Huawei Mate 20 series: All the rumors in one place (Updated Oct 9)

In this post, which will be updated regularly, we take a closer look at the latest rumors surrounding the upcoming Huawei Mate 20, Mate 20 Lite, and Mate 20 Pro smartphones.

Update, October 3, 2018: Leaked images not only show off the Mate 20, but also the Mate 20 Pro. Based on the images, the Mate 20 will have a significantly smaller notch than the Mate 20 Pro. Read below to learn more!


The Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro (and the newly announced Mate 20 Lite) are among the most anticipated smartphones of the year. They are expected to feature top-of-the-line specs and will take on the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and the upcoming LG V40 ThinQ.

With the series now officially confirmed for a launch this October, let’s dive straight into the latest rumors and leaked details surrounding the handsets.

Huawei Mate 20, Mate 20 Lite, and Mate 20 Pro: Release date

Huawei Mate 20

The nitty-gritty

  • The Huawei Mate 20 and Huawei Mate 20 Pro will be unveiled on October 16, the company said.
  • Huawei confirmed that the Mate 20 would be revealed in London.
  • However, the Mate 20 Lite has been revealed at IFA in Berlin.

Huawei launched the Mate 10 smartphones on October 16 last year, while the Mate 9 made its debut on November 3, 2016. A Huawei press release previously revealed that the Mate 20 (and likely the Mate 20 Pro) would launch in October. The company has since used its IFA 2018 conference to narrow it down, confirming an October 16 launch date in London.

Read next: Here are the best Huawei phones you can buy right now

Speaking of IFA, the Chinese brand launched the Mate 20 Lite here, equipped with a Kirin 710 chipset, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of expandable storage. You can check out more details below.

The Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro will probably hit shelves in Europe and other regions within a month or so after the October 16 launch. One or even both smartphones are expected to go on sale in the U.S. as well, but at a later date. The Mate 10 Pro, for example, was released stateside in February 2018, around four months after going on sale on the old continent. Due to the company’s recent U.S. woes, Huawei is not likely to launch the Mate 20 or 20 Pro with any carrier partners in the U.S. — it’ll likely sell both phones through Amazon.

Huawei Mate 20, Mate 20 Lite, and Mate 20 Pro: Specs and features

Huawei Mate 20

The nitty-gritty

  • The Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro will be powered by the Kirin 980 chipset, while the Lite model has a Kirin 710 processor.
  • The Mate 20 Lite has a 20MP+2MP camera setup, the other models will likely feature a triple rear camera setup.
  • The Pro model may sport an in-display fingerprint scanner.

The folks over at XDA-Developers got their hands on alleged firmware files of the Huawei Mate 20, which reveal some of the specs and features the smartphone may offer. The flagship is said to feature a 6.3-inch AMOLED display, up from the 5.9-inch panel found on its predecessor.

We already have official wallpapers for the Mate 20, which feature a resolution of 2,244 x 2,160. With that in mind, it’s likely the resolution of the Mate 20 will be 2,244 x 1,080, or something along those lines.

According to renders leaked by XDA, the Mate 20 will have an 18:9 ratio with a tiny waterdrop notch at the top.

See the design section below for more info on the display.

The Mate 20 will definitely be powered by the Kirin 980 chipset, as confirmed by a Huawei press release and Huawei’s IFA conference. The Kirin 980 is the first 7nm smartphone chipset for Android devices, which is pretty exciting.

The Huawei Mate 20 may feature a triple-camera setup on the back.

The Mate 20 is expected to sport 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, although there might be a few other memory variants available. According to multiple leaks, the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro will feature a triple-lens camera setup, just like the Huawei P20 Pro.

If the rumors are true, the Huawei Mate 20 will feature a 4,200mAh battery, which would make it a market leader in its class. For comparison, the Galaxy Note 9’s battery has a capacity of 4,000mAh, even though the phone has a 6.4-inch display. Other rumored specs and features include wireless charging, some kind of IP rating for protection against water and dust, and Android 9.0 Pie with Huawei’s EMUI skin on top.

We already know plenty about the Mate 20 Lite, as the manufacturer announced the phone at IFA. The phone has a 6.3-inch notched LCD display (2,340 x 1,080), an octa-core Kirin 710 SoC, and 4GB of RAM.

Editor's Pick

The Mate 20 Lite also offers 64GB of expandable storage space, a 3750mAh battery, rear fingerprint scanner, and (yes) a headphone jack.

As for photography, we’ve got a 20MP + 2MP dual rear camera system (f/1.8), and a 24MP+2MP dual front camera pairing.

Information regarding the Huawei Mate 20 Pro specs, on the other hand, is scarce. According to The Bell, the device could sport a massive 6.9-inch AMOLED display made by Samsung, which would be quite an upgrade over the 6-inch panel found on its predecessor. We can also expect an 18:9 aspect ratio.

There’s been some speculation that the Mate 20 Pro will make the shift to a Quad HD display. The rumors come courtesy of Mobielkopen, which discovered the phone’s resolution through user agent profiles on the Huawei website. According to the same source, the regular Mate 20 will come with a FHD+ display.

Based on its size, the device should sport a larger battery than the Mate 20. A capacity of 5,000mAh would make sense, as that is what the recently announced 6.9-inch Honor Note 10 is packing.

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro will be powered by the same Kirin 980 chipset as the regular Mate 20. It could have at least 6GB of RAM, with an 8GB model also being an option.

It is also highly likely that the Mate 20 Pro will come with a triple lens camera on the rear, as we expect the Mate 20 to as well. We saw the triple lens setup in a real-world image which is likely a Mate 20 Pro prototype as well as in these leaked renders.

Rumors also suggest we’ll see an IP rating and an in-display fingerprint scanner (hooray!).

