Does the Folding Mate X2 have Hidden Carbon Fiber? - Teardown! By JerryRigEverything

I have a dream that at some point I'll be able to take apart a folding phone and put it back together again in one piece... but I have a feeling today isn't going to be that day. This Huawei Mate X2 folding phone survived my durability test, and today we're going to see how it works from the inside with a teardown. This video is sponsored by Raycon. Raycons are wireless earbuds that cost half the price of other premium brands. With their super small footprint, compact design and long battery life, I use wireless earbuds for working out or running outside.

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There are different colors to choose from, and huge thanks to Raycon for sponsoring this video and supporting the channel. Now, it's time to cross your fingers for the Mate X2's health and well-being because maybe, with a little luck, it'll survive. Let's get started. So during their launch event, Huawei said they had paired steel with carbon fiber for supports underneath the screen, which is something we've never seen before so this should be interesting. The problem is that 75% of this phone is covered with a screen, so we'll just start with the one non-screen slab of glass and remove that first.

Pretty straightforward: heat, suction cup, and my razor blade get the job done. It's when we have to remove the screen portion that things start to get a bit sketchy. With the back panel off we get our first look at the quad camera setup, with the large battery taking up a good portion of the space. Now for the exterior front glass screen. I'm still going to use heat and my razor blade, but I am going to upgrade my suction cup.

The correct way to do this would be with a large suction hot plate that can lift the screen off without any pry tools. Since the bezels are so thin, any accidental pokes to the side of the OLED panel as I'm digging underneath will kill the screen. And with only a millimeter of edge bezel to work with, I'll need to have Doctor Strange levels of surgical precision... which apparently I don't have. As you can clearly see from the white lines running down the screen, this outer display is toast.

The inner display is still doing great, but with the outer screen not sensing my touch any longer, my dreams of having a working phone after this is over. A quick little moment of silence for our fallen friend. And now that we're done mourning take a look at this. The screen is totally see-through up here at the top. Normally this kind of translucent display is reserved for sensors or underscreen cameras.

I wonder if there was a feature they had planned but changed their minds at some point after the screen had been finalized. The only thing under here is the loudspeaker which definitely does not require a translucent screen. Most of the phone hardware is on the thicker half on the left. Remember this phone is shaped like a wedge. Since we've already mourned the loss of this phone, let's have a little fun with the folding display.

The curve, or crease of the Mate X2's flexible screen is a bit more gentle than the Samsung Fold 2, which is better for the longevity of the screen. Huawei has added some rubber bits to help keep the dust and rocks out, like we saw during my durability test. And if we start peeling off the top clear layer of screen on this $3,000 phone, we see that it's very securely glued to the material underneath. It's an extra layer of plastic that looks like a screen protector but isn't. There's a lot of extra residue, but the screen is still alive.

We saw that Samsung added a bumper to the front of their inner display, and Huawei has done something similar with a molded plastic edge tied directly into the metal frame of the phone. Feels like a more permanent solution, and as you can see, as I work my way around that edge once again, all it takes is a little poke and our inner flexible pixels start to turn green and slowly flow down to the bottom of the phone. And then our pixels start getting raptured in little white streaks on their way up to cellphone heaven. With a little more digging, we have the top plastic screen protector layer, then the polarizer, then the actual pixels underneath. Flexible displays are pretty cool.

There is no ultra thin glass on this one though. Here is a closeup look at all those layers now that the pixels are gone. And unlike Huawei promised, there is no carbon fiber, at least not that we can see, just the same similar metal panels on each half like we saw in the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2, along with the spine that's made up of the same metal fence-like slats that give structure to the crease as the screen folds. I'm not saying Huawei copied Samsung's design, but the screens are suspiciously similar from the inside. Maybe they're both just using the same supplier.

