Typical. You wait all year for a new Huawei phone, then four come along at once. And two wearables.
Yep, everyone’s favorite shady Chinese tech company announced six new products at its latest event in London today. They include the new Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro, Mate 20 X and Porsche Design Mate 20 RS (breathe) phones, the Watch GT smartwatch and the Band 3 Pro fitness tracker.
It’s a long list, and sadly, it’s unlikely that any of them will make it to shelves in the US. More on that later. Here’s what you need to know about the new devices in a nutshell.
New Huawei Devices
Huawei Mate 20
- Cost: €799 (about $925 / £705)
- Release date: “Soon”
- Operating system: EMUI 9 (based on Android 9)
- Screen size: 6.53”
- Resolution: FHD+, 2244×1080
- Processor: Kirin 980, the “most powerful and intelligent chipset in the world”
- Battery: 4,200mAh
- Rear cameras: 1x 12Mp f/1.8, 1x 16Mp f/2.2 wide-angle, 1x 8Mp f/2.4 telephoto
- Front camera: 1x 24Mp f2.0
- Ports: USB-C, 3.5mm headphone jack
- Storage: 128GB
- Ram: 6GB
Huawei Mate 20 Pro
- Cost: €1,049 (about $1215 / £899)
- Release date: October 26
- Operating system: EMUI 9 (based on Android 9)
- Screen size: 6.39”
- Resolution: 3120×1440
- Processor: Kirin 980
- Battery: 4,200mAh
- Rear cameras: 1x 40Mp f/1.8 wide angle, 1x 20Mp f/2.2 ultra-wide angle, 1x 8Mp f/2.4 telephoto
- Front camera: 1x 24Mp f/2.0
- Ports: USB-C
- Storage: 128GB
- Ram: 6GB
Huawei Mate 20 X
- Cost: €899 (about $1,040 / £790)
- Release date: October 26
- Operating system: EMUI 9 (based on Android 9)
- Screen size: 7.2”
- Resolution: 2244×1080
- Processor: Kirin 980
- Battery: 5,000mAh
- Rear cameras: 1x 40Mp f/1.8 wide angle, 1x 20Mp f/2.2 ultra-wide angle, 1x 8Mp f/2.4 telephoto
- Front camera: 1x 24Mp f/2.0
- Ports: USB-C, 3.5mm headphone jack
- Storage: 128GB
- Ram: 6GB
Huawei Porsche Design Mate 20 RS
- Cost: from €1,695 (about $1,961 / £1,492)
- Release date: “Soon”
- Operating system: EMUI 9 (based on Android 9)
- Screen size: 6.53”
- Resolution: FHD+, 2244×1080
- Processor: Kirin 980
- Battery: 4,200mAh
- Rear cameras: 1x 12Mp f/1.8, 1x 16Mp f/2.2 wide-angle, 1x 8Mp f/2.4 telephoto
- Front camera: 1x 24Mp f2.0
- Ports: USB-C, 3.5mm headphone jack
- Storage: 128GB
- Ram: 6GB
Huawei Watch GT
- Cost: Sports €199 (about $230 / £175), Classic €249 (about $290 / £220)
- Release date: “Soon”
- Operating system: LiteOS
- Screen size: 1.39”
- Resolution: 454×454
- Battery: Two weeks regular use, 22 hours with GPS
Huawei Band 3 Pro
- Cost: €99 (about $115 / £90)
- Release date: “Soon”
- Screen size: 0.95”
- Resolution: 120×240
- Battery: 7 hours
Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro FAQs
So that’s all the specs covered, but what do they mean in practice? And, should you (if you can) buy the Mate 20 or Mate 20 Pro?
- When Are the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro Available?
- How Much Will the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro Cost?
- What’s The Difference between the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro?
- Can You Buy The Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro in America?
- What About the Mate 20 X?
- Do the Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro have a headphone jack?
- How Big are the Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro Screens?
- What Operating System Do the Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro Run?
- How Good are the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro’s Cameras?
- Should You Get the Huawei Mate 20 or Mate 20 Pro?
When Are the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro Available?
