Huawei's tri-fold phone is named as Mate XT in new teaser video that hints at a pricey handset

Devices with foldable screens are nothing new, but a tri-fold display is, and we now have a name for Huawei's incoming smartphone of this nature.

The official name is the Huawei Mate XT, as shown in a new teaser clip (see above). It's hardly an exciting name and not something that reflects the tri-foldable nature of the device - though the 'T' could stand for tri-fold, perhaps - but at any rate, it's in line with the existing naming conventions for Huawei.

The phone was spotted being used by Huawei's CEO Yu Richard recently, and has been teased several times since then. When fully unfolded, the three displays (connected by a pair of hinges) essentially form a 10-inch tablet.

When the three screens are folded up, you have a device the size of a traditional phone, albeit a good deal thicker as you might imagine - something has to give in terms of portability.

The new teaser video, flagged up by GSM Arena (via TechRadar), shows that the Huawei Mate XT will be part of the 'Ultimate Design' brand, the spiritual successor to the 'Porsche Design' partnership that was brought to an end a couple of years ago.

As a cutting-edge device with a new trick, and part of a pricey range of 'Ultimate Design' phones, we can expect the tri-foldable effort to command a serious premium. At any rate, it's unlikely that we'll see the phone in the US due to the situation with the ban on Huawei hardware - but similar tri-fold offerings may follow from other phone makers.

The Huawei Mate XT is supposed to be launched at a press event on September 10, which is an interesting date, seeing as it's the day after Apple's big iPhone 16 reveal. Is Huawei attempting a bit of thunder-stealing here? Naturally, as this is pretty much standard practice in the tech industry by now.