Either way, the internals of the phone are totally different, with Huawei choosing the carrot stick wedge looking design, and scooching all the important bits over to the thicker left half of the phone. There are a total of 22 screws holding down the plastic brackets and motherboard components on this side. Once those are out I can start removing all of the tightly packed components, like this single battery that has two connections for the super fast charging. It comes out pretty easily with that pull tab. Thumbs up for that.

It's rated at 4,400 milliamp hours. The charging port ribbon comes out next, and interestingly has the LED flash for the camera spliced into the same ribbon. Creative. Working our way deeper into the phone so we can get access to Huawei's hinge. We remove the motherboard which has all 4 of the rear cameras still attached - the top rectangular periscope camera and the other three that I can unclip like little Legos.

We have the large main 50 megapixel sensor with OIS, along with the 16 megapixel ultrawide which does not have OIS. Then we have the 3x telephoto which does have that optical image stabilization. The rectangular periscope camera, which is capable of 10x zoom, is 8 megapixel. It uses its super long shape to redirect the light onto the sensor that's perpendicular to the back panel of the phone. I'll show you.

Once we get that sensor popped off the end, we can start to see how the light is redirected at a 90 degree angle inside of the rectangle, just like a periscope. The sensor is super small compared to other sensors we've seen, but that longer lens gives it the 10x zoom effect. Kind of fun. The motherboard rests on a pile of thermal paste, which interestingly isn't just transferring heat to the frame. It's also right above a bunch of Swiss cheese style holes that I assume let some of the heat flow out through the large folding screen in the center of the phone.

On the skinny side of the Mate X2 we have the dual loudspeakers at top and bottom, which actually take up quite a bit of space. And the little circular vibrator which hardly takes up any space. The bottom loudspeaker has 4 screws and a little speaker vent that's the same carrot shape to match the angle of the phone. No waterproofing built into the speaker, but it does have balls. The water screen is built into the frame though, it's got the water resistant mesh that sits over the speaker opening.

Pretty standard these days even if the rest of the phone isn't water resistant. Now for the hinge. There are a few differences between Huawei's hinge and Samsung's hinge. Huawei did change up the homework a little bit with this part of the phone. Peeling off the black stickers over the hinge we see that actually quite a bit of dirt from my durability test made it inside of the phone.

None of the large grains of sand or rocks, but it's definitely dirty in here. There's dirt coming in from both ends of the hinge. It's not as dust proof as we thought. Huawei's hinge is also not multi positional. It can sit at a 90 degree angle like a laptop for desktop viewing, but for the most part it wants to snap open and closed.

Samsung's hinge pretty much holds whatever position you leave it in. I'll remove 12 more screws on this right side so we can pop the metal frame away from the hinge. We're up to about 43 screws now for anyone keeping track at home. There are 2 ribbons connecting the two halves together. Kind of feel like an adult version of Sesame Street with how many things we're counting, and there's still not a whole lot to see from this vantage point.

The hinge is still bending and even though it's dirty there are no grinding noises. I'll unscrew another 10 screws, pop off the two remaining extension ribbons, and finally my hinge is free with still not a whole lot to see. Seems like Huawei is using far less moving parts on their hinge than we saw on Samsung's Fold 2. It's also a lot less modular. With some forceful persuasion I can get the metal spine to come loose from the back of the hinge.

It's very securely glued into place and almost eats half the phone off my desk. But we finally get to see a bit more of what's going on in here. The screws holding the spine together are not removable. Looking close we can see that they've been spot-welded to the frame so they'll never come loose during the phone's lifespan. With things welded shut, it does make it a bit harder to see what's going on, but it looks like there might be a spring in there, along with some metal straps that act like a snap bracelet of sorts.

It gets the job done, of course, but I still think Samsung is on top of the folding hinge department, especially with its internal bristles, gearing, and multi position ability. Not to mention it's a thousand dollars cheaper. Huawei has improved a lot from the Mate X to the X2, but I think Samsung is still number 1 in the folding game for the moment. And hopefully, over time, they all become a whole lot cheaper. Hit that subscribe button if you haven't already.

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Source : JerryRigEverything