Introduction

Ease of Use

Huawei has gone for an ultra-slick design for the Mate 20 Pro. It uses a curved 2K resolution OLED screen, which now incorporates a fingerprint scanner into the screen itself and allows for a bigger screen to body ratio than the previous Mate 20 Pro. Symmetry is also the aim of the game here – where the P20 Pro placed its three lenses and flash unit in a row, the Mate 20 Pro places them in a square for an attractive mirrored look.

The phone is available in four different colours – we’ve been using the Emerald Green version – which has a pattern etched into the back of it. This is designed to make the rear resistant to fingerprints, as well as apparently helping to make the glass more durable and less slippy than other models. It’s still a fairly slippy phone though, so while it looks beautiful you may want to invest in a case as soon as possible to help it stay that way.

Like the P20 Pro, the Mate 20 Pro uses a notch at the top of the display. The notch has been made bigger to incorporate a more secure front-facing camera which can now be used with Android Pay. If you don’t like the idea of a notch at all, you can switch it off – if you do, black bars will appear at the very top of the screen instead to create the illusion that there is no notch at all.

Rear of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro

There are a number of different ways to unlock the screen. You can do so via face recognition, using the inbuilt fingerprint detector in the screen, or by entering a PIN or pattern on the screen itself. If however, you only need to access the camera, you can do that without unlocking anything – simply swipe up from the bottom right hand corner of the lock screen. If you do that, you’ll be able to see images taken in your current session, but nothing older.

As we’ve seen before with Huawei phones, the native camera app is extremely well-featured, being one of the most flexible on the market for enthusiast photographers.

Front of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro

By default, the app will launch in Photo mode, which is the most straightforward way to shoot photos. Artificial intelligence is used in this mode, but you can switch it off in the menu if you feel that it’s going overboard on certain settings. You’ll find that if you point the phone towards certain subjects, a word and an icon pops up to show you what it thinks it’s detected. I’ve tried it in a number of different conditions, and seen recognition of Mountains, Blue Skies, Dogs, Flowers, Clouds, Autumn Leaves and more. There’s also “Super Macro”, which will automatically switch to using the wide-angle camera to shoot super close-up shots.

There are other options, which you can change in the settings menu while using Photo mode. One of the most important is the ability to change Resolution to take advantage of the full 40 megapixels if you want to – by default, the phone shoots in a more sensible 10 megapixels.

Front of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro

Other modes run along the button of the camera app. For stills, you’ve got Portrait, Night, Aperture and Pro. There’s also a Video mode, too. A selection of other modes are hidden behind the “More” section, which includes Slow-Mo video and Panorama. There’s also a Monochrome mode, but unlike with the Mate 20 Pro and the P20 Pro, there’s no monochrome sensor, so it’s just creating a desaturated colour photo.

Portrait Mode is for use when shooting human subjects, creating a fake shallow depth of field effect. A new feature for the Mate 20 Pro is the ability to choose from different shaped bokeh – you can now go for circles, hearts, a swirl or discs. The circle shape is the most “natural”, but the others are all quite fun options, which are reasonably subtle. It’s a shame not to be able to use the different shaped bokehs with other subjects, such as pets – perhaps this is something Huawei could enable with an update at some point, though.

Rear of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro

Aperture Mode is similar to Portrait mode, in that it creates a fake shallow depth of field, but it can be used with any type of subject. In this mode, you also have the option to adjust how much blur, along with where the focus point is, after you’ve taken the shot by editing it in playback. For that reason, you might find you prefer to use it for your Portrait shots too – you can’t use the different shaped bokehs, though.

Night Mode is something we’ve seen before in the P20 Pro. In essence, it works by shooting a series of short exposures, merging them together to create the impression of a long exposure. The benefit of this is that you can shoot low-light night shots completely handheld, watching the scene build up in front of you on screen.

