The cover glass gets a Kunlun treatment that survives 30 times more drops and 16 times more scratches than ordinary glass, while the inner screen layers ultra-thin aerospace-grade steel and carbon fiber beneath the display for 200 percent better impact resistance. Over 120 sealing points across the body also make this the first tri-fold rated IP58 and IP59 for dust and water.

The rear camera module carries the distinctive octagon shape that Huawei’s flagships have been sporting for quite some time now. Underneath sit a 50MP main sensor with a variable aperture, a 40MP ultra-wide lens, and a 50MP periscope telephoto capable of 100x digital zoom. A third-generation color engine tunes the results for tones that hold up without heavy editing.

Powering all of it is the Kirin 9050 Pro, built on Huawei’s LogicFolding architecture rather than a conventional layout, which the company says raises transistor density by 53.5 percent and clock speeds by 12.7 percent. HarmonyOS 7 takes advantage of the extra room by running three apps side by side on the unfolded display, treating the tri-fold shape as a genuine workspace instead of a novelty.

None of this bulks up the phone the way its spec sheet suggests. A 5,600mAh battery charges at 66W over a cable or 50W wirelessly, and the whole device still folds down to 12.3mm while weighing 299 grams. Pricing starts at CNY 19,999 (approximately $2,800) in China, climbing to CNY 29,999 (approximately $4,200) for the privacy-screen version bundled with a stylus.

The post Huawei Finally Fixed the One Flaw That Followed Its Tri-Fold Phone first appeared on Yanko Design.

Huawei’s FreeBuds Neo Are Small Enough to Forget, Loud Enough Not To

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Huawei’s FreeBuds Neo makes a case for restraint, proving a pair of earbuds can shrink in size without shrinking in ambition. Announced globally to launch at IFA 2026, the FreeBuds Neo pairs noise cancellation with a shape built for long days of wear, arriving in four colorways that read more like a fashion accessory than typical tech hardware. It’s a design that treats comfort as a feature worth engineering around, not an afterthought.

That comfort starts with the numbers. Each earbud weighs only approximately 4.8 g, and Huawei built that lightness around a significant number of real human ear feature data points, delivering an ergonomic, pressure-relieving fit that achieves even pressure distribution for pain-free long-term wear. Simulation tests replicating high-frequency movement led to design tweaks in areas prone to loosening, so the buds stay anchored through workouts, commutes, and everything in between.

Designer: Huawei

The Mini shuttle case carries that same restraint into its shape, presenting a fully curved form, with a sleek and minimalist silhouette and a lightweight body that slips into a pocket without adding bulk. Four color options, Stellar Silver, Nebula Pink, Ice White, and Starry Black, let the case double as a small style statement rather than a purely functional accessory. The Light Mini Stem carries that philosophy further, conforming to the ear’s contours for a fit that looks as refined as it feels.

Underneath that compact shell, Huawei packs a dual-channel noise cancellation architecture that optimizes sound paths, cutting down medium and high-frequency noise, like wind and ambient chatter, for a full-frequency depth of up to 30dB. A third-gen audio chip handles the heavy lifting, reacting to shifting noise within milliseconds so a subway platform one moment and a quiet office the next don’t require manually adjusting anything.

Sound quality gets its own upgrade courtesy of an all-new Turbo driver unit, stretching frequency response from 10Hz up to 48kHz. That range keeps bass hitting hard on a commute playlist while vocals and instruments stay clear during a podcast or a video call, recreating the texture of a live performance rather than a compressed streaming file. Paired with a Huawei phone, the buds support up to 2.3Mbps of lossless transmission, dropping to a still-respectable 990kbps over LDAC with other devices.

Huawei also built in unlimited spatial audio, using its own algorithms to wrap sound in a 360-degree soundstage regardless of source or device, so a movie watched on a laptop can feel as enveloping as one streamed through a dedicated app. Cross-platform support rounds out that flexibility, breaking down ecosystem barriers to work across Android, iOS, and Windows, with dual-device connections that let someone switch from a work laptop to a phone call without digging through Bluetooth menus.

Pricing lands at £119.99 (around $162) when the FreeBuds Neo arrives in the UK on 23 September 2026, positioning it as a mid-range option against pricier flagship earbuds. Between the lightweight fit, the four-color palette, and noise cancellation tuned for shifting environments, Huawei seems to be betting that people want earbuds that disappear into daily routines rather than demand constant attention.

The post Huawei’s FreeBuds Neo Are Small Enough to Forget, Loud Enough Not To first appeared on Yanko Design.

Huawei Finally Made a Blood Pressure Watch That Looks Like Jewelry

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Huawei used IFA 2026 to show that a smartwatch can care for you in two very different ways without ever feeling like two different products. The HUAWEI WATCH 6 Series and the HUAWEI WATCH D3 launched together, one built around elegance and daily versatility, the other built around round-the-clock medical monitoring. Both treat the wrist as a place worth designing carefully, just toward different ends.

The WATCH 6 leads with restraint. Huawei carries forward the sleek, minimalist design legacy of the WATCH family, introducing a timeless aesthetic that exudes sophistication, and backs that look with real engineering. The 42mm model claims the lightest design in the history of the HUAWEI WATCH Series at just 38g and 10.2mm thin, while the 46mm version leans into a durable stainless-steel case for anyone who prefers heft on their wrist.