In addition, a leaked image of a Huawei wireless charger with model number LZ80 (above), which supports the Qi wireless charging standard, may indicate that the Mate 20/Mate 20 Pro will support wireless charging. Most importantly, however, the charger supports 20W output, which would set a new standard for wireless charging in smartphones.

  Huawei Mate 20 rumored specs Huawei Mate 20 Pro rumored specs
Display 6.3-inch AMOLED
QHD+ resolution
18:9 aspect ratio
6.9-inch AMOLED
18:9 aspect ratio
Processor HiSilicon Kirin 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
RAM 6GB 6 or 8GB
Storage 128GB TBA
Camera Triple-camera setup Triple-camera setup
Battery 4,200mAh 5,000mAh
In-display fingeprint scanner No Yes
Software Android 9.0 Pie with EMUI 9.0 Android 9.0 Pie with EMUI 9.0
Other features Wireless charging, IP rating Wireless charging, IP rating

Huawei Mate 20, Mate 20 Lite, and Mate 20 Pro: Design

The nitty-gritty

  • We have leaked renders of the Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro which give us an idea of their designs.
  • We already know all about the Mate 20 Lite’s design, as it’s been announced.
  • We also have two real-world images that allegedly show a Mate 20 Pro in the wild.

The Mate 20 Lite isn’t the most exciting smartphone design we’ve ever seen, owing to a rather large notch. But the glass back and distinctive strip (housing the fingerprint scanner and dual cameras) make it stand out a little.

Those hoping for the P20 Pro’s gorgeous gradient colors on this model will be disappointed, then. But the phone doesn’t look bad anyway, as you can see below (and in the main image).

The back of the Huawei Mate 20 Lite.

While one would assume the Mate 20 Lite gives us an idea of how the more expensive models will turn out, for the Mate 10 series, the Lite model wasn’t exactly a good barometer. The Mate 10 Lite looked quite different to the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro — it wasn’t curved in the same way, its camera and flash setup weren’t the same, it was an altogether different shaped phone featuring different materials.

Editor's Pick

So, we can’t say much about the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro based on the above. However, we do have some leaked renders of the Mate 20:

As you can see from the renders, the Huawei Mate 20 will likely have a triple-lens camera on the rear in a new “squircle” configuration that looks much different from the Huawei P20 Pro. There’s also a waterdrop notch, a stark contrast to the notch on the Mate 20 Lite. The Mate 20 will also likely have a headphone jack.

Additional renders reaffirm the small notch, though they also show the fingerprint sensor below the triple-camera setup around back. This means the Mate 20 will not have an in-display fingerprint sensor, a feature seemingly reserved for the Mate 20 Pro.

Here are the newer Mate 20 renders:

Huawei Mate 20 leak Winfuture

We also have some leaked renders of the Mate 20 Pro:

A leaked image of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. A leaked image of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro in Twilight color. A leaked image of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro in black color. A leaked image of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro in blue color.

The distinctive Twilight coloring introduced with the P20 Pro looks to be coming to the Mate 20 Pro as well, which is certainly nice. The renders also make it seem like the Mate 20 and Mate 20 pro will look remarkably similar, even though the Mate 20 Pro seems to have a much larger notch.

An additional render provided by Evan Blass seemingly reaffirms the wide notch, as well as the in-display fingerprint sensor:

Finally, we also got a look at the Mate 20 Pro out and about on a subway train:

An image of a subway rider holding the Huawei Mate 20 Pro in his hand. An image of a subway rider holding the Huawei Mate 20 Pro in his hand.

Huawei Mate 20, Mate 20 Lite, and Mate 20 Pro: Price

Huawei Mate 20

The nitty-gritty

  • The Huawei Mate 20 smartphones could all cost more than their predecessors.
  • The Pro model could go for as much as $1,100, while the regular Mate 20 should be around $850.
  • The Mate 20 Lite will cost 380 pounds (~$500) in the U.K., a significant step up over the Mate 10 Lite.

We don’t know exactly how much the flagships will cost, but we have some rumors. We also can get a good idea of what to expect by looking at their predecessors.

The Mate 10 launched with a price tag of 700 euros (~$806), while the Pro model went for 800 euros (~$921). Only the Mate 10 Pro made its way to the U.S., where it initially retailed for $800.

The Mate 20 Pro could be up to 200 euros more expensive than its predecessor.

The Mate 20 smartphones, with all their upgrades, probably won’t be cheaper than their predecessors. The best case scenario would be for the pricing to remain unchanged, but I have a feeling it’s going to go up.

The Mate series is generally more expensive than the P series, and as the P20 Pro costs 900 euros (~$1,036), the Mate 20 Pro could potentially go for 950 euros (~$1,094) or even 1,000 euros (~$1,151) — making it up to 200 euros more expensive than its predecessor. In the U.S., the price-hike may be less drastic, possibly coming in at around $100. The regular Mate 20 will probably cost around 100 euros less than the Pro version, just like last year.

We did see a leak of presentation slides regarding the Mate 20 line, which suggests that the vanilla Mate 20 will cost 3,000 Israeli new shekel (~$833) while the Pro will cost 4,000 Israeli new shekel (~$1,111). This lines up with our estimations above.

The Mate 20 Lite will retail for 380 pounds (~$500) when it lands in the U.K., but we haven’t received pricing for other regions just yet. It’s set to be more affordable than the flagship Mate phones, but looks like a steep increase on the Mate 10 Lite, which started at 299 euros (~$340).


These are all the rumors we’ve come across so far about the Huawei Mate 20 series. We’ll update this page as soon as we hear more. In the meantime, share your thoughts on Huawei’s upcoming smartphones. Do you think they will give the Galaxy Note 9 a run for its money? Let us know in the comments!



from Android Authority https://ift.tt/2LPhyil

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