Rear of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro

The Pro mode is one which is likely to be of high interest to enthusiast photographers. With this mode, you can change a number of different key shooting parameters, including ISO, shutter speed, exposure compensation, metering and AF type. In this mode, you can also shoot in raw format, but you need to enable it from the settings menu.

In order to switch between modes, you can swipe between the different options. One of the disadvantages of the new curved screen design, is that a reduced bezel size can lead to false touches. We’ve seen the same problem with Samsung’s curved phones – on more than one occasion it was difficult to change between the different modes offered because the phone thinks you’re already touching it on the sides. Eventually, you get used to holding the phone in a certain way to avoid this problem, but it’s certainly something to look out for.

Image Displayed

As previously mentioned, the phone’s has three different lenses, with three different focal lengths. In order to switch between the different options, you can tap a box on the main camera window – you’ll move through 1x, 3x, 5x (which is digital hybrid zoom), and finally 0.6x, for the wide-angle lens. A quicker way to get to the wide-angle lens is to pinch inwards. It’s worth noting that as only the main (1x) lens can shoot at 40MP, if you have that resolution selected, you won’t be able to switch between the different lenses.

Switching to the front camera leaves you with the option to shoot in Portrait, Photo and Video mode. In the Portrait mode, you can engage the same different shaped bokeh as seen in the main camera, which is fun to use for selfies.

Pro Camera Mode

One of the new features of the Mate 20 Pro is the ability to expand storage via a brand new type of memory card. The Mate 20 Pro has dual sim card slots, but one of the slots can be used to take the brand new “NM” (nano memory) card, which is 45% smaller than a Micro SD card.

The Mate 20 Pro has a 4200 mAH battery – giving it a very impressive battery life. It’s almost certainly going to last you a full day, unless perhaps you are constantly using it throughout the day. With the charger that comes in the box you can charge it via “lightning charging”, which can get you back up to 70% in 30 minutes. Alternatively, wireless charging is also available via an optional wireless charger at additional cost.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 8/20/24/40 megapixel JPEG settings.

We were extremely impressed with the quality of image output from both the Huawei P20 Pro and last year’s Mate 20 Pro, so we had every confidence that the Mate 20 Pro would put in an excellent performance. At the time of writing, the Mate 20 Pro hasn’t been officially ranked by DxO Mobile, so it could well dethrone the P20 Pro which has been sitting at the top of its list since March 2018.

Either way, Huawei has yet again produced a superb device for photographers. There was some doubt about removing the monochrome sensor to make way for the wide-angle lens, but the detail appears to be on a par with the P20 Pro – at least not obviously different anyway. The trade-off to get a wide-angle lens is a welcome one, in our opinion, giving you the flexibility to shoot more and varied scenarios. It’s particularly great for landscapes and travel photography where you want to show a wider view of the scene.

Colours are fantastic, but as we’ve seen before with the P20 Pro, they can be a little over-the-top for some tastes when Master AI (artificial intelligence) is left switched on. Switching it off can result in much more natural tones, as can shooting in Pro mode.

The new Super Macro mode is fantastic for getting extra close to your subject – making it ideal for shooting certain subjects where you want to produce a high level of detail. This is an area that many smartphones struggle with, so it’s great to see it perform so well here.

We also continue to be impressed by the fantastic Night Mode, which is ideal to use in low light situations, especially if you don’t have a way to stablise the phone, such as with a tripod or similar. Photos look great when shared at small sizes, such as online, but it’s possible to see some strange artefacts if you zoom in and examine an image very closely.

The main 1x zoom lens is the best performer, but the ultra wide-angle is also extremely impressive, with its 20 megapixel sensor. Distortion for this lens is a little apparent at the very edges of the photo, but it’s not something you’ll notice in most ordinary shots. The 3x optical zoom is not quite so good, but it’s just about better than cropping into the 1x image – particularly if you’re shooting at just 10 megapixels. 5x hybrid zoom is also a good option, if you need to get closer to the action – despite being a digital zoom, it still produces fairly reasonable images and is helpful to have in scenarios where it’s not possible to physically move closer to your subject.

