Like every year, Huawei unveiled its Mate 50 and 50 Pro. There are a few surprises.
Here they are, here they are, the new Huawei Mate 50 and Mate 50 Pro. The situation has not changed for the Chinese group which is still suffering from the American embargo. Despite the difficulties, even in its home market, Huawei continues to move forward.
The Mate 50 Pro has it all, except 5G and Google services
The main novelty of the Huawei Mate 50 is certainly the SoC Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 from Qualcomm. No Kirin, Qualcomm provides all the chips on this generation. Next to the SoC is 8GB of RAM and 128GB, 256GB or 512GB storage. Also, the smartphone only supports 4G connectivity, 5G is absent due to US sanctions.
Regarding its screen, Huawei has opted for a 6.74-inch OLED panel with Full HD + definition, a refresh rate of 120 Hz and a touch sampling of 300 Hz. It is protected by Kunlun Glass, a glass which, according to Huawei, has obtained five stars in the Swiss SGS certification.
The Chinese manufacturer evokes a glass ten times more resistant than standard glass. As you’ll notice from the visuals, the glass is curved at the sides, and there’s a fairly wide notch that hosts a three-dimensional face unlock, like Face ID.
Under its shell, therefore, we find a 4,700 mAh battery with support for fast charging at 66 W wired and 50 W wireless. There is also reverse wireless charging.
On the side of the sensors for the photo and the video, we find the Xmage house technology. Count on a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 main sensor whose aperture can vary depending on the scene, between f/1.4 and f/4. It is a technology similar to that already crossed at Samsung, and more recently Sony. The other three cameras are a 12 megapixel camera for telephoto, a 13 megapixel camera for ultra wide-angle as well as a12-megapixel 5x optical zoom.
As expected, the operating system is HarmonyOS 3.0, Huawei’s home OS. Incidentally, Huawei is adding a satellite connection. This is the expected feature on the iPhone 14: the Huawei Mate 50 Pro supports Beidou Satellite Message.
This means of communication allows to send only text messages and information when there is no network signal. Elon Musk confirmed earlier this summer 2022 that smartphones could connect to the Starlink network.
The Mate 50 is a bit lighter
The Mate 50 is thinner, lighter and less well equipped than the Mate 50 Pro. Makes sense, you might say. The 6.7-inch AMOLED panel is the same size, but it offers a refresh rate of 90 Hz instead of 120 Hz.
It still shares a lot with the Mate 50 Pro, including the Qualcomm chip. Another noticeable difference is one of the third-party cameras, the Optical Zoom, of 64 megapixels with 3.5x optical zoom. No 3D face unlock on the front, so it adopts a more classic design with a central hole.
Mate 50 and 50 Pro prices and availability
For the moment, availability has only been announced in China. Count a first price of 720 euros (4,999 yuan) for the Mate 50, this is a price excluding tax, and 980 euros for the Mate 50 Pro (6,799 yuan), still excluding tax.
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