Designer: Huawei

Huawei Watch 6

Four finishes carry that design further, from Black Stainless Steel to a Gold Aluminum Alloy paired with a soft pink strap, each fitted with the new HUAWEI EasyCross Strap for a smoother, more breathable fit. The Pro tier pushes materials even harder, with a Space Edition pairing a black ceramic bezel against gold detailing, and a 43mm model marking the first all-ceramic watch in Huawei’s lineup, finished with 18K gold accents for a genuinely jewelry-like presence.

Underneath that shell, the WATCH 6 quietly tracks a lot. An upgraded X-TAP pulls up a full Health Glance with one touch, spanning 11 metrics across basic, endocrine, cardiovascular, and respiratory categories. A new Diet clover rounds out Huawei’s four-leaf wellness model, nudging users toward balanced habits around exercise, sleep, mood, and food instead of just logging numbers nobody revisits.

Connectivity rounds out the experience without demanding constant phone contact. Built-in eSIM keeps calls and messages flowing through a swim or a run, while Safety Check quietly shares location and status with family during less predictable moments. A new wrist rotation gesture lets someone scroll through menus with a flick, freeing the other hand for a coffee cup, a leash, or a set of keys.

Huawei Watch 6

Set beside all that polish, the WATCH D3 takes a more clinical approach, though it never abandons comfort to get there. At 11.3mm thick and 40g, paired with a 25.5mm ultra-narrow airbag strap, the watch stays slim enough to sleep in without leaving a mark. Three finishes, Black, White, and Mocha Gold, keep it looking like an accessory rather than a piece of medical equipment.

Huawei Watch D3

That comfort matters because the D3 asks more of its wearer than a typical smartwatch. A mechanical airbag delivers effective compression and precise sensing across a minimal skin-contact area, paired with a high-precision sensor for readings that hold up against actual blood pressure cuffs. Huawei built in 24-hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring, quietly inflating overnight with reduced noise so sleep tracking and blood pressure tracking can finally happen at the same time.

A dedicated pre- and post-exercise measurement mode adds a layer most fitness trackers skip entirely, checking whether blood pressure sits in a safe range before a workout begins and tracking how it shifts once the effort is over. That monitoring carries real weight too, having earned CE marking under the EU Medical Device Regulation, a certification that puts the D3 closer to clinical hardware than typical wearables ever get.

Family features tie the D3’s data into something more useful than a personal log. Health Community lets users view a parent’s or partner’s Health Glance, blood pressure, heart rate, and SpO2 readings from their own wrist, with real-time alerts triggering if something looks off. It turns a single watch’s readings into a small, informal support system for whoever’s paying attention.

Both watches launch in the UK from £399.99 (around $540), with the WATCH 6 Pro topping the range at £599.99 (around $810). Seen together, the WATCH 6 and WATCH D3 make the case that Huawei isn’t chasing one definition of a smartwatch, but building toward two: one dressed for a dinner reservation, the other quietly watching over blood pressure while its wearer sleeps.

The post Huawei Finally Made a Blood Pressure Watch That Looks Like Jewelry first appeared on Yanko Design.

Huawei Just Made a Watch That Tracks Your Skiing Inside, Without Real Snow

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Huawei built the WATCH GT 7 Series around a simple idea: that a smartwatch meant for the outdoors shouldn’t have to wait for good weather or a full calendar to be useful. Unveiled at IFA 2026, the series unites bold design, advanced outdoor capabilities, and comprehensive health monitoring to deliver a smarter, more capable wearable experience. It’s a watch built to follow someone from a ski lodge to a coastal bike route without missing a beat.

That versatility starts with fit. The WATCH GT 7 comes in 46mm and 41mm sizes across eight colorways, from a woven pink strap to sun-bright yellow silicone, while the Pro model steps up its materials with a nano-tech ceramic bezel and a titanium alloy middle frame. A fluoroelastomer strap using Huawei’s EasyCross design keeps everything secured whether someone’s typing at a desk or crouched into a bike’s drop bars.

Designer: Huawei

Where the GT 7 earns its outdoor reputation is in a new suite of snow sports features that don’t require snow to actually fall. Indoor snow sports modes remove seasonal and geographical constraints, letting a multi-sensor array detect skiing or snowboarding activity and track training time by reading posture and elevation changes, even when GPS signal disappears entirely inside an indoor slope facility.

Huawei Watch GT 7

Outdoors, that same intelligence sharpens further. Riders get access to maps for more than 3,000 ski resorts worldwide, downloaded through the Huawei Health app and synced instantly, useful for a beginner trying to avoid an accidental black diamond or an expert hunting for a faster line down a familiar run. A new Turn Detection feature counts short and long turns by calculating turning radius, while G-Force detection measures the centrifugal pull of a sharp carve.

Huawei Watch GT 7 Pro

Team-Up rounds out the slope-focused features, letting a group track each other’s locations and performance metrics in real time, so nobody has to guess where the rest of the party ended up after a run splits everyone apart. It’s a detail built less for solo athletes chasing a personal record and more for families or friend groups navigating a mountain together.