Under artificial lighting conditions, colours are rendered fairly accurately by the automatic white balance settings, while other lighting conditions, including overcast also produce natural looking colours. Overall, exposures are pretty well balanced without too much need to introduce exposure compensation, save for perhaps very bright conditions where you might want to retain details in the highlights.

Both Portrait and Aperture mode produce good and fairly realistic results – especially if you don’t scrutinise the edge of subjects too closely to see the drop off in focus.

Noise

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro has 8 manually-selectable ISO sensitivity settings available at full resolution, ranging between ISO 50 and ISO 6400.

JPEG	RAW
ISO 50 (100% Crop)	ISO 50 (100% Crop)
ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro's fixed focal length lenses are equivalent to 16mm, 29mm and 82mm in 35mm camera terms. Digital zoom is also available, but with a corresponding reduction in image sharpness.

16mm

29mm

82mm

Hybrid 5x Zoom

Macro

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro has a Super Macro mode when using the 16mm wide-angle lens, which means that it's able to focus as close as 2cm from a subject. We found this claim to be accurate, though autofocusing does occasionally struggle to lock on at this kind of range.

Macro

Flash

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro uses a twin-ED flash, and as usual for this technology, it gives a weaker flash burst than a standard xenon camera flash.

Flash Off

Flash On

Flash On

Bokeh

Bokeh Off

Circle Bokeh

Swirl Bokeh

Disc Bokeh

Heart Bokeh

Long Exposure

Thanks to the optical image stabilisation and a wide f/1.6 maximum aperture, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro performs well at night. Although there's some noise and detail smoothing, the result is still comparable to what a typical compact camera would produce.

Night

Panorama

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro's automatic sweep panorama mode works well and lets you stop panning at will. The results aren't always perfect, but ghosting is rare. Unlike most regular camera panorama modes which produce significantly downsized images, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro has enough processing power to capture at high resolutions, so panoramas are usually around 11000 horizontal pixels and 3000 vertical pixels in size.

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Huawei Mate 20 Pro camera, which were all taken using the 8/20/24/40 megapixel JPEG settings setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Huawei RAW (DNG) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movies & Video

Product Images

Conclusion

Huawei is pretty much the go-to name in smartphones these days if your main concern is the quality of the onboard camera(s).

The Mate 20 Pro doesn’t replace the P20 Pro, but sits alongside it to give you a couple of different options when it comes to choosing the best model for you. With the Mate 20 Pro, you get a wide-angle lens, but you lose the monochrome sensor – which is more important to you is likely to be down to personal preference, but it’s hard to spot a huge loss in quality even without that monochrome sensor.

There are other aspects which you may also want to think about though – such as the design. A curved screen looks very nice, but it presents its own problems – most notably the issue of false touches, which can be learned to live with but may be particularly bothersome for photographers who are more likely to hold the phone in certain way.

In terms of the photographs the Mate 20 Pro can produce, once again Huawei has produced an extremely impressive device. Images are very detailed, have fantastic colours and with three different focal lengths to choose from, it’s a very flexible option to have in your pocket. The ability to shoot in raw format, or to take control via the Pro mode, is also extremely appealing to enthusiast photographers.

Artificial intelligence does a good job of determining the scene, and it’s quite amusing to see how many different types of subject it can recognise, but if you’re finding it to be a little OTT in the results that it produces, it’s great that you can switch it off for a more natural look.

Then there’s price. At £899 (sim free), the Huawei Mate 20 Pro is at the higher end of the premium smartphone scale. However, it’s much cheaper than the iPhone XS (minimum £999 for a 64GB version – the Mate 20 Pro is 128GB), and the same price as the lowest capacity Samsung Galaxy Note 9. When you look at it like that, the fact that it offers so much for the price arguably makes it pretty good value for money.

