Huawei's foldable Mate X seems to suffer from catastrophic defect similar to the never-launched Galaxy Fold

2019 was the year when we finally saw the very first foldable phones out there, but their launch was far from flawless: the biggest name in the game, the Samsung Galaxy Fold, abandoned the first launch attempt after reviewers found a critical flaw with the design that would break the phone after a day or two of use. Samsung recalled all units sent to reviewers and seemed to fix the flaw and successfully staged a launch in late September.

The other company that promised us a futuristic foldable phone in 2019 was Huawei with its Mate X. 

A recent video out of China shows a broken Huawei Mate X with the screen showing all sorts of weird artifacts, probably due to some sort of dust or debris having entered under the screen. The Mate X folds so that the main screen remains exposed on the outside, a different design than the better protected, inwards-folding Galaxy Fold.

We are not quite certain whether that's a widespread issue or just a lone failing unit, but it's one more warning that the roads towards foldable phones will be rocky and this design is definitely a tough nut to crack.