Cycling gets its own dedicated toolkit too. Climb Planning generates a profile of upcoming elevation gains before a ride even starts, while Climb Broadcast reports live gradient and remaining distance mid-ascent. Sharp Turn Alerts step in with haptic and voice warnings if someone barrels into a bend too fast, a small addition that could matter far more than its size suggests on a descent like the coastal road these watches were clearly built to handle.

Health tracking ties all that activity back into daily life through an upgraded Physical Readiness score, blending sleep quality, heart rate variability, emotion, and calories burned into a five-level recovery snapshot each morning. Rather than dumping raw numbers on a screen, Huawei frames the data as a quick read before the day even begins, useful whether someone’s deciding to push hard or hold back.

Battery life backs up all that tracking, with high-silicon stacked batteries pushing the GT 7 Pro and 46mm models to as long as 21 days per charge under light use. Add contactless payments through Curve Pay and compatibility across iOS and Android, and the GT 7 starts looking less like a fitness tracker and more like a travel companion that happens to count steps.

Pricing starts at £279.99 (around $378) for the WATCH GT 7, climbing to £379.99 (around $513) for the Pro model, positioning the series comfortably below premium sports watches from rival brands. Between the ceramic finishes, the resort maps, and the sheer range of conditions it’s built to track, Huawei’s newest GT model reads like a watch designed for people who treat a change in season as an excuse to keep moving.

The post Huawei Just Made a Watch That Tracks Your Skiing Inside, Without Real Snow first appeared on Yanko Design.

We just reinvented Phablets: Huawei’s Wide-body Pura X View feels oddly nostalgic to the touch

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Seventy percent of Samsung’s record 1.44 million Galaxy Z8 series pre-orders went to the wide 4:3 model over the traditional tall one, a number that makes product planners cancel their afternoon meetings. Huawei saw it coming. The Pura X View, launched in China on August 20, is a slab phone with a 16:9.5 screen, no hinge, 6.68mm of thickness, and a 7,000mAh battery packed into 201 grams. Run the panel geometry and the body lands near 144 by 86mm, which is essentially the 2011 Galaxy Note’s 146.9 by 83mm with fifteen years of thinning applied on top. The first phablet just came back, and it skipped the hinge entirely.

Huawei shipped its first 16:10 phone in March 2025, roughly seventeen months before Samsung’s wide Fold 8 and eighteen before Apple’s expected iPhone Ultra. That head start counts for plenty editorially and almost nothing commercially, because the Pura X View runs HarmonyOS 7 without Google services and has no confirmed launch outside China. The width also brings a problem nobody involved has solved yet. Fold 8 reviewers keep flagging that one-handed typing on a wide cover screen demands a thumb stretch most people just do not have. Huawei is asking you to live inside that stretch full time, with no fold to escape into.

Designer: Huawei

I keep coming back to the battery number because it should not work the way it does. Cramming 7,000mAh into a 6.68mm body usually means a phone that feels like a coaster, but Huawei leaned on the extra width instead of stacking cells vertically, and the reported silicon-carbon anode chemistry lets the pack sit flatter than lithium-ion ever could. The screen-to-body math backs it up too, a claimed 96.1 percent with bezels measured at a uniform 1.05mm on all four sides, which is tighter framing than most flagships bother chasing. Around back, Huawei kept the pill-shaped camera bar and striped texture from the Pura X Max, so this reads as a family member rather than a one-off experiment.

The historical parallel only gets stranger the closer you look at it. Samsung built the Galaxy Note on a 16:10 panel in 2011 specifically because it read and wrote better than 16:9, and that logic held until the LG G6 and Galaxy S8 dragged the entire industry toward 18:9 in 2017. At the start of that year, over 95 percent of phones sold still ran 16:9. Within about eighteen months it had nearly vanished, replaced by taller and taller screens that eventually made “phablet” sound like a word from a dead language. At 1.68:1, the Pura X View is actually squatter than any of those old 16:9 phones, closer in spirit to the doomed Dell Streak than to the Note it resembles in the hand.

None of this makes the Pura X View an easy recommendation, and I would rather say that upfront than let the nostalgia do all the talking. Pricing remains unconfirmed, early Chinese estimates swing wildly between 4,499 and 7,500 yuan, and Huawei has a recent history of catching real backlash over Pura pricing. There is also no path to a Google-services version, which locks most of the world out regardless of cost. What the Pura X View does prove is that the tall screen was never physics, just a decade of consensus that Samsung and Apple are now both quietly abandoning. We covered the Pura X Max when it doubled down on this same wide logic inside a folding body, and the View feels like Huawei betting the shape works even better without the crease.

The post We just reinvented Phablets: Huawei’s Wide-body Pura X View feels oddly nostalgic to the touch first appeared on Yanko Design.

Huawei MatePad Air 2026 Review: The OLED Upgrade Changes Everything

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PROS:


  • Excellent 12-inch OLED PaperMatte display

  • Slim and lightweight design

  • Strong speaker performance

CONS:


  • No native Google service out of the box

  • Software support period is not clearly defined

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The OLED upgrade does most of the heavy lifting, but the MatePad Air 2026’s real strength is how well its design, ergonomics, and stylus experience come together.
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Huawei has been making tablets for long enough to know that raw specs are only half the story. Plenty of slates have big screens, fast refresh rates, and keyboard cases. What separates the memorable ones from the forgettable ones is how they feel when they slip into your day. That is the angle Huawei is chasing with the MatePad Air 2026, a tablet that wants to look stylish, travel light, and still feel capable enough for proper work when the moment calls for it.

