Huawei MateBook Fold and MateBook Pro S Launch: Stylus, 798g, Kirin XE90

Huawei launched an updated MateBook Fold Ultimate Design and a new MateBook Pro S on August 5, 2026, and between an 18-inch foldable laptop that now takes stylus input and a notebook claiming to be the lightest PC on the market, this is the most interesting laptop announcement out of China this year. I build and test a lot of hardware, and most “foldable PC” attempts still feel like tech demos. This is the second generation of Huawei’s, and the fact that it’s getting a real spec bump instead of a paint job tells me the first one actually sold.

The MateBook Fold Ultimate Design, Take Two

The original MateBook Fold was Huawei’s pitch for what a laptop looks like once you stop assuming it needs a hinge between a screen and a keyboard: an 18-inch foldable display that folds down to roughly 13 inches, with no attached physical keyboard at all. The 2026 refresh keeps that core idea and adds the one thing a lot of reviewers flagged as missing — stylus support. The 18-inch foldable touchscreen now takes pen input for handwritten notes or drawing, which matters a lot more on a device this size than it would on a phone, since you’ve actually got room to write like you would on paper.

Under the hood, Huawei is expected to move it from the outgoing Kirin X90 to an upgraded Kirin X90 Plus, reportedly good for around a 25% performance step up. Configs are shaping up as 32GB of RAM with 1TB or 2TB of storage, and it’s shipping in four colors this time — Shadow Black, Cloud Blue, Sky White, and Crimson Red — with a glossy hinge and kickstand finish that’s clearly meant to be looked at, not just used. Huawei Central’s coverage of the launch has the full color and configuration breakdown.

MateBook Pro S: Betting Everything on Weight

The other big reveal is the MateBook Pro S, which Huawei is positioning as the lightest PC in its lineup at just 798 grams. For context, that’s lighter than most 13-inch ultraportables from other brands by a meaningful margin, and it’s running on Huawei’s own Kirin XE90 silicon rather than licensed x86 or ARM silicon from Intel, AMD, or Qualcomm. I’ve carried enough “ultralight” laptops that turned out to be light because they cut battery capacity or thermal headroom to know that weight alone isn’t the whole story — but if Huawei nailed the balance, this is a genuinely compelling travel machine.

Quick Reference

Why Huawei Keeps Betting on Its Own Silicon

What I find more interesting than either individual spec sheet is that Huawei is running both of these flagship laptops on its own Kirin chips instead of anything from Intel or AMD — a direct consequence of the US export restrictions that cut Huawei off from Western chipmakers years ago and forced it to build an entire laptop-class silicon stack in-house. That’s not a small technical lift, and the fact that Huawei can now field an 18-inch foldable and a sub-800-gram ultraportable on its own chips, in the same event, says its Kirin roadmap has caught up more than a lot of people outside China give it credit for. It’s also a hedge against the kind of memory and storage price swings that have hit the whole industry this year — controlling your own silicon at least takes one variable out of your cost stack.

None of this changes the practical reality for most readers outside China, though: Huawei laptops in this segment have historically stayed hard to buy in the US and parts of Europe, partly due to the same trade restrictions and partly because Huawei hasn’t prioritized those markets for its higher-end PC line the way it has for wearables and audio gear.

Should You Wait for This Instead of Buying Now?

If you’re shopping for a laptop in North America or Western Europe this week, don’t hold your breath for either of these — treat this as a “what’s coming eventually, maybe” story rather than a “here’s what to buy this weekend” one. If you’re in a market where Huawei sells directly, the calculus is different: the MateBook Fold is a genuine category of one (nobody else is shipping an 18-inch stylus-enabled foldable at scale), and the Pro S is worth cross-shopping against anything else claiming to be the lightest 13-inch-class laptop you can buy — the same way I’d tell you to actually weigh the tradeoffs before deciding whether a gaming laptop is worth it over a desktop for your use case.

FAQ

When did the new Huawei MateBook Fold launch?

August 5, 2026, at Huawei’s Beijing product event, alongside the MateBook Pro S, an upgraded MatePad Pro, and the nova 16 SE smartphone.

What’s new on the 2026 MateBook Fold Ultimate Design?

Stylus support on its 18-inch foldable touchscreen, an expected upgrade to the Kirin X90 Plus chipset, and four color options, building on the original model’s 18-inch foldable OLED display with no attached keyboard.

How light is the MateBook Pro S?

Huawei says 798 grams, which it’s marketing as the lightest PC in its current lineup, running on the company’s own Kirin XE90 chip.

Can I buy either laptop in the US?

Not confirmed at launch. Huawei’s higher-end PC lineup has historically had limited or no official US availability due to ongoing trade restrictions, so expect these to launch in China first with international availability, if any, coming later. Some previous MateBook Fold models have shown up through third-party importers and gray-market retailers for buyers outside China willing to pay a premium and skip official warranty support — an option worth knowing about, even if I wouldn’t call it the safe default choice for most people.