It’ll be interesting to see what Huawei does next to follow on from the P20 Pro next year, but for now at least, the Mate 20 Pro is quite probably the smartphone we’d most highly recommend for photographers.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	5
Features	5
Ease-of-use	5
Image quality	5
Value for money	4

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro.

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro from around the web.

Specifications

News

The Huawei Mate 20 Series is one of the most highly anticipated smartphone series of the year. Available in 6.53-inch, and 6.39-inch the HUAWEI Mate 20 Series is available in three devices: HUAWEI Mate 20, HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro and PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS.

Huawei Press Release

A HIGHER INTELLIGENCE: HUAWEI UNVEILS HUAWEI MATE 20 SERIES

LONDON, United Kingdom—October 16, 2018—Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG) today unveiled the HUAWEI Mate 20 Series, one of the most highly anticipated smartphone series of the year. Representing a momentous milestone in the history of the HUAWEI Mate Series, the HUAWEI Mate 20 Series embodies the pinnacle of innovation. Designed with the industry’s most powerful and sophisticated process technology, the latest Huawei flagship devices set a new bar by which all 2018 smartphones will be measured.

The HUAWEI Mate 20 Series is powered by Huawei’s densest and highest performing system on chip (SoC) to date—the Kirin 980. Manufactured with the advanced 7nm process incorporating the powerful Cortex-A76-based CPU and Mali-G76 GPU, the SoC offers improved performance and an unprecedented smooth user experience. The new 40W HUAWEI SuperCharge, 15W HUAWEI Wireless Quick Charge and large batteries work in tandem to provide users with the best battery life. The Matrix Camera System includes Leica Ultra Wide Angle Lens that lets users not only see wider, but also closer with its new macro distance capability. The Hyper Optical Pattern on the glass back plays with light and shadows, producing an iridescent optical effect that is immediately captivating. The Matrix Camera System adopts the iconic Four-Point Design that exudes personality, giving the device a unique visual identity that is recognisable even at a distance. The HUAWEI Mate 20 Series is shipped with the highly customised Android P-based EMUI 9 operating system, on which consumers can enjoy all productivity and entertainment features easily and conveniently with a few simple taps and swipes.

Available in 6.53-inch, and 6.39-inch the HUAWEI Mate 20 Series is available in three devices: HUAWEI Mate 20, HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro and PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS.

“Smartphones are an important entrance to the digital world. The HUAWEI Mate 20 Series is designed to be the best ‘mate’ of consumers, accompanying and empowering them to enjoy a richer, more fulfilled life with their higher intelligence, unparalleled battery lives and powerful camera performance,” said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer BG.

Ultimate Performance and Battery Life

The SoC at the core of smartphones has a determining factor in a device’s performance and efficiency. Manufactured with the cutting-edge 7nm technology process, the SoC fits 6.9 billion transistors within a die the size of a fingernail. Compared to Kirin 970, the latest chipset is equipped with CPU that is up to 75 percent more powerful, GPU that is up to 46 percent more powerful and NPU that is up to 226 percent more powerful. Furthermore, the efficiency of the components has also been elevated: the CPU is up to 58 percent more efficient, GPU is up to 178 percent more efficient, and the NPU is up to 182 percent more efficient. The Kirin 980 is the world’s first commercial SoC to use the Cortex-A76-based cores. Huawei has innovatively designed a three-tier architecture that consists of two ultra-large cores, two large cores and four small cores. This grants the CPU the flexibility to allocate the optimal amount of resources to heavy, medium and light tasks for unprecedented levels of efficiency, simultaneously improving the performance of the SoC while enhancing the battery life. The Kirin 980 is also the industry’s first SoC to be equipped with Dual-NPU, granting it higher On-Device AI processing capability to support any and all AI applications.

HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro is the world’s first smartphone to support the 4.5G LTE Cat. 21 standard, allowing consumers to experience download speeds of up to 1.4Gbps. It also supports the world’s fastest Wi-Fi connection speeds--2GB footage requires only 10 seconds to download. The top-end flagship also supports dual-band (L1+L5) GPS positioning technology. The AI GPS Satellite Selection technology enhances the positioning accuracy across a wide range of scenarios.

