Huawei Refreshes Its Foldable PC, but Pricing Still Tests the HarmonyOS Bet

Huawei introduced a refreshed MateBook Fold on August 5, adding pen input and a new processor while preserving its premium market position. The launch turns an unusual foldable laptop into a broader test of whether buyers will accept HarmonyOS as a serious desktop platform.

The new MateBook Fold Ultimate Design runs HarmonyOS 6.1 and uses Huawei’s Kirin X90 Plus processor. It also supports the M-Pen 3, giving the folding screen a clearer role in drawing, annotation, design, and handwritten note-taking.

However, the hardware story is only half of the launch. Buyers are being asked to choose a China-focused operating system with a younger application catalog over the established Windows and macOS platforms.

That creates the central tension. The refreshed computer offers a distinctive combination of portability, screen space, and pen input, but its premium positioning places greater pressure on software compatibility and long-term support.

The New MateBook Fold Adds More Than a Stylus

The August refresh turns the MateBook Fold from a design showcase into a more deliberate creative workstation.

Huawei presented the new model during its August 5 product event in China. The underlying product page was updated around the same event, resolving the publication-date gap in the original social feed.

The launch follows the first MateBook Fold, which arrived in May 2025 as Huawei’s first foldable HarmonyOS computer. That earlier model established the basic concept: an expansive display that folds into a footprint closer to a conventional ultraportable.

The refreshed machine retains an 18-inch dual-layer OLED display. When folded, each half creates a workspace comparable with a 13-inch screen. Users can attach a physical keyboard or display a virtual keyboard on the lower panel.

This design gives the computer several working arrangements. It can operate as a conventional laptop, a large tablet, a dual-screen workstation, or an external display for another device.

The most meaningful change is support for the M-Pen 3. According to the official MateBook Fold specifications, users can draw across the fully opened screen or place reference material above a writing area.

That capability gives the fold a functional purpose. On the original model, the flexible screen primarily changed how much display area users could carry. Pen support now makes the entire surface an input device.

Huawei Notes is also available on the computer. The app supports handwriting, typed notes, images, tables, and an open canvas. It can receive recordings and photographs from compatible phones, although some functions require specific devices or newer system releases.

The hardware keeps several measurements from the previous generation. Huawei lists a weight of 1.16 kilograms and an unfolded thickness of 7.3 millimeters. The machine measures 14.9 millimeters when closed.

Those figures make the design easier to understand. This is not an attempt to build the lightest possible laptop. It is an effort to carry a large desktop-like workspace in a comparatively compact package.

The display has a 3.3K resolution and a claimed peak brightness of 1,600 nits. Huawei says its revised ultrathin glass structure improves impact resistance by 90 percent compared with the previous model.

These are company laboratory claims, not independent durability findings. Flexible displays remain more complicated than traditional laptop panels, especially when pressure, repeated folding, and pen input affect the same surface.

The company also retained a hinge that can remain open between 30 and 150 degrees. That range supports laptop and presentation positions without requiring a separate stand.

A new display-input mode adds another practical use. Through a compatible USB-C connection, the MateBook Fold can receive a DisplayPort signal and act as a monitor. That option helps when a necessary application runs on another computer.

However, the required full-featured USB-C cable is not the standard cable bundled with the device. The feature also works through only one of the machine’s ports.

Taken together, these changes make the refresh more coherent than a simple processor update. The foldable screen now supports creation, presentation, external display use, and conventional desktop work.

The important question is whether that versatility offsets the restrictions attached to its operating system.

Huawei MateBook Fold Pricing Reveals the Real Target Buyer

The pricing structure treats the foldable computer as a flagship workstation, not a mass-market alternative to an ordinary laptop.

Huawei sells the refreshed MateBook Fold in multiple storage configurations and three colors. Its entry configuration sits above mainstream productivity notebooks, while the higher-capacity version moves further into specialist hardware territory.

Exact commercial figures are omitted here because prices can change across promotions, regional programs, and retail channels. Huawei’s product page also directs buyers to its online store for current transaction terms.

The positioning still communicates something important. The company is not trying to win users through affordability. It is asking buyers to value portability, display size, pen input, and ecosystem integration enough to accept a premium.

That strategy narrows the realistic audience. A buyer who mainly uses browser tabs, spreadsheets, email, and video meetings can find many conventional laptops with mature software support.

The MateBook Fold makes more sense for someone who regularly moves between drawing, annotation, presentations, research, and document work. Its value depends on using several of its forms rather than treating it as an unusually shaped notebook.

