Huawei just unveiled its latest foldable phone, the Mate X6, and it has a lot going for it. The design is slick and slim, to the point where it’s barely any thicker than a non-folding smartphone. It also has a large battery, ultra-fast charging, big bright displays and some novel software features.
Check out my hands-on review for more on those, but what surprised me the most, though, was the cameras. The Huawei Mate X6 is the first folding phone to hit the global market with a physically adjustable aperture on its main camera. That’s pretty neat in and of itself, but it’s actually the telephoto camera that caught my interest the most.
It’s a 40Mp sensor with a 90mm equivalent focal length, providing a great field of view for candid street snaps and portraits. There’s nothing too unusual about that, but this lens differentiates itself by having an extremely short minimum focus distance.
The are two great challenges with macro photography, and the Mate X6 manages to address both
Luke Baker
This camera can focus on objects that are only a few centimetres away from the lens, and considering this is a telephoto, that means you can get close enough to see the individual fibres of your clothing. It’s almost like a microscope, and the only other phone that comes close to matching it is Huawei’s own Pura 70 Ultra.
The are two great challenges with macro photography, and the Mate X6 manages to address both.
The first is getting enough light on your subject. That’s especially difficult if you’re using an ultrawide lens, like you would on an iPhone 16 Pro. By giving the telephoto lens macro capabilities, you maintain enough distance to get adequate light on your subject, and you also get less distortion, creating a more natural-looking image.
The other big challenge is getting all of your subjects in focus. The closer you get to an object, the narrower the focal plane becomes, so you tend to get one area of your subject in focus, while the rest becomes soft and blurry. It’s a nice look when you want it, but it can be frustrating when you don’t.
you can get close enough to see the individual fibres of your clothing
Luke Baker
Huawei has addressed this issue with software. It has a new mode that it calls eDOF (extended depth of field) and it combines multiple images taken at different focal ranges to keep your entire subject tack sharp.
no other foldable comes close to matching the close-up prowess of the Mate X6
In the world of macro photography, this technique is called focus stacking. It traditionally involves taking multiple photos and painstakingly combining them in your photo editing software. But with the Mate X6, you simply tap an onscreen button, shoot your shot, and marvel at the results.
The most surprising thing is that this feature is debuting with the Mate X6, and we don’t usually see foldables with better photography features than a candybar phone. So while the Pura 70 Ultra can focus just as closely, currently, the Mate X6 will give you the best results thanks to the new eDOF mode. Maybe it’ll come to the Pura in future firmware, but time will tell.
Luke Baker
Unfortunately, I was only able to use the phone for a brief time before the launch, and I wasn’t able to take sample photos away with me to show you. My full Huawei Mate X6 review will be coming shortly, and there will be a healthy amount of macro photos to feast your eyes on.
So you’ll have to use your imagination for the time being and take my word for it – I’ve tested a lot of phones including the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6.
With this being a Huawei phone, I should make it clear that there are some drawbacks compared to the competition. US sanctions mean that the Chinese giant is blocked from supporting Google apps and services. There are, of course, plenty of ways to get them working, including the microG project and GBox, but it’s a hassle that you won’t have to deal with elsewhere.
That said, if you’re into macro shooting, and you’re also keen on a large screen foldable, this could be a match made in heaven. I’ve tested all the popular options in the last year, and no other foldable comes close to matching the close-up prowess of the Mate X6.
Also check out our hands-on of the Huawei Mate XT, the firm’s tri-fold phone.
Author: Luke Baker, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Luke is a freelance journalist who has been working in consumer electronics for over a decade. Previously Features Editor at Pocket-lint, Luke can now be found contributing reviews and features to a variety of publications, as well as running a YouTube channel called Neon Airship in his spare time. Luke loves anything that takes pictures, whether it's a smartphone, camera or drone, and he also gets very excited about the latest VR and AR tech.