On paper, it makes a strong first impression. The MatePad Air 2026 features a 12-inch OLED display, an optional PaperMatte finish, a very slim 5.3mm body, a weight of 509g, a 144Hz refresh rate, a 10,100mAh battery, and a six-speaker setup. The biggest upgrade over the 2025 model is the move from an IPS LCD panel to OLED, and it gives the tablet a much stronger foundation for entertainment, note-taking, and everyday use.

Designer: Huawei

Aesthetics

The MatePad Air 2026 seems designed by people who are tired of serious-looking tablets. That is a compliment. Most premium slates still arrive in some variation of grey metal and call it sophistication, but Huawei has gone in a softer direction here with White, Airy Blue, and Sakura Pink finishes that feel more lifestyle-minded. I received the Sakura Pink version, and it gives the tablet a warmer, more distinctive look than the usual sea of neutral-toned rivals.

The finish itself is a big part of the appeal. The back panel uses a pearlescent e-coating process with natural mica powder, which gives the surface a soft-touch feel and a subtle glow under light. It feels more inviting than the average metal slab, and that extra bit of texture helps the tablet come across as something more personal and less industrial.

There is also a welcome amount of restraint in the design, and even the camera island follows that philosophy. The oval module sits in the upper-right corner with a raised, layered construction, but it avoids the harsh look that camera bumps can sometimes have. Its lower section uses a brushed, color-matched metallic finish, topped by a thin polished metallic strip for a subtle accent. The black camera module is framed by a matching outline, while a polished silver Huawei logo sits at the center.

Huawei also deserves some credit for carrying that design thinking through to the accessories. The MatePad Air supports the M-Pencil Pro, and in the Sakura Pink version, the bundled stylus comes in a matching color. The M-Pencil Pro is not sold separately in that finish, which is a bit of a shame, but it is still nice to see a color-matched stylus included. It makes the whole package feel more cohesive, and it adds a bit of charm to a category that often forgets accessories can be part of the design story too.

Ergonomics

At 509g and 5.3mm thick, the MatePad Air 2026 feels impressively manageable for a 12-inch tablet. This is the kind of device you can carry all day without feeling like you packed a second laptop. It matches the Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 in weight while coming in noticeably thinner, and Huawei also says it is 0.8mm thinner than the iPad Air 7.

That slim profile makes a real difference in daily use. The MatePad Air feels easy to hold for reading, sketching, or watching videos, and it never comes across as bulky or awkward. Thin tablets can sometimes feel fragile, but that is not the case here. Despite how light it is, the body feels solid and well put together.

Just as importantly, slim and light does not mean delicate. The chassis feels sturdy in the hand, and it does not bend easily. Even when I tried flexing it harder than anyone normally would, it did not feel worrying. That gives the tablet a reassuring sense of durability, which matters on a device built to travel.

The back panel also helps. Its texture feels nice in the hand and gives the tablet a softer, less slippery feel than a plain metal finish. The M-Pencil Pro feels good in the hand, too. Its matte finish gives it a comfortable grip, which makes a difference during longer writing or sketching sessions. There is also a squeeze function and a physical button at the top of the pen, and both feel practical without getting in the way.

Performance

The latest Huawei MatePad Air upgrades to a 12-inch OLED PaperMatte display, replacing the IPS LCD panel on its predecessor. It is easily one of the tablet’s biggest selling points. The panel has a 2800 x 1840 resolution, a pixel density of 275ppi, support for 1.07 billion colors, P3 wide color gamut, a dynamic refresh rate ranging from 30Hz to 144Hz, and peak brightness of up to 1,200 nits.

That move to OLED brings the kind of benefits you would expect. Blacks look properly deep, colors have more pop, and contrast feels richer overall. Paired with the 92 percent screen-to-body ratio, the MatePad Air delivers a very enjoyable viewing experience, especially when watching films with darker scenes where the extra contrast really helps.

The PaperMatte finish is what makes the screen feel a little different from the usual premium tablet display. It cuts down glare well enough that I could sit near a window and still enjoy what I was watching without constant reflections getting in the way. That alone makes the tablet more comfortable to use in bright environments, and it adds a practical edge to what is already a very good-looking panel.

The PaperMatte finish also helps when it comes to writing and drawing. It adds a bit of texture to the surface, so the stylus does not glide too freely across the screen. That makes note-taking and sketching feel more controlled and a little closer to pen on paper.

Audio also adds to the experience. The tablet uses a six-speaker system with dedicated drivers handling different frequencies. Four of them focus on the lower end, which helps give the MatePad Air fuller and deeper bass than you would normally expect from a tablet this slim.

Together, the display and speaker setup make the MatePad Air feel well suited to entertainment. Whether I was watching videos, sketching, or just browsing in a bright room, the hardware consistently played to the tablet’s strengths. This is a tablet that clearly puts a lot of emphasis on the sensory side of the experience, and for the most part, that effort pays off.

