October has been a big month for smartphones, and that continues today with the debut of the Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro.
First up is the Huawei Mate 20, which features a triple rear camera setup in the shape of a square. There's a wide angle 12MP camera with f/1.8 aperture, an ultra wide angle 16MP camera with f/2.2 aperture, and an 8MP telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom and f/2.4 aperture. In the fourth corner of the camera square is the camera flash. Below the rear cameras is the Mate 20's fingerprint reader.
Around front is a 6.5-inch 2244x1080 LCD screen, and while there is a notch at the top of that display, it's a pretty small waterdrop-style notch with only room for the 24MP front-facing camera. Diving inside the phone, we're met by Huawei's Kirin 980 processor that's been paired with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM, 128GB of built-in storage, and dual SIM slots, with one slot supporting Huawei's new NM Card memory card format. Also included is a 4000mAh battery, wireless charging support, and Android 9 Pie below a custom EMUI 9 user interface.
And then there's the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. While this device may share a design with the Huawei Mate 20, it's got some notable upgrades to help it earn that "Pro" moniker. For example, the triple rear camera setup on the Mate 20 Pro includes a 40MP wide angle camera, 20MP ultra wide angle camera, and an 8MP telephoto camera. This triple rear camera setup is finished off with a flash.
The front of the Mate 20 Pro features a display that's smaller than the Mate 20's but is higher res. The Mate 20 Pro boasts a 6.39-inch 3120x1440 OLED screen that has a larger notch than the Mate 20, but that's because it's got facial recognition tech inside of it along with a 24MP front camera. And rather than rely on a rear fingerprint reader like the Mate 20, the Mate 20 Pro has been equipped with an in-display fingerprint sensor.
Inside the Mate 20 Pro is the same Kirin 980 processor as the Mate 20, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of built-in storage. Huawei has also included dual SIM slots, though you can use one of those slots for Huawei's custom NM Card memory card to add more storage. There's a 4200mAh battery powering the Huawei Mate 20, and there's wireless charging support included, too. In fact, the Mate 20 Pro is actually capable of wirelessly charging other devices. The software is Android 9 Pie running below the EMUI 9 user interface.
The Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro will be launched globally, but unfortunately, they're not expected to arrive in the U.S. Pricing for the Huawei Mate 20 will be set at €799 ($926 USD), while the Mate 20 Pro will cost €1049 ($1,215 USD).
Huawei's Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro could be big devices. They tick many of the boxes that you'd expect from a flagship smartphone in 2018, and the multi-camera setups sound enticing. The big batteries on both phones are attractive as well. Now we just have to wait to get the phones in our hands to see if they can live up to their loaded spec lists.