Besides superb performance, the HUAWEI Mate 20 Series also features groundbreaking improvement on battery life. The HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro houses a large, high-density 4200mAh battery, and supports 40W HUAWEI SuperCharge, which gives the device up to 70 percent charge in 30 minutes. The safety of the charging technology is certified by TÜV Rheinland.

Moreover, HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro supports 15W HUAWEI Wireless Quick Charge, the industry’s fastest wireless charging solution, and Wireless Reverse Charge, which enables the device to work as a power bank for selected electronic devices supporting wireless charging.

Matrix Camera System

Building on the foundation of HUAWEI P20 Series’ camera system, Huawei augmented the HUAWEI Mate 20 with a powerful addition—16mm Leica Ultra Wide Angle Lens. This wider perspective creates a sense of spaciousness and a three dimensional effect to the images. The new camera system also supports macro distance, which produces crisp images of objects that are placed as close as 2.5cm from the lens. The added ultra-wide angle lens and macro support completes the feature set of the camera system, elevating it to a truly all-round camera that is ready to capture any and all action. The HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro is equipped with a 40MP main camera, a 20MP ultra wide-angle camera, and an 8MP telephoto camera. Together, the trio of lenses supports a wide range of focal lengths (equivalent to the performance of a 16-270mm zoom lens), enabling it to mimic the results from professional cameras.

The HUAWEI Mate 20 Series also features an AI Portrait Colour video mode. Using AI, the HUAWEI Mate 20 Series can isolate human subjects and desaturate the colors around them to dramatically highlight the person. AI Spotlight Reel identifies clips with a shared theme and auto-generates a montage, made entirely of highlights.

HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro and PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS both support 3D Face Unlock. The solution quickly and securely authenticates users within 0.6s at a false acceptance rate of below 1/1,000,000. Using the 3D Depth Sensing Camera System located at the front, the two devices can accurately read the facial features of a subject and recognize even small details. Besides user authentication, this suite of sensors also enables the portrait beautification effects to be realised in a more natural and effective way.

EMUI 9 Enables a Quality Life

The HUAWEI Mate 20 Series comes with EMUI 9, a smart operating system based on Android P. Through AI self-learning algorithms, an integrated and granular resource allocation system, and a highly optimised Android environment, EMUI 9 delivers an “evergreen” experience—it remains smooth even through extended use.

EMUI 9 incorporates a unified, ergonomic design and a streamlined settings menu. The new gesture navigation support allows users to effortlessly interact with their devices using just taps and swipes. It also introduces new AI features that enable the HUAWEI Mate 20 Series to perform or enhance a range of tasks from object identification to food calorie counting[1][2]. Using 3D Live Object Modeling, consumers can even create a fun digital avatar to dance or interact with.

As a key pillar supporting Huawei’s all-connected, all-scenario ecosystem, HUAWEI Share 3.0 delivers a revolutionary improvement in device interconnection, allowing users to transfer files between smartphones and PC. This is an innovative, Huawei-proprietary solution that enables device interconnectivity. It revolutionises the way people transfer images and videos: all it takes is one tap to establish a connection between a smartphone and PC for easy and fast file sharing[3].

Futuristic Design

As an expression of the HUAWEI Mate Series DNA, all devices carry a FullView display with a high screen-to-body ratio. Compactly engineered, every device in the series can be comfortably used with a single hand.

The grace of natural elements is captured on the design of the HUAWEI Mate 20 Series. In particular the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro’s chassis is curved on all eight sides—a marvel to behold, and a pleasure to hold in the hand. For the PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS, Huawei and Porsche Design ingeniously combined race track elements with premium materials to create a device that exudes elegance and offers a firm, ergonomic grip.

