Huawei Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro price, release date, and features

The Huawei Mate
20.
Huawei

• Huawei has launched the Mate
  20 and Mate 20 Pro to take on the iPhone XS and Google Pixel
  3.
• The Mate 20 Pro boasts an on-screen fingerprint reader,
  with Huawei beating Apple in taking the feature
  mainstream.
• Other
  features include a triple-lens
  camera system, which features an ultra-wide lens and the
  ability to take detailed macro shots.
• The Mate 20 starts from €799 ($925/£700) and the Mate 20 Pro
  from €1049 ($1214/£920). Both will be available from November 16.

Huawei, the world’s second-biggest phone maker behind Samsung,
unveiled the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro to take on Apple’s iPhone XS
and Google’s Pixel 3. Huawei launched the devices at an event in
London on Tuesday.

Huawei will be hoping that major performance improvements to the
Mate series — including impressive functionality such as
on-screen fingerprint recognition, a triple camera with AI
software and phone-to-phone charging — cement its position ahead
of Apple.

The devices are bigger successors to last year’s Mate 10 and Mate
10 Pro. The Mate 20 comes with a 6.5-inch full HD display, while
the Pro model comes with a 6.39-inch curved OLED display.

Both phones cement the growing smartphone trend for notches,
originally a hacky design workaround for front-facing cameras and
now a common feature on high-end phones.

The Mate 20 has a teardrop-shaped, subtle notch. The Pro model
has a larger notch akin to the iPhone XS Max — though Huawei says
its notch is marginally smaller.

The Mate 20 Pro notch is a
little smaller than that of the iPhone XS Max.
Shona Ghosh/Business Insider/Huawei

The Pro model comes with on-screen fingerprint recognition. That
means you can just put your finger on the screen and unlock the
phone, rather than touch on a dedicated panel on the front or
back of the device. 

This isn’t the first Android phone to feature on-screen
fingerprint recognition, but it’s certainly one of the few major
flagship smartphones released this year to feature the
technology. The OnePlus 6T, set to be released in November, is
also expected to feature on-screen fingerprint recognition. The
iPhone XS and XS Max notably lack on-print fingerprint
recognition.

The Mate 20 phones also feature 3D facial recognition so users
can unlock their phones with their face. Face ID is already a
feature on the iPhone XS and XS Max.

The camera is the main draw

The main draw is the camera. The Pro model features a triple-lens
system, including a 40-megapixel camera, 8-megapixel telephoto
lens, and a 20-megapixel ultra-wide lens, which together form a
distinctive-looking square on the rear of the phone. The system
allows highly detailed macro shots. 

Huawei has also embedded artificially intelligent software into
its camera system, meaning the device can sense and follow the
subject of a photo or video. Huawei boasted of big gains in
performance and speed.

The two phones will be available in five colours: Midnight blue,
black, pink gold, emerald green, and twilight — a flashy gradient
of cyan and purple. 

The twilight colour for
the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro.
Shona
Ghosh/Business Insider/Huawei

The Mate 20 Pro comes with fast wireless charging and one curious
feature — the ability to charge other Qi-compatible devices. That
means a person with a depleted iPhone XS battery could place
their device on the Mate and charge their battery. 

Forrester analyst Thomas Husson said the devices would likely be
Android bestsellers until Samsung releases its next flagship
early next year. “Huawei will have a nice commercial window of
opportunity to benefit from the seasonality of sales last year,”
he told Business Insider.

The Mate 20 starts from €799 ($925/£700) and the Mate 20 Pro from
€1049 ($1214/£920). Both will be available from November 16.