Huawei Mate 20 Pro – the king of 2018?

 ·17 Oct 2018

Huawei’s highly anticipated Mate 20 series was launched in London on 16 October, touted as the most powerful Android smartphone to be released to date.

Highlights of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro – set to be launched in South Africa next Tuesday, 23 October – include an all-new Leica triple lens camera, powerful 40W SuperCharge functionality, dual biometric-recognition from an in-screen fingerprint scanner and face unlock with dot projection, and a futuristic full-screen – which serves as the new benchmark for smartphones.

King of smartphones for 2018?

After 7-years of growth, Huawei Consumer Business started being included as a key business unit of Huawei to become capable of industrial chain integration and R&D, which take over Samsung to become the new generation of light of Android.

Camera: Huawei Mate 20 Pro continues to lead

Huawei P20 Pro has remained in the top spot for the DxOMark ratings since its launch. While, the newly launched iPhone Xs Max is trying to catch up, the new Mate 20 Pro leave competitors even further behind.

The Mate 20 Pro sees an upgraded Leica triple camera system by adding the professional Ultra-Wide-Angle lens, which becomes fully advantageous for zoom. It also performs exceptionally well in low-lit conditions, and features new Wide-Angle and Macro lens features with AI relevant shooting features.

A more robust battery life

Battery life and super charging speeds are the traditional advantages that Huawei owns.

The Mate 20 Pro features an upgraded battery capacity of 42,00mAh, and is now configured to a 40W SuperCharge which can charge to 70% in 30mins. It also supports 15W wireless SuperCharge – the fastest in the industry.

The iPhone Xs Max with the largest screen in the iPhone stable, has only around 3,100mAh for battery capacity and 5W charging power, and half of the wireless charging power compared to Mate 20 Pro.

Processing power

Huawei and Apple have both improved chipset production to the 7nm size with more semi-conductors, and have improved the Neuro-Processing Unit to 2nd generation with more computing capability. The Snapdragon S845 is left behind, chasing hard to catch up.

Screen and Biometric Identification: Apple no longer the leader

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro is designed with a massive 6.39-inch curved, notch screen with contrast ratio to 2K+ (3120 x 1440), which exceed iPhone Xs Max to become the best OLED screen with most detail you can see.

Both the Huawei Mate 20 Pro and iPhone Xs Max can support 3D face unlock by projecting more than 30k light spots on face to achieve higher level of security. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro has more compact structured light module, more narrow notch and edge.

At the same time, The Mate 20 Pro keeps the fingerprint sensing beneath the screen for cleaner and concise design language.

Huawei Mate20 Pro vs iPhone Xs Max 

Detailed specifications of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro and the iPhone Xs Max are outlined below.

Specifications Mate 20 Pro iPhone Xs Max
OS EMUI 9.0 (Android 9.0) iOS 12
Display 6.3-inch (1440 x 3120) OLED 6.5-inch (1,242 x 2,688) OLED
Processor 2.6GHz octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 980 (7nm) A12 Bionic
RAM 8GB 4GB
Storage 128GB, Huawei nanoSD up to 512GB 64GB/256GB/512GB
Rear camera 40MP Wide (f/1.8 – f/2.4) + 20MP Wide (f/1.6) + 8MP Telephoto (f/2.4) Dual 12MP (f/1.8 + f/2.4)
Front camera 24MP Wide f/2.0 7MP f/2.2
Durability IP68 IP68
SIM NanoSIM NanoSIM + eSIM
Battery 4,200mAh 3,174mAh
Price €1,049 $1,099

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