Designers provide one plausible example. They can open a reference image on one side while sketching on the other. The full screen can then become a larger canvas when the keyboard is removed.

Presenters can use the upper display for slides while keeping notes or controls below. Huawei also describes an arrangement that shows presentation material and a script at the same time.

Video editors receive a similar layout. Compatible editing software can place a larger preview above an expanded timeline. This arrangement resembles a dual-monitor workstation without requiring two physical displays.

Engineers and architects could review a model above while annotating a drawing below. The company lists a native computer-aided design application among the software designed for its dual-screen interface.

These scenarios explain the hardware. They do not automatically establish economic value. Each workflow depends on application completeness, file compatibility, peripherals, and reliable export to other systems.

The premium strategy also transfers risk to early buyers. They are paying for a novel form factor while participating in the development of a young desktop platform.

A conventional premium notebook carries fewer unknowns. Its operating system already supports established creative suites, corporate security tools, specialist drivers, plug-ins, and peripheral-management software.

The MateBook Fold therefore competes less through conventional specifications and more through workflow consolidation. Its argument is that one flexible device can replace a laptop, tablet, portable monitor, and digital sketchbook.

That claim will vary by profession. A writer or researcher might appreciate the large portable canvas but still require browser extensions, reference tools, or collaboration applications unavailable on HarmonyOS.

An illustrator might value the pen but depend on a specific brush engine or file format. A developer might like the display area but require container tools, local databases, and testing software built around Windows, Linux, or macOS.

This is why the pricing list cannot answer the central buying question by itself. Storage and memory choices matter, but software readiness determines whether the computer can replace existing equipment.

The launch is best understood as a premium ecosystem offer. It targets buyers who already use compatible Huawei phones, tablets, accessories, and services, then adds a desktop-class device to that collection.

For everyone else, the computer must prove that its distinctive screen produces enough daily value to justify both financial and platform commitments.

The Kirin X90 Plus Tightens Huawei’s Hardware Control

The new processor strengthens vertical integration, but application performance remains more important than benchmark gains.

The Kirin X90 Plus is the refreshed model’s other major change. Huawei describes it as a high-performance PC processor with a 28-watt thermal design power.

The company claims the new processor and HarmonyOS combination improves overall performance by 25 percent compared with the first MateBook Fold. It attributes part of the change to application prediction and preloading.

A 25 percent company-reported gain sounds substantial, but the comparison deserves careful reading. Huawei says its test used the refreshed model with HarmonyOS 6.1 against the previous machine’s factory HarmonyOS 5.0 configuration.

That means the result combines hardware, operating-system, and optimization changes. It does not isolate the processor or establish how the machine compares with current Windows and macOS devices.

The important development is control. Huawei now designs more of the relationship between processor behavior, system scheduling, applications, cloud services, and connected devices.

Apple follows a similar vertical model with its own chips and operating systems. Microsoft and its hardware partners have also pushed Windows on Arm, which uses processor architecture designed for efficiency rather than the traditional x86 foundation.

The difference is ecosystem maturity. Apple entered its desktop processor transition with a large macOS catalog and a compatibility layer for older software. Microsoft has spent years improving Windows applications and emulation for Arm systems.

HarmonyOS PC started from a much smaller base. Its native applications need to support desktop windowing, keyboard shortcuts, large displays, specialized file types, and external equipment.

This makes system-level performance only one part of the experience. A fast application launch does not help when a required program lacks a native version or omits essential features.

The same distinction applies to AI. Huawei includes Xiaoyi, its system assistant, with functions for research, meeting notes, task planning, and tool execution.

Some Xiaoyi task features require HarmonyOS 7 rather than the computer’s shipping HarmonyOS 6.1 release. That qualification matters because it separates announced capability from immediately available functionality.

Huawei says the assistant can divide a goal into steps and operate supporting tools. That type of agent behavior depends on both system permissions and compatible applications.

A desktop assistant becomes more useful when it can work across documents, calendars, communication tools, and databases. It becomes less useful when important services sit outside the supported environment.

The machine also offers offline meeting transcription, according to the company. Local processing can help in places with poor connectivity and may keep some meeting content on the device.

Accuracy will depend on language, speaker separation, accents, noise, and meeting software. Huawei itself notes that results can vary with speech and environmental conditions.

The deeper value of the Kirin X90 Plus is therefore strategic. It reduces dependence on an outside PC platform and gives the company tighter control over performance tuning.

That control supports China’s wider effort to develop domestic computing alternatives. It also gives developers a more consistent hardware target for HarmonyOS applications.