Powering the tablet is Huawei’s Kirin T93C chipset, paired with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. In day-to-day use, performance feels smooth and responsive, whether I was jumping between apps, taking notes, browsing, or doing light creative work. It feels fast enough for the kind of tasks most people are likely to throw at a tablet like this, though this is still more of a productivity and media machine than a device built to show off raw benchmark muscle.

Huawei also puts some focus on sustained performance. The MatePad Air uses a 3D cooling design to help manage heat, and that matters on a thin tablet where thermal limits can show up quickly under heavier use. In practice, the tablet stays comfortable to hold, which is arguably just as important as outright speed in a device designed for long reading, drawing, or viewing sessions.

The tablet runs HarmonyOS 4 out of the box, and that comes with the usual Huawei caveat. Google services are not available natively, so the setup is not as straightforward as it is on a regular Android tablet. There are workarounds such as GBox through Huawei’s AppGallery, and getting things up and running is not especially difficult, but it is still an extra step that some users may not want to deal with.

Huawei leans heavily on apps like HUAWEI Notes, GoPaint, and WPS Office to make the MatePad Air feel more useful as a work and creativity device. HUAWEI Notes and GoPaint make the most sense here, especially with the M-Pencil Pro, and they help the tablet feel more purpose-built for note-taking and sketching than a generic large-screen slate.

Battery life is solid. The MatePad Air packs a 10,100mAh battery, which gives it enough stamina for a full day of mixed use without much anxiety. Whether I was watching videos, browsing, writing, or sketching, it felt like a tablet built to last through the day rather than one that constantly pushes you toward the charger.

Charging is also reasonably quick. Huawei rates it for 66W wired charging, which helps take some of the stress out of topping up a battery this large. That is especially useful for a device meant to move between work, entertainment, and creative tasks, because it makes the MatePad Air easier to treat like an all-day companion rather than something you need to plan around.

Sustainability

Sustainability is not just about materials. It is also about how long a device can stay in use, and the MatePad Air 2026 makes a fair case for itself here. Huawei says the body’s resistance to warping has improved by 10 percent compared with the MatePad 12X, and that it can handle an additional load equal to 50 percent of its own weight with only around 1mm of flex. Those are brand claims, but they do support the sense that this is a thin tablet built to hold up well over time.

That said, durability is only part of the picture. Huawei does not publish a fixed multi-year guarantee or a clear end date for software support, which makes the long-term outlook harder to judge. The hardware may be built to last, but without a clearer update commitment, the MatePad Air 2026’s sustainability story feels incomplete.

Value

The MatePad Air 2026’s value depends heavily on the market, since pricing and bundles vary. Huawei also splits the lineup differently depending on region, which can make the tablet feel more or less competitive at first glance. In some markets, it is sold in Standard Edition and PaperMatte Edition versions, with 8GB + 256GB and 12GB + 256GB configurations available.

In certain markets, the 8GB + 256GB PaperMatte Edition is priced at €799 and includes either a Glide Keyboard or an M-Pencil Pro. That is firmly flagship pricing, but the bundle helps justify it, especially since the accessories are a big part of the overall experience. For buyers who want the PaperMatte display and plan to use the stylus or keyboard, the value looks fairly strong.

Verdict

The Huawei MatePad Air 2026 makes a strong case for itself with its slim design, excellent OLED PaperMatte display, solid battery life, and thoughtful stylus support. It feels well suited to people who want a premium tablet for reading, sketching, note-taking, and entertainment without carrying something heavy or awkward.

The main caveat is the software experience. HarmonyOS is usable, but the lack of native Google services still makes it less straightforward than a regular Android tablet. If that is not a dealbreaker for you, the MatePad Air 2026 stands out as a stylish and versatile tablet with a lot going for it.

The post Huawei MatePad Air 2026 Review: The OLED Upgrade Changes Everything first appeared on Yanko Design.

Huawei Pura 90s Pro Max Review: A Beautiful Comeback With Caveats

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PROS:


  • Distinctive design with bold color options

  • Large, sharp display with anti-reflective treatment

  • Excellent main and telephoto cameras

CONS:


  • Performance is not class-leading

  • Weak cross-platform file sharing

  • No clear update policy

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The Pura 90s Pro Max feels less like a safe flagship and more like a characterful one, which makes it easier to admire than to recommend without hesitation.

It has been a long time since I last reviewed a Huawei phone. The last one was the Huawei P50 Pocket Premium Edition. I still remember that phone well because it was genuinely beautiful. It had the kind of design that instantly felt premium, and it reminded me how good Huawei can be when it wants to make a phone stand out.

A lot has changed since then. The P series is now called Pura, but Huawei’s approach to hardware and design still feels very familiar. The company still knows how to make a flagship look different, and in a market where so many phones are starting to blend together, that still matters.

Designer: Huawei

This time around, Huawei is offering the Pura 90s Pro and the Pura 90s Pro Max. What is interesting is that there is no Ultra model in the lineup, unlike before. That means the Pura 90s Pro Max now sits at the top of the range. It also brings back 5G, which makes this release feel a bit more important than just another yearly update.

The Pura 90s Pro Max has all the right flagship ingredients at first glance. Big screen, ambitious cameras, premium build, and fast charging are all here. The question is whether that is enough to make it a great phone overall.

