Huawei has presented in London its new flagship smartphones, the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro. Available from 02 November, the Mate 20 will cost from EUR 799 and the more advanced Pro version will start at EUR 1,049.
The higher price for the Huawei Mate 20 Pro is down to the more premium features, including a 6.39-inch Oled screen with QHD+ resolution, in-display fingerprint sensor and LTE Cat 21 for speeds up to 1.4 Gbps. The standard Mate 20 comes with a 6.53-inch IPS-LCD screen with Full HD+ resolution and the fingerprint sensor on the rear of the phone.
Top processor, triple camera
Both models run the new Kirin 980 octa-core processor from Huawei, built on 7mn production technology. The processor includes a 2.6-GHz dual-core, 1.92 GHz dual-core and 1.8 GHz quad-core. The Mate 20 Pro comes with 6 GB RAM and the Mate 20 with a choice of 4 or 6 GB, and both run 128 GB internal storage plus support for nano SD cards up to 256 GB.
The phones come with a triple camera on the back, although with different configurations for each model. The Mate 20 features a 12-megapixel wide-angle lens, 16-megapixel ultra wide-angle lens and 8-megapixel telephoto lens. On the Mate 20 Pro, the camera comes with a 40-megapixel wide-angle lens, 20-megapixel ultra wide-angle lens and an 8-megapixel telephoto. Both models have a 24-megapixel camera on the front. Extra on the Mate 20 Pro is infrared facial recognition. Two neural processing units can analyse the subject of photos to optimise the camera settings, especially in low light.
Wireless earbuds and charging
Despite its smaller size, the Mate 20 Pro comes with a large 4,200 mAh battery with 40W charger, which promises a 70 percent charge in 30 minutes. The Mate 20 has a 4,000 mAh battery, also with fast charging, but at 20W. A bonus on the Mate 20 Pro is wireless charging, a feature not supported on the basic version, and the Pro can also support reverse charging, for example to charge Huawei's wireless earbuds, the Freebuds 2, which were also presented in London.
The Huawei Mate 20 Pro also comes with an IP68 certification for dust and water resistance, while the Mate 20 is only IP53 certified to protect against water splashes. Both models will come loaded with Android 9.0 and Huawei's EMUI 9.0 interface and will be available in the colours twilight, midnight blue and black as well as the new emerald green to show off the iridescent quality of the casing.
X model for gamers
Huawei will also offer in some markets a larger version of the phone, the 7.2-inch Mate 20 X with 5,000 mAh battery. Aimed at gamers, this model comes with an advanced cooling system that uses a combination of graphene film and vapor chamber to allow continued performance for an extended period without overheating the processors. The X version is priced at EUR 899 and goes on sale 26 October.
As previously in the Mate series, Porsche versions of the phones will also be available. A model with 8 GB RAM and 512 GB storage will cost EUR 2,095 and the 256 GB version will sell for EUR 1,695.
Also new is the Huawei GT Watch, running the company's own OS, rather than Android Wear. With a ceramic bezel design and stainless steel shell, the smartwatch comes with a 1.39-inch Amoled screen and is just 10.6mm thin. Huawei said the device has a battery life of up to two weeks with just the hear-rate monitor on, 30 days for receiving calls and messages and 22 hours with both the heart-rate monitor and GPS on. It comes with a coaching programme to help manage running, swimming, hiking and other fitness routines, as well as a sleep cycle monitor.