The Matrix Camera array on the back of the HUAWEI Mate 20 Series features a four-point design with the three cameras and sensor encircled in a polished metal frame, producing an avant-garde look that is both bold and distinct. The flagship series comes in a new Emerald Green colourway, which is as brilliant as its namesake gemstone. The Hyper Optical Pattern on the glass back uses a complex hairline pattern to produce an iridescent effect that is not only highly durable, but also makes the device easy to grip and fingerprint resistant. The devices retain a clean look even when they have been used extensively.

The HUAWEI Mate 20 (4GB + 128GB configuration) will have a MSRP of EUR799 and the HUAWEI Mate 20 (6GB + 128GB configuration) will have a MSRP of EUR849 from 16th October, 2018.

The HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro (6GB + 128GB configuration) will have a MSRP of EUR1049 from 16th October, 2018.

The PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS (8GB + 256GB configuration) will have a MSRP of EUR1695, and the PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS (8GB + 512GB configuration) will have a MSRP of EUR2095 from 16th November, 2018.

Embodying exquisite design, powerful performance, extraordinary capturing capabilities and next-generation intelligence, the new HUAWEI Mate 20 Series is the partner of choice for professionals pursuing quality of life.

Pricing and Availability

The new HUAWEI Mate 20 Series, as well as HUAWEI WATCH GT, HUAWEI Band 3 Pro will go on sale in the UK soon. Pricing varies between retailers. For more information, please visit: https://www.consumer.huawei.co...

Huawei Press Release

PORSCHE DESIGN AND HUAWEI REVEAL THE NEW PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI MATE 20 RS

The Ultimate Form of Artificial Intelligence

London—October 16, 2018—Porsche Design and Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG) unveiled the new PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS Series smartphone today, the latest mobile luxury device created through the collaboration between Porsche Design and Huawei. As the fourth handset to join the exclusive line-up, PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS continues the tradition set by its predecessors, blending state-of the-art technology with uncompromising design. Inside, it has one of the world’s most powerful chipsets, the newest Kirin 980, supporting industry-leading performance and AI capabilities. The extreme performance is encased within an automotive inspired chassis, the back of which is accentuated with genuine leather for a premium hand feel. The all-new device represents the pinnacle in mobile luxury and mobile AI, expressed in a timeless functional design.

The two companies collaborated to design the chassis of the new PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS. Rounded on the sides with bold, aesthetically pleasing curves, the device reflects its high level of performance in its outside appearance. The iconic automotive design element is incorporated into the back of the PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS—a device with the Rennsport “RS” designation—with a luxury twist.

Artisan Leather Flanks

The PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS racing stripe motifs are put together with all-natural leather and glass. Aligned vertically at the back of the device, the unique design provides a sporty, striking contrast that is instantly recognisable—the leather sides add a natural, personal touch to the design, symbolising the consumer-centric ethos that drives Porsche Design and Huawei, whilst giving a more luxurious look to the device. Together with perfectly rounded edges, the soft natural leather ensures a firm, ergonomic grip and premium touch that evokes the feeling of complete control.

The handcrafted semi-aniline top grain leather integrated into the design of PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS is soft yet highly durable, able to withstand the wear and tear of everyday use. Being a product of passion and ingenuity, this device it is a celebration of craftsmanship and innovation.

Ultimate Performance

The PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS is powered by a high-performance chipset—Kirin 980, which is manufactured using the cutting-edge 7nm process. With the Dual-NPU, the new Kirin chipset enables the smartphone to strike the perfect balance between high performance and state-of-the-art power efficiency, even when running at full throttle. The Kirin 980 is also the world’s first commercial SoC to use Cortex-A76-based high performance cores. The Cortex-A76-based cores work in concert with high efficiency Cortex-A55 cores to deliver blazing fast performance. Meanwhile, the Mali-G76 GPU drives maximum graphical performance for all use cases.