Aesthetics

The Huawei Pura 90s Pro Max carries the now-familiar triangular camera island that has become a signature since Pura 70. It features two black circular cutouts for the ultra-wide and main cameras, along with a larger black circle for the telephoto camera. A pill-shaped LED flash also sits within the module, completing the layout. It is the kind of design detail that makes the phone instantly recognizable from across a table.

Huawei has also put real effort into the color finishes this year. The Pura 90s Pro Max comes in four colors, and two of them stand out immediately because of their dual-tone gradient treatment. The Blaze Purple unit I received pairs a purple upper half with an orangish-pink lower section, matched with a glossy gold frame that adds even more flair. It is bold, but it never tips into looking gaudy. Instead, it still feels polished and premium.

The other standout is Orange Ocean, which arguably takes the two-tone concept even further. It combines light blue at the top with orange at the bottom, while the center transitions smoothly between the two shades. Even the side frame follows the same color story, which makes the overall design feel more cohesive and more intentional. It is the kind of finish that feels playful at first glance, yet refined enough to belong on a flagship.

For those who prefer something safer, Huawei also offers Blush Gold and Graphite Black. These are more traditional options, but that is not necessarily a drawback. Not everyone wants their flagship phone to double as a statement piece. Still, if you are buying a Huawei at this level, the more expressive finishes are where the personality really comes through.

Ergonomics

In hand, the Pura 90s Pro Max feels better balanced than its bold design might suggest. I was unsure at first whether the large triangular camera island would make the phone feel awkward, but in daily use it never really did. If anything, when I held it one-handed in my right hand, the raised module gave my index finger a natural place to rest.

There is a tradeoff, though. When holding the phone horizontally for gaming, the camera island becomes more noticeable and can get in the way a bit. It is not a huge problem, but it stands out more in landscape use than it does during normal day-to-day handling.

The finish also looks better from a distance than it does up close. Both the glossy back panel and the glossy side frame tend to pick up fingerprints and smudges quite easily, so the phone does need regular wiping if you want it to stay looking clean. That is a little disappointing for a device that puts so much emphasis on design.

Huawei has also gone with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner rather than an in-display one. The power button on the right side doubles as the fingerprint reader, and in practice it feels intuitive enough. It is a small detail, but one that fits naturally with the overall handling experience.

Performance

The Pura 90s Pro Max is powered by Huawei’s Kirin 9030S, paired with 12GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage. It also supports 5G, which makes it feel more competitive than some of Huawei’s recent flagships. In daily use, the phone feels fast enough. Scrolling is smooth, apps open quickly, and multitasking is handled well. For things like web browsing, social media, messaging, navigation, and streaming, it behaves like a proper flagship.

The bigger question is whether that is enough at this price. Huawei is not really chasing benchmark dominance here, and that may matter more to enthusiasts than to casual users. If all you want is a phone that feels quick and responsive day to day, the Pura 90s Pro Max delivers. If you expect class-leading performance, though, it is less convincing.

The phone runs EMUI 16, and Huawei has spent years building a more workable ecosystem around its devices. The experience today feels much less daunting than it used to, and most of the apps people need can be downloaded easily through GBox, which is now available via Huawei AppGallery.

For me, one of the biggest remaining inconveniences is file sharing across different phone ecosystems. Huawei does offer solutions such as Huawei Share for transferring files to other devices, but the experience still does not feel as seamless or as universal as what you get with iPhones or across the wider Android ecosystem. That becomes especially noticeable if you regularly share photos and videos between phones from different manufacturers.

The display is one of the easiest things to like about the Pura 90s Pro Max. It is a 6.9-inch panel with a resolution of 2880 x 1308 and a refresh rate that scales from 1Hz to 120Hz. It is large, sharp, and well suited to a phone of this size and price.

Huawei says the anti-reflective screen reduces reflections by up to 70 percent compared with conventional glass. It is not as effective as the matte-style display treatment Huawei uses on some of its tablets, but it still makes the screen easier to view outdoors under bright sunlight.

The speaker setup is solid too. The stereo speakers are good enough for videos, games, and casual listening, with enough volume to avoid sounding weak in everyday use. They do not deliver especially rich or powerful sound, but they do the job well and help round out the phone’s media experience.

Main Camera, 1x

Telephoto Camera, 10x

Main Camera, Macro Mode

Cameras remain one of the main reasons to pay attention to Huawei’s flagship phones, and that is still true here. The Pura 90s Pro Max has an ambitious camera setup, even if some of Huawei’s decisions this time feel a little unusual. On paper, it is a system that feels both impressive and slightly puzzling at the same time.

Telephoto, 4x, Portrait Mode

Telephoto camera, 4x, Snapshot mode

Telephoto Camera, 10x, shot from a moving car

Most notably, Huawei has moved from a 1-inch main sensor to a smaller 1/1.28-inch sensor. That is not entirely unprecedented, and other brands have made similar moves before, but it still feels surprising at this level. The new 50MP main camera uses an RYYB sensor with LOFIC technology, OIS, and a 10-step physical aperture from f/1.4 to f/4.0, though aperture control is limited to Pro mode.

Huawei has also dropped the dual telephoto setup with sensor-shift technology. In its place is a 200MP 4x telephoto camera with a 1/1.28-inch RYYB sensor, an f/2.6 aperture, and OIS. The rear setup is completed by a 40MP ultra-wide camera with an f/2.2 aperture, while the front camera is a 13MP unit.

