Despite the cancellation of Mobile World Congress (MWC), Huawei has still announced a slate of new devices.
The presentation wasn’t live and instead was pre-recorded, similar to a Nintendo Direct. It’s also still available on YouTube.
Huawei Mate XS
https://twitter.com/HuaweiMobile/status/1231930615773134849
First off is the Huawei Mate XS, a new foldable smartphone that sports an 8-inch display. When folded the front display features a 6.6-inch screen whereas the back sports a 6.3-inch display. The company is using a double layer optical polyimide display for the front, and not glass like the Galaxy Z Flip. There’s also a new ‘Falcon Wing’ hinge that allows the phone to fold from a tablet to a smartphone.
Additionally, the device sports a Kirin 990 5G chipset, allowing the Mate XS to access 5G connectivity where available.
Shoot like a pro with the #HuaweiMateXs' SuperSensing Leica Quad Camera and take your photography game to the next level.📷#TogetherConnectingPossibilities pic.twitter.com/abO873PgNu
— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) February 24, 2020
The device features a 4,500mAh battery with a 55W Supercharge, which Huawei claims is capable of charging the phone to 85 percent in 30 minutes.
Camera-wise the Mate XS features a 50-megapixel Supersensing shooter, an 8-megapixel telephoto with 3x optical, a 16-megapixel ultra-wide-angle and a TOF sensor. 3x optical zoom isn’t that impressive when compared to Samsung’s S20 series, but it’s a great setup for a foldable phone, especially if you compare it to the Z Flip and the Motorola Razr.
Additionally, Huawei has revamped its multi-window experience with a focus on simply just dragging and dropping from one side of the display to the other. The Mate XS also features 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
Huawei says it’s dropping the Mate XS globally and not only in China. No Candian details have yet to be announced, but the handset costs €2499 (roughly $3,592 CAD).
MatePad Pro
Alongside the Mate XS, Huawei also revealed the MatePad Pro. The MatePad Pro sports a 10.8-inch screen, with a 2560 x 1600 pixel resolution, Kirin 990 5G chipset and measures in at 7.2mm in thickness. This tablet also features 27W wireless charging and 40W wired charging. The China-based company also brought reverse wireless charging to the tablet, allowing it to charge Qi-compatible smartphone or headphones.
Huawei is also selling a stylus for the tablet.
The #HuaweiMatePadPro will be available in both 4G and 5G. Which colour will you choose? #TogetherConnectingPossibilities pic.twitter.com/CbdDI8DY39
— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) February 24, 2020
The MatePad Pro goes on sale in some regions in April, and starts at 599€ (roughly $860 CAD) for the 4G version, with the 5G variant coming in at 799€ (roughly $1,148 CAD). Canadian pricing and availability still hasn’t been confirmed.
Huawei Matebook X Pro
Huawei is also showing off its new Matebook X Pro.
Say hello to the new #HuaweiMateBookXPro, designed for a borderless experience.#TOGETHERConnectingPossibilities pic.twitter.com/n6dwiI4Lj2
— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) February 24, 2020
The new Mate X Pro starts at 1,499€ ($2,154 CAD) and comes in an Emerald Green (I wish more laptops came in this colour), ‘Mystic Silver’ and ‘Space Gray.’ The Mate X Pro comes with a 13.9-inch display with a 3000 x 2000 pixel resolution with a brightness of 450 nits. Further, Huawei says the laptop features a metal uni-body design.
The new Mate X Pro includes a new drag and drop features that allows users to move files between the laptop and their Huawei smartphone easily.
Additionally, the laptop features a 10th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.
AppGallery
The China-based company also talked about AppGallery — it’s Google Play Store replacement — during its keynote today.
"Privacy, under your control, has always been at the heart of our philosophy" says our CEO Richard Yu. "We have the strictest privacy and cyber security solutions in #AppGallery". #TOGETHERConnectingPossibilities pic.twitter.com/RACUkcMu5H
— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) February 24, 2020
Huawei says it’s working closely with local app developers to provide the best experience for consumers. The company also claims that the app is in the top three in the Play Store, and has more than 400 million active users in over 170 countries.
The Chinese company also went into what it calls ‘Quick Apps,’ which seem to be apps that take up less storage space.Huawei says that a user can download more than 2,000 of its Quick Apps in comparison to 20 native apps, and that these apps take up less than 1GB of space.
Quick Apps are cost efficient, have easy access for developers, see high retention and are written with less code.
A user can have more than 2,000 Quick Apps compared to 20 native apps with just 1GB of space.#TOGETHERConnectingPossibilities pic.twitter.com/NLBTaboxnb— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) February 24, 2020
Further, the company went into how it’s included several privacy control settings in AppGallery.
Huawei is hoping that the AppGallery grows by putting $1 billion into the store and holding Huawei Developer Day events worldwide.
The China-based company also confirmed that it plans to reveal P40 on March 26th.