Ultimate Camera

Separating the two leather stripes at the back of the device is a pane of glass, which highlights the technology aspect of the PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS. The all-new Leica Triple Camera, comprised of a 40MP main camera, a 20MP camera with Leica Ultra Wide Angle Lens and an 8MP telephoto camera, is nestled stylishly underneath the glass. The camera system is arranged in a two-by-two matrix that captivates its viewers as it captures them. It comes with a brand-new capability: macro distance. Users can get as close to an object as 2.5cm from the lenses and capture vivid details with an ultra-sharp focus.

Leveraging the AI capabilities of the Dual-NPU embedded in the Kirin 980, PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 delivers AI experiences via EMUI 9.0, Huawei’s Android P-based operating system. HiVision, a new feature coming with EMUI 9.0, gives users a smart encyclopedia that fits in their pocket. Pointing a camera towards famous paintings and landmarks reveals their rich history—an especially handy feature for jet-setting globetrotters on their adventures.

Ultimate Identification

The PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS features an In-Screen Fingerprint sensor. Huawei has evolved the design of its sensor with Dynamic Pressure Sensing Technology to achieve improved success rate and up to 30 percent better recognition speed[1]. The device displays a prompt whenever it detects a finger is hovering above the sensor. Once the authentication process is complete, the unobtrusive prompt quickly disappears into the background. Furthermore, it is equipped with a 3D Face Unlock solution which, through mapping a user’s face s, enables the device to accurately read the face of a user. The sophisticated sensors and Dual-NPU-powered AI enable 3D Face Unlock to identify a user quickly (under 0.6s) and work across a broad range of lighting conditions, including in pitch-black darkness. Moreover, 3D Face Unlock authenticates users at a false acceptance rate of below 1/1,000,000.

Ultimate Energy

The PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS houses an industry leading 4200mAh (typical value) battery that supports German TÜV Safe Fast-Charge System Certified 40W HUAWEI SuperCharge technology. Tested relentlessly to the limits by Huawei’s engineers, the battery in PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS supports more than a full day of intensive use, and can be charged back at unprecedented speeds. Utilising 40W HUAWEI SuperCharge, users can charge their battery from nil to approximately 70 percent (2940mAh) in 30 minutes[2]. A HUAWEI Wireless Charger supporting 15W HUAWEI Wireless Quick Charge is also available (sold separately). Furthermore, it supports HUAWEI Wireless Reverse Charge, which lets the exclusive device to act as a wireless power bank.

Ultimate Design

The frontal view of the PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS is symmetrical. Porsche Design and Huawei have evolved the lower bezel in favor of a larger screen size, providing consumers with even more display space for any work or play usage scenario.

The PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS comes in a second color version—Red[3]. While the colour black represents status, professionalism, simplicity and strength, red is passionate, glamorous and adventurous—the perfect colour for those who would like to express their more playful side.

A Leather Smart View Flip Case complements the new device. Made of the same natural leather as the back of the device, it offers additional protection to the exquisite handset, while leaving an opening for the FullView display to show information including time and notifications, as well as the Porsche Design logo.

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer BG, said, “The PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS is a bespoke device uniquely tailored for consumers with a refined taste for genuine luxury. Featuring cutting-edge technology encased in an artisan body, it is the ultimate form of AI.”

Jan Becker, CEO of Porsche Design Group, said, “Functional design is the DNA of Porsche Design, and every iteration of the PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate Series sees a natural evolution of that principle. The latest novelty exemplifies this by the use of leather, which is simultaneously steeped in tradition and innovative design.”

The PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 20 RS epitomises the passion in cutting-edge technology and design shared by Porsche Design and Huawei. With an inspired design, powerful performance, best-in-class battery technologies and sophisticated biometric identification features, the latest luxury flagship appeals to discerning consumers with a taste for Porsche Design’s signature purist aesthetics and Huawei’s leading technologies.

First Impressions

We've spent some time getting to know the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, so check out our first impressions of Huawei's new flagship smartphone...