Yet vertical integration does not remove the adoption problem. It concentrates responsibility. If performance, compatibility, or tooling falls short, buyers cannot rely on another operating-system vendor to close the gap.

For professional users, the deciding benchmarks will be ordinary ones: whether files open correctly, meetings work reliably, peripherals connect, and projects transfer cleanly to colleagues.

Huawei vs Windows Is Really an Application Test

The primary competition is not foldable hardware against ordinary hardware. It is HarmonyOS against the accumulated compatibility of Windows.

Windows remains the default comparison because it supports the broadest collection of professional PC software and peripherals. That advantage compounds over decades of development.

The challenge was visible when HarmonyOS PCs first launched. Canalys reported that the platform initially supported more than 1,000 applications, including over 150 native PC applications.

Its HarmonyOS PC analysis argued that application investment would be the long-term requirement. The firm identified productivity compatibility as the issue Huawei needed to prove.

The catalog has expanded since then. WPS Office, Feishu, editing tools, finance applications, whiteboards, and computer-aided design programs have appeared or improved.

Huawei highlights several applications optimized for the foldable display. These examples are more useful than a total catalog count because they show whether developers use the screen’s unusual geometry.

Still, catalog size can conceal major gaps. Ten lightweight utilities do not replace one required engineering suite. A basic editing application does not necessarily replace a mature production workflow.

Feature parity also matters. A HarmonyOS release of a familiar application might support common tasks while omitting plug-ins, automation, collaborative review, advanced exports, or enterprise management.

This is especially important for organizations. Corporate computers rely on identity systems, endpoint security, device management, virtual private networks, printing infrastructure, and compliance software.

A consumer can tolerate a workaround for an occasional task. An enterprise purchasing team needs predictable support across thousands of repeated operations.

Peripheral compatibility presents another layer. Huawei says HarmonyOS computers support broad categories of keyboards, mice, displays, printers, drawing tablets, and other equipment.

However, basic connection is not the same as complete support. Specialist hardware often needs control software, firmware tools, calibration utilities, or custom drivers.

The foldable computer partly addresses this through its display-input mode. A user can connect another system and treat the MateBook Fold as a large portable monitor.

That is a clever fallback, but it also exposes the platform tension. If a second computer remains necessary for critical software, the foldable device has not fully replaced the conventional PC.

Lenovo provides a useful historical reference. Its ThinkPad X1 Fold line helped establish the foldable PC category, but both generations were later listed as withdrawn.

That outcome did not prove that foldable computers were useless. It showed how difficult it is to turn an impressive demonstration into a durable product category.

Foldable laptops face several connected obstacles. Flexible panels cost more to manufacture, software must respond to changing screen shapes, keyboards add complexity, and durability concerns can slow adoption.

Huawei has an advantage Lenovo did not control: a broader device ecosystem tied to one operating system. Compatible phones and tablets can share files, input devices, connectivity, and selected application states.

HarmonyOS describes connected products as parts of a distributed system rather than isolated devices. Its distributed architecture is intended to let devices share capabilities and resources.

That model gives the foldable computer a role beyond a Windows replacement. It can become the largest work surface within a collection of Huawei devices.

However, the benefit is strongest for existing ecosystem users. A buyer with an iPhone, Google services, Windows applications, and non-Huawei accessories receives less value from those connections.

The Windows comparison therefore remains decisive. HarmonyOS does not need every Windows program, but it needs complete coverage of the workflows its target buyers actually use.

Until that threshold is visible, hardware distinction and ecosystem dependence will rise together. The computer becomes more attractive to committed Huawei users and more difficult to recommend outside that group.

What the Hardware Claims Do Not Settle

The refreshed machine improves the concept, but durability, global availability, and workflow completeness remain unresolved.

The folding screen carries the most obvious physical uncertainty. Huawei says the new ultrathin glass structure improves impact resistance and has received an SGS drop-resistance certification.

Certification is useful evidence, but it does not predict every form of long-term wear. A foldable computer experiences pressure from carrying, typing, drawing, closing, cleaning, and repeated hinge movement.

Pen support introduces additional contact with the panel. The M-Pen 3 uses a flexible tip, yet artists and note-takers will still want independent testing of scratches, indentation, palm rejection, and accuracy near the fold.

The company also warns that a machine kept closed for an extended period can unfold slowly at first. It says the display should recover after remaining open.

That behavior might be normal for the material, but it highlights how a flexible display differs from a conventional laptop panel. Buyers need to understand those maintenance characteristics before treating it as a daily travel machine.

Repair exposure matters as well. Huawei includes a set of support benefits for the product in China, including discounted accidental screen replacement and cleaning services during defined periods.