Main Camera, 1x, Night

Telephoto Camera, 4x, Night

Telephoto Camera, 20x, Night

In actual use, though, the cameras are excellent. The main and telephoto cameras are the standouts, but the ultra-wide and front cameras are also very good. Colors are generally accurate thanks to Huawei’s True-to-Color Camera system, although the XMAGE Vivid profile can look a little oversaturated in some scenes.

Switching to XMAGE Original gives images a more natural look. Photos also tend to be slightly bright and a touch over-sharpened. Even so, the overall image quality is consistently strong and easy to like.

Ultra-wide Camera, 0.6x

Main Camera, 1x

Video is strong too. All four cameras can record at up to 4K 60fps, and the footage is crisp, sharp, and pleasingly colorful. The tradeoff is that there is no 8K, no 24fps option, and no Log recording, which may be down to chipset limitations.

The weaker part of the experience is usability. There is no timer shortcut in the main camera interface, so you have to dig into settings to find it. Double-tapping the preset zoom levels also does nothing, unlike on many rival phones.

Telephoto Camera, 10x

Telephoto Camera, 20x

Telephoto Camera, 100x

They are small issues, but they make the camera app feel less polished than the image quality itself. It is a little frustrating because the hardware and output are strong enough to deserve a more refined shooting experience. Huawei gets the fundamentals right, but some of the smaller interface decisions still feel oddly behind the curve.

The EU version of the Pura 90s Pro Max comes with a 5,270mAh battery, while other regions get a larger 6,000mAh cell. Even so, battery life was still solid in my use. The phone comfortably lasted a full day with a mix of camera use, browsing, and general daily tasks.

Main Camera, 2x, B&W

That said, 5,270mAh does not feel especially big by current flagship standards. The good news is that charging is very fast. The phone supports up to 100W wired charging and up to 80W wireless charging with compatible chargers.

Sustainability

On paper, the Pura 90s Pro Max looks well protected. It is rated IP68 and IP69 for dust and water resistance, and Huawei says its Kunlun Glass offers 25 times better drop resistance and 16 times better scratch resistance. Those are strong claims, and they help reinforce the sense that this is a phone built to handle daily wear reasonably well.

The bigger issue is what happens over time. Huawei still does not clearly say how long the phone will receive software updates or security patches, and that matters just as much for a flagship at this price. Good physical protection is important, but long-term software support is what really determines how well a phone ages.

Value

Starting at €1,149, or roughly $1,250, the Pura 90s Pro Max sits firmly in flagship territory. That is still a lot of money, but compared with some other camera-focused flagships like the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, Vivo X300 Ultra, and Oppo X9 Ultra, it is around €500 to €800 cheaper. Huawei is also offering the kind of hardware you would expect at this level, including a standout design, strong cameras, a large high-quality display, and very fast charging.

At the same time, that price leaves less room to overlook the phone’s weaker points. Performance is solid rather than class-leading, the software ecosystem still comes with some friction, and Huawei remains unclear about long-term update support. That makes the Pura 90s Pro Max feel less convincing on value than some of its rivals, even if the hardware itself is often impressive.

Verdict

The Pura 90s Pro Max is a phone I ended up liking more than I expected. It looks distinctive, feels premium, and delivers where Huawei has long been strongest, especially in camera performance. There is a lot here that feels thoughtfully done, even if some of Huawei’s decisions remain a little hard to understand.

At the same time, it is not a flawless flagship. The chipset does not feel best in class, the software ecosystem still asks for compromises, and the lack of clarity around long-term support is difficult to ignore at this price. The Pura 90s Pro Max is still a very good phone, but whether it makes sense for you depends a lot on how much you value Huawei’s design and camera strengths over a more complete all-round flagship experience.

The post Huawei Pura 90s Pro Max Review: A Beautiful Comeback With Caveats first appeared on Yanko Design.

Huawei’s $229 FreeClip 2 S Earbuds Pack Spatial Audio In an Open-Ear Design, Case Doubles as a Jewelry Box

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Pop open the case of the FreeClip 2 S and the first thing you notice has nothing to do with earbuds. There is room in there. Real, usable room, enough that Huawei is telling people to drop in a ring or a small pendant alongside the buds themselves. It sounds like a gimmick until you remember how much time people spend fumbling through bags looking for both their earbuds and their jewelry, and how rarely any company bothers to solve two small annoyances with one redesigned object.

Speaking of space, Huawei found room inside the earbuds too, in the form of spatial audio with dynamic head tracking. It is a feature typically reserved for sealed designs that can isolate sound and rebuild a convincing sense of space around it, and pulling it off on an open-ear bud is a genuinely difficult engineering problem, one most competitors have sidestepped rather than solved. That sits alongside dual 10.8mm drivers, an AI NPU handling adaptive sound, tri-mic call noise cancellation, and IP57 water resistance. Priced around 229 euros globally, with a discounted window running through August 21, 2026, the FreeClip 2 S treats itself as jewelry first and tech second, at least in how Huawei wants you to see it, while quietly pushing open-ear audio further than most of its rivals have dared.