The Mate 20 Pro is the first device from Huawei to use the very latest Kirin 980 chipset, which has not one, but two neural network computing (NPU) processors. 

This means that the Mate 20 Pro can now identify particulars, not just contours, can process live video as well as stills, and can separate objects more precisely. Along with its super-fast Cat.21 LTE, 1.732Gbps Wifi connection, the Mate 20 Pro is capable of streaming 4K live video with no buffering.

Huawei have gone all-out to give the Mate 20 Pro an iconic design, with symmetry and simplicity at the forefront. The camera is therefore located in the middle of the device, which is curved on all the corners. It's also rated to IP68 water and dust resistant.

The Mate 20 Pro is available in Pink Gold, Midnight Blue, Emerald Green, Twilight and Black. It has a 6.39 inch, 3120x1440 2K plus, 19.5:9 ratio, curved OLED HDR display.

Two of the colourways have a Hyper Optical Pattern finish, which is both beautiful and practical, with a tactile finish that resists fingerprints and is less slippery than full glass.

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro has a Leica triple camera setup, consisting of a wide-angle module (40mp, f/1.8 lens), telephoto module (8mp, f/2.4 lens), and a new ultra-wide-angle module (20mp, 16mm f/2.2 lens).

Huawei claim that they don't need the monochrome sensor that's on the P20 Pro - instead they can get great images from the wide-angle module instead. Interestingly the ultra-wide-angle can focus as close as 2.5cms, handy for macro shooting.

Other key camera features include a fully manual shooting mode, AI 4D predictive autofocus system, a dual tone flash module, 24mp front selfie camera with an f/2 lens, and the AI cinema mode which supports the 21:9 format as well as 16:9 and offers a range of cinematic in-camera effects.

Battery life is improved thanks to the new 4200 mAh battery. In the 40W Supercharge mode, the Mate 20 Pro can reach 70% in just 30 minutes.

There's also wireless charging for the first time on a Huawei device, which uses the 15W standard, twice as fast as the industry standard and 160% faster than the Apple iPhone X. There's also a clever feature called wireless reverse charging, where you can charge other devices with the Mate 20 Pro!

In terms of security, a hot topic right now, the Mate 20 pro has a dedicated 3D depth sensing camera for its face unlock feature. There's also an in-screen fingerprint reader, with no need for a separate sensor, and a password vault that stores passwords on the device, rather than in the cloud. Huawei are also offering more backup options than ever before, with Local, USB, NAS and Cloud options available.

The Mate 20 Pro continues to use Huawei's EMUI 9.0 software, which further simplifies the user experience. 10% of the user settings from the previous version have been rationalized, and the system is claimed to be about 50% faster than before.

Check out our hands-on gallery of photos of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro camera

Huawei Mate 20 Pro - Early Verdict

The Mate 20 Pro is Huawei's most advanced smartphone to date, with improvements across the board. These include the photography side of things, which has always been one of Huawei's key aims, with the new 16mm ultra-wide-angle lens making the Mate 20 Pro a very versatile device in terms of its focal range.

So what do you think of the new Huawei Mate 20 Pro? Leave a comment below..

Hands On

Want to see exactly what the new Huawei Mate 20 Pro flagship smartphone looks like in the flesh?

Check out our extensive hands-on gallery of photos of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro smartphone.

A hands-on gallery of photos of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro flagship smartphone.

Image Gallery

Click on a thumbnail to see the full version.

Preview Images

Ahead of our full review, here are some sample images taken with the brand new Huawei Mate 20 Pro smartphone, which was announced on Tuesday. This flagship smartphone has a triple camera setup with a 27mm 40 megapixel camera, 3x telephoto module, and a new 16mm ultra-wide-angle sensor, making it one of the most versatile smartphones in terms of focal range (16-81mm).

A gallery of full-size sample images taken with the Huawei Mate 20 Pro smartphone.

Huawei Mate 20 Pro Sample Images

Sample RAW Images

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Huawei RAW (DNG) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movies & Video

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