While the repair prices of the Huawei Mate X shocked consumers, with the Mate Xs, the prices have decreased, becoming more affordable overall.
Artículo disponible en Español | Article disponible en Français
In November 2019, Huawei finally launched their first foldable phone, the Mate X, in their home market, China, charging 16999 yuan for it. While this pricing was already known since early 2019, what shocked most people were the repair prices, with the manufacturer charging 7080 yuan [900€] for the display alone. Of course, what most people didn’t notice, or, more precisely, happily ignored, was the first-time, half-price policy, lowering the price of the display to 3580 yuan [460€], a much more affordable price. Users could also buy a supplementary warranty to protect their screen, costing 2699 yuan [350€], valid for one year after the purchase, covering any accidental damage.
We now have the repair prices for the Mate Xs, both for China and Europe, which, interestingly enough, are lower than the original prices of the Mate X. In China, the manufacturer is still offering a first-time screen replacement at a lower price, with this promotion sadly not existing in Europe. Now, before going any further, we would like to point out that Huawei is currently running a promotion in China for the spring season [春季回馈 服务礼遇], promotion which runs from the 1st of April to the 31st of May 2020, with a 20% discount on the spare parts price. We’ve made sure to include the original price, labour costs included, to make the comparison fairer, as, otherwise, some prices might appear to have been lowered. We’ve also re-converted prices from Yuan to Euro with the current exchange rate.
First, here are the original repair prices of the Mate X, from November 2019:
Here’s the translation:
- Screen: 7080¥ [915€], first time 3580¥ [463€]
- Battery: 278¥ [36€]
- Mainboard: 3579¥ [463€]
- Left battery cover: 361¥ [47€]
- Right battery cover: 361¥ [47€]
- Camera: 698¥ [90€]
These prices have since changed, as they depend on the supply and demand of the parts, and might be adjusted over time. At the same time, with the spring promotion, parts appear to be cheaper than they really are, with the price having actually increased:
Here’s the translation:
- Screen: 5680¥ [735€], first time 3580¥ [463€]
- Battery: 359¥ [46€]
- Mainboard: 2899¥ [375€]
- Left battery cover: 305¥ [39€]
- Right battery cover: 305¥ [39€]
- Camera: 575¥ [74€]
However, these prices include the 20% discount, as well as the labour fee, which is of 80 yuan for most “small” parts, and 100 yuan for the bigger parts requiring more work, such as the mainboard. The original prices are as follows:
- Screen: 7080¥ [915€], first time 3580¥ [463€]
- Battery: 359¥ [46€]
- Mainboard: 3599¥ [465€]
- Left battery cover: 361¥ [47€]
- Right battery cover: 361¥ [47€]
- Camera: 698¥ [90€]
For the Mate Xs, prices have mostly remained the same, due to both devices being the same but with some upgrades. However, we can notice the display is now cheaper, by some 1400 yuan [180€], which is not negligible, as well as the camera, which is cheaper by 124 yuan [16€], although this is to be expected, taking in account that, at this point, it is roughly a year old:
Here’s the translation, in order, but with the 20% discount on some parts:
- Screen: 5680¥ [735€], first time 3580¥ [463€]
- Battery: 359¥ [46€]
- Mainboard: 2899¥ [375€]
- Left battery cover: 305¥ [39€]
- Right battery cover: 305¥ [39€]
- Camera: 574¥ [74€]
The original prices without said discount are as follows:
- Screen: 5680¥ [735€], first time 3580¥ [463€]
- Battery: 359¥ [46€]
- Mainboard: 3599¥ [465€]
- Left battery cover: 361¥ [47€]
- Right battery cover: 361¥ [47€]
- Camera: 574¥ [74€]
Users in China can also purchase an extra warranty, valid for one year since the date of purchase, which covers any accidental damage made to the display, and costing 2199 yuan [284€]. This is, once again, cheaper, as for the Mate X, users had to pay 2699 yuan for this additional warranty.
As mentioned, the display is now cheaper by some 1400 yuan, with this one being one of the few upgrades between the Mate X and the Mate Xs, with this new display being more resistant overall. The decrease in the price is likely due to Huawei and BOE finally working out the manufacturing issues on the display part, issues which affected the original Mate X, limiting how many units the company could produce monthly. However, this better display and improved hinge design still have some of the flaws from the original model, with Huawei recommending users not to fold the device if the temperature is below -5ºC.
For the prices in Europe, these are, of course, slightly higher, mostly due to taxes. However, in some cases, the prices displayed don’t include labour costs, which vary from part to part and from country to country. For example, in Belgium, the usual labour cost is around 45€ per part, although, once again, this one varies from part to part. In France, the prices are as following, which include VAT but not labour cost:
Here are the prices in order:
- Screen: 847€
- Battery: Not mentioned
- Mainboard: 394€
- Left battery cover: 33€
- Right battery cover: 33€
- Camera: 72€
We also have the prices for the UK, which, even if they claim they don’t include the labour costs, they likely do:
- Screen: 1068£ [1203€]
- Battery: Not mentioned
- Mainboard: 519£ [585€]
- Left battery cover: 80£ [90€]
- Right battery cover: 80£ [90€]
- Camera: 129£ [145€]
And lastly, we also have the prices for Germany, which appear to already include the labour costs, even if claimed otherwise, due to the sharp difference between the French and German prices. The German prices don’t make a difference between the left and right battery covers, although we’ll just assume the price is for one cover and not both:
- Screen: 1091.67€
- Battery: 80.70€
- Mainboard: 552.69€
- Left battery cover: 98.83€
- Right battery cover: 98.83€
- Camera: 150.91€
The first-time screen replacement at half the price appears to be a promotion limited to China, as it is listed nowhere on Huawei’s European websites, at least as far as we can tell. This choice is rather curious, especially taking in account that Chinese customers already didn’t have to pay extra for the foldable, with both the Mate X and Mate Xs costing 16999 yuan, while in Europe, the price went from 2299€ for the Mate X to 2499€ for the Mate Xs, a 200€ increase.
Not only this, but the cheaper screen replacement in China does not appear to translate to cheaper screen replacements in Europe, with the manufacturer charging between 1.1K and 1.2K euros, depending on the country, while, supposedly, the part only costs 847€, at least in France.
More on this subject:
