Huawei’s next addition to its Mate series of devices are finally here. The company has announced the launch of its flagship smartphone — Huawei Mate 9. Along with improved internals, it also comes with a new refined UI.
The phone features a big 5.9-inch full HD display with screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Under the hood, the device is powered by Huawei’s own high-end mobile processor, Kirin 960. It has eight cores running four ARM Cortex-A73 and four A53 CPUs. It also has ARM Mali G71 GPU.
It packs 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. The storage on the device can be expanded up to 256GB using a microSD card. The phone runs on Android Nougat based Emotion UI 5.0.
The company says the UI is improved and claims the system is more efficient and smart now. As per the company, it will learn your habits over time so it can open your most frequently-used apps more quickly.
The most noticeable feature on the smartphone is a dual-lens camera at the back. It is co-developed with Leica, a German camera maker. Instead of horizontally, the two cameras are arranged vertically. The camera has a 12 megapixel RGB sensors, and a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor. There is also an 8 MP front facing camera.
The Huawei Mate 9 has a 4000 mAh battery, and the company claims that it will last two days before it needs to be charged. Also, the “super charge” feature charges 58 percent battery from zero when plugged in for just 30 minutes.
The phone will be launched initially in 12 countries, including China and some parts Europe, Middle East and Asia. It is priced at €699 (Rs. 51,750).
Samsung’s Note 7 debacle has opened new gates for other smartphone companies to jump into premium segment. The Mate 9 is designed to be Huawei’s big push into the premium mobile market.
Huawei is now looking to grow globally as it faces increasing competition in its domestic market. As per Counterpoint Research’s third quarter numbers, Huawei’s smartphone shipments declined 6% year-over-year in China.
