MUNICH -- Huawei on Thursday launched its 5G-capable Mate 30 line of smartphones, aiming to compete with Apple's iPhone 11 and Samsung's Galaxy Note.
The Mate 30 has 4 Leica-engineered lenses on the back, houses in a circular module that is designed to look like a professional camera. The wide, bokeh and low-light capture capabilities are carried over to video.
It is powered by Huawei's own Kirin 990 processor and a 4,500 mAh battery that can support fast charging of up to 40 watts with wires and 27 watts wireless. The wireless reverse charging for accessories is also 3 times faster, he said.
The new flagship phone runs Android 10 and EMUI 10, Yu said.
The sides of the 6.53-inch OLED panel curves to the edges, giving the illusion of a near borderless display.
A large part of the phone's glass back has a frosted finish, to prevent fingerprint smudging. Huawei is also offering the Mate 30 series in a vegan leather back option instead of glass.
Huawei also unveiled an array of accessories for photo and video including a gimbal that pairs instantly with the Mate 30 and a handheld studio light.
Shenzhen-based Huawei, the world's second largest smartphone vendor is positioning the Mate series for consumers who want the powerful phones for both work and play, pitting it against Samsung's Galaxy Note line.
For the first time, this year's Note came in two sizes, the Note 10 and 10+ and a more useful S-Pen stylus with gesture controls and handwriting recognition. Like premium Huawei phones, the Note 10+ also has 4 AI-assisted cameras.
Apple slashed the price on its entry-level handset, now simply called iPhone 11 with two cameras for wide and ultra-wide capture. The two other iPhones with 3 rear cameras and OLED screens instead of LCD now carry "Pro" branding.
"This year is quite a challenging year for Huawei. In tough times, we still achieved growth," Huawei consumer business group CEO Richard Yu said, citing a 26-percent jump in smartphone sales in the January to August period.
The Mate 20 series sold 16 million units and the P30 series, 17 million, Yu said.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