The Mate 20 will be available “soon” but the Mate 20 Pro is available for pre-order now, with deliveries expected to start on October 26.
How Much Will the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro Cost?
The Mate 20 will be available in two variants, one with 4GB of RAM costing €799 ($925) and one with 6GB of RAM costing €849 ($985).
There’s only one version of the Mate 20 Pro, though, and it costs €1,049 (about $1,215).
What’s The Difference between the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro?
Despite the similar names, these phones have more differences than commonalities. While both run the Kirin 980 chipset and feature 4,200mAh batteries, the Mate 20 has a marginally bigger screen than the Mate 20 Pro, 6.53” plays 6.39”.
However, the Mate 20 Pro has a sharper screen with a 3120×1440 resolution, compared to the 2244×1080 resolution for the Mate 20. The Mate 20 has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner whereas, the Mate 20 Pro has a neat in-display fingerprint sensor. The Mate 20 also comes with a headphone jack and USB-C port, but Pro owners will have to make do with a solitary USB-C port.
The cameras are different as well. While both have three rear-mounted snappers, the Mate 20’s have less megapixels, and lack the ultra-wide angle lens of the Pro.
Can You Buy The Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro in America?
Given the limited availability and current suspicions surrounding Huawei in the States, we’re pretty confident in saying that you won’t be able to buy either phone from any carriers or big retailers.
However, if you absolutely must have one of these phones, you can get your hands on one. But, it’ll be a lot of hassle, and you’ll likely have to pay well over the odds.
What About the Mate 20 X?
Again, it’s pretty different to either of the other Mate 20 models. It packs a whopping 7.2-inch display, comes with a stylus, has a huge 5,000mAh battery and you can buy a gamepad with a directional buttons and an analog stick which transforms it into a Nintendo Switch rival – seriously.
It’ll set you back €899 (about $1,040) and should go on sale at the end of the month.
Do the Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro have a headphone jack?
The Mate 20 does, but the Mate 20 Pro, sadly, does not.
How Big are the Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro Screens?
They’re big. The Mate 20 has a 6.53” screen and the Mate 20 Pro has a 6.39” screen.
What Operating System Do the Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro Run?
Both run EMUI 9, which is a skin developed by Huawei to work on top of Android 9 – similar to Samsung’s TouchWiz version of Android.
Don’t worry about losing out on features though, as you’ll still have access to all your favorite apps via the Google Play Store.
How Good are the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro’s Cameras?
If the presentation was anything to go by, both phones should have pretty spectacular cameras – certainly good enough to rival the Samsung Galaxy S9 and iPhone XS . Both offer three rear-mounted cameras, with each fulfilling a slightly different purpose.
The Mate 20 has an 8Mp telephoto camera for detail shots and a 16Mp wide angle camera designed to let you fit more stuff in the shot without losing focus or experience that weird fish-eye effect you sometimes see. The 12Mp camera is a bit of a jack-of-all trades, working across all light conditions to bring detail to your shots.
The Mate 20 Pro, however, comes with a 40Mp wide angle lens, a 20Mp ultra-wide angle lens and an 8 Mp telephoto lens. This means you should get great picture quality regardless of what image you’re trying to take. It also means you’ll be able to take proper landscape pictures.
Huawei was also keen to show off its AI camera tech. With the new, and more powerful, Kirin 980 processor, you’ll be able to make areas of your photos black-and-white in real time, whilst leaving other areas in full colour , for example. The cameras will even be able to identify different people in your photos and videos and allow you to remove them – handy for removing your ex from your Tinder photos.
Should You Get the Huawei Mate 20 or Mate 20 Pro?
If you’re in the States, it might be a case of “Can you” rather “Should you”. But, if you’re one of the lucky souls in the UK, France, Italy or the UAE able to buy the phone from launch, you could certainly do worse.
The cameras seem to be top-notch and the impressive battery life and performance figures should certainly pique the interest of Android power users. The Mate 20, starting from €799, undercuts the Pixel 3 by €60 and should come in slightly cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy 10 when it launches next year.
However, the Mate 20 Pro, priced at €1,049, seems to be a bit too rich for our blood. It even costs more than the newest iPhone – typically the barometer for pricey phones.