Designer: Huawei

The case redesign alone signals a shift in how Huawei thinks about this product category. Gone is the AirPods style shell that defined the original FreeClip 2, replaced by something almost spherical, larger, and finished in a mirrored metallic coating that photographs like a compact rather than a charging dock. Huawei says the new shape offers 20 percent more internal volume, and rather than leave that space empty, the company built a whole marketing angle around filling it with small accessories. The bundled partnership with French costume jewelry brand Les Néréides makes that pitch explicit, pairing the earbuds with an actual piece of jewelry for buyers who opt into the launch bundle. It is an unusual move for an earbuds case, treating it as a personal object rather than a functional afterthought.

Underneath that redesigned shell, the earbuds themselves got quieter but meaningful updates. Huawei softened the C-bridge by 25 percent and smoothed out the grooves that ran along its surface, chasing a cleaner look and a gentler fit against the ear. The Comfort Bean shape carries over from the original FreeClip 2, still built using data pulled from over 10,000 ear samples worldwide. Each earbud weighs just 5.1 grams, light enough that the open-ear format keeps its core promise of all day wear without the fatigue that sealed buds can cause after a few hours.

Spatial audio remains the headline feature, and for good reason. Dynamic head tracking works best when a sealed fit lets software control exactly what the listener hears, which is why brands like Apple and Sony have largely kept the feature locked to their isolating designs. Huawei pairing it with dual 10.8mm diaphragm drivers and reverse sound wave technology, aimed at cutting down on audio leakage, suggests an attempt to close that gap without sacrificing the open-ear comfort that made the FreeClip line popular in the first place. Whether the tracking feels responsive in real use is something only hands on testing will confirm.

Huawei launched the FreeClip 2 S globally out of Malaysia alongside the Pura 90s series, positioning both as flagship efforts rather than incremental updates. At roughly 221 dollars, the earbuds undercut several open-ear rivals while adding a feature set that reads more like a premium sealed bud’s spec sheet. If the head tracking holds up under real world use, Huawei may have found a way to make open-ear audio feel a lot less like a compromise.

The post Huawei’s $229 FreeClip 2 S Earbuds Pack Spatial Audio In an Open-Ear Design, Case Doubles as a Jewelry Box first appeared on Yanko Design.

Huawei Built a 200MP Camera Phone That Finally Shows Your True Colors

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The smartphone camera arms race hasn’t let up. Most flagships are pushing harder on AI-assisted processing to compensate for the physical limits of small sensors, and the results are often technically impressive but not always true to what was in front of the lens. There’s a real difference between a photo that looks good and one that actually looks right, and that’s a harder problem to solve than adding megapixels.

The Huawei Pura 90s Pro and Pura 90s Pro Max are Huawei’s answer to both. Launched in Kuala Lumpur on July 14, 2026, the two phones arrive with a design philosophy called “Rhythm of Colour,” gradient colorways that flow across the chassis, and a camera system built around the idea that color accuracy matters just as much as how sharp the final image gets.

Designer: Huawei

Both models feature True-to-Colour Camera 2.0, a system designed to close the gap between what the sensor captures and what the eye actually sees. A sunset shouldn’t come back looking oversaturated, and skin tones shouldn’t shift cooler or warmer than reality. The RYYB sensor array across all cameras supports this by gathering more color information in low-light conditions than a conventional RGGB layout can.

The Pro Max’s standout addition is a 200MP telephoto camera built on a 1/1.28-inch ultra-large sensor with OIS and 4x optical zoom that also functions as a macro lens. That resolution allows for aggressive cropping while still retaining detail throughout the frame. The Pro takes a different route with a 50 MP telephoto covering 4x optical and up to 8x optical-quality zoom.

Both phones share a 50MP main camera with a physical aperture spanning 10 sizes from F1.4 to F4.0. It’s a genuine mechanical iris rather than a simulated depth-of-field effect, and that distinction matters when conditions change. Moving from a dim restaurant to a bright outdoor afternoon doesn’t mean switching modes; the aperture adjusts, the exposure holds, and the shot works.

An AI composition feature suggests framing adjustments while you’re still pointing the camera, and Kunlun Glass on the front panel is rated at 25 times the drop-resistance and 16 times the scratch-resistance of standard glass. The Pro Max also carries a 40 MP ultra-wide camera, stepping above the 12.5MP sensor on the Pro, and adds LOFIC technology to the main sensor for better dynamic range.

The “Rhythm of Colour” philosophy runs through every finish in the lineup, from the warm orange-to-gold Orange Ocean with its Dual-Tone Gradient Mid-Frame to a purple-to-peach option, deep matte black, and soft pearl white. The triangular camera module on both phones carries XMAGE branding and sits within a chassis that, despite the hardware inside, still manages to feel like a deliberate aesthetic choice.

A 5270mAh battery powers both phones, with 66W Huawei SuperCharge on the Pro and 100W on the Pro Max. Both run HarmonyOS 6.1 on the Kirin 9030S chip and carry IP68 and IP69 ratings for dust and water resistance. The Pro has a 6.6-inch OLED display, while the Pro Max steps up to a 6.9-inch LTPO OLED panel with an adaptive refresh rate from 1 to 120Hz.

The post Huawei Built a 200MP Camera Phone That Finally Shows Your True Colors first appeared on Yanko Design.