Despite what Donald Trump

might think, Huawei makes

excellent phones. Unlike the

big orange baby, Huawei knows

it’s not an expert in everything,

which is why it gets Leica in

to work on its cameras rather

than just getting someone in

accounts have a go. Likewise,

when it came to making the

Sound X smart speaker, Huawei

was straight on the blower

to Devialet, the hi-fi boffins

behind the excellent Phantom

all-in-one speaker.

Together they’ve produced

this HomePod-esque effort,

which promises 360° sound

from a pair of 3.5in woofers

and half a dozen 1.5in full-range

drivers, with six microphones

on board for picking up your

voice commands.

With some US companies

banned from working with

Huawei, that raises one key

question: who supplies the

smarts? It’s one that’ll need

to be answered before the

Sound X is to have any chance

of succeeding outside China,

which is probably why there’s

no UK availability info yet.

In China this speaker will cost

the equivalent of about £216,

whereas the Phantom costs

£999 – so thankfully it seems

Huawei didn’t ask Devialet for

help when it came to concocting

the price. Phew.

As hot as... the Devil’s Breville

£tbc / consumer.huawei.com

THE DEVIALET’S

IN THE DETAILS

Huawei Sound X

HOT

FOUR

Pairy

similitude

As with many wireless

and smart speakers, you can

add a second Sound X to your

setup to create a stereo pair.

In fact, Huawei will offer a

bundle of two for this

very reason.

Pod knows
it’s true
At 20cm tall and 16.5cm
across, the Sound X is a little
bit bigger than the HomePod.
And like Apple’s smart
speaker, it has a circular
touch-panel on
the top.