Those benefits reduce some risk, but they depend on regional service availability and specific terms. The product remains closely tied to Huawei’s Chinese retail and support network.

Global availability is another open question. The company has displayed foldable devices internationally, but HarmonyOS PCs remain primarily associated with the Chinese market.

That distinction affects applications, language support, account configuration, cloud services, and repair logistics. A technically adventurous importer receives a different experience from a domestic buyer with local support.

The limitation extends beyond the computer. Recent independent reviews of other Huawei devices have continued to identify absent Google services and missing global applications.

An Associated Press analysis of Huawei’s international foldable strategy quoted TrendForce analyst Ruby Lu, who said software limitations constrain the company’s global potential. The report’s platform constraints centered on Google services and the software ecosystem.

That analysis concerned a foldable phone, not this computer. Still, the strategic issue carries across product categories: premium hardware travels more easily than a region-specific software environment.

The refreshed model also mixes present and future capabilities. HarmonyOS 6.1 ships with the computer, while the Xiaoyi task agent requires an upgrade to HarmonyOS 7.

Buyers should distinguish between available features and roadmap claims. An operating-system upgrade can change timing, application support, performance, or regional availability.

AI features require similar caution. The company describes research, meeting, and document functions, but their value depends on source quality, model accuracy, application access, and review controls.

A generated summary can save time, yet it can also omit context. An automated research assistant can gather material, but professionals still need transparent citations and verification.

Privacy functions deserve examination rather than assumption. Huawei advertises encrypted sharing, watermarks, limited viewing, local meeting tools, and AI-generated face detection.

Some of these capabilities work only with particular system versions or applications. Organizations should test them within their own security and retention requirements.

None of these uncertainties makes the MateBook Fold a failed product. They define the burden attached to its premium position.

The hardware is now easier to justify than it was in 2025. The software and service environment must show equivalent progress before the device becomes a routine professional purchase.

Three Signals Will Decide the HarmonyOS PC Strategy

Application depth, verified durability, and broader distribution will reveal whether the MateBook Fold is a product category or a regional flagship.

The first signal is application quality over the next several months. The useful measure is not the number of icons available in AppGallery.

Watch whether major productivity, design, development, finance, and communication tools reach functional parity with their Windows versions. Plug-ins, file exchange, external devices, and enterprise controls will matter more than launch announcements.

A stream of complete desktop releases would strengthen the argument that HarmonyOS can support professional work. A growing catalog of reduced mobile-style applications would weaken it.

Developer activity provides an early indicator. Independent researchers continue examining how software can be migrated to HarmonyOS, including work on translating interfaces and testing ArkTS applications.

This matters because the platform needs more than large Chinese publishers. It needs sustainable tools that help smaller developers build, test, maintain, and monetize desktop software.

The second signal is independent durability testing. Huawei’s laboratory results establish a baseline, but reviewers need to examine the hinge, flexible glass, pen surface, battery, thermals, and display crease over extended use.

A foldable computer succeeds when owners stop treating the screen as fragile. That requires evidence from months of travel, drawing, cleaning, and repeated transitions between its different forms.

Repair outcomes matter here. Fast service and predictable screen replacement would reduce ownership anxiety. Limited parts or long service times would make the premium harder to defend.

The third signal is distribution outside mainland China. Wider availability would force HarmonyOS PC to address languages, global applications, regional services, and international support directly.

A domestic focus can still support a meaningful business. China is large enough for the company to develop its own PC platform without immediate global expansion.

However, remaining China-only would define the product differently. It would become a strong domestic alternative rather than a general competitor to Windows and macOS.

The wider PC market makes these signals more urgent. IDC reported that traditional PC and tablet shipments reached 103.3 million units during the first quarter of 2026.

Its PC market outlook projects a difficult full year as component conditions and economic pressure weigh on shipments. A contracting market rewards products with a clear reason to exist.

The MateBook Fold has that clarity at the hardware level. It offers a large screen that becomes compact, supports pen input, and can shift between several working arrangements.

The open issue is whether the software converts that flexibility into reliable work. If application depth, durability, and distribution improve together, the refreshed model will look like a platform investment.

If those signals stall, the device will remain a compelling specialist machine for committed ecosystem users.

Prospective buyers should map their essential applications, file formats, peripherals, and collaboration tools before choosing any HarmonyOS computer. Then they should test those workflows on the actual device instead of relying on catalog totals.

For Huawei, the next victory is not another unusual piece of hardware. It is a buyer finishing an ordinary workweek without needing a Windows computer as backup.