Huawei launched its new big-screen flagship smartphone series, the Mate 30, in Berlin on Thursday.
During the launch, the Chinese phone-maker bashed U.S. rival Apple for copying its iconic "bathroom heater-shaped" rear camera module on the Mate 20 series, and introduced a new round design which looks more like a standalone camera.
In CGTN's Mate 20 X 5G review, we mentioned the possibility that iPhone 11's camera module design was inspired by Huawei. Watch the full review here and find out why the Mate 20 X still matters.
The iPhone 11 series not only has a similar camera module to Mate 20, but an identical triple-camera setup: Main, telephoto and wide-angle cameras.
Huawei claimed in 2018 they were the first to bring such a setup to a smartphone.
Screenshot from Huawei.
The Mate 30 series
In addition to the leaked information reported on Wednesday, Huawei revealed more details about the series.
Screen: The Mate 30 Pro has a 6.53-inch screen with 88-degree double-curved edges. Huawei calls the design "Flex OLED," though it's more commonly known as "waterfall."
What made us a bit confused is the screen of Mate 30, which is bigger than Mate 30 Pro at 6.62 inches.
In the preview article, we doubted how useful a waterfall display can be. Besides using it to replace the volume rockers, Huawei said it also added a camera shutter button on the edge, making it easier for users to take photos with one hand.
Weight: The Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro both weigh a little under 200 grams, about 88 percent of the iPhone 11 Pro Max. Yet Huawei's consumer product CEO Richard Yu claimed the Mate 30 has a longer battery life than Apple's product.
Color options: In addition to traditional black, silver, purple and green, Huawei also added two "vegan leather" options. The green and orange leather will not break as easily as glass and is more skin-friendly.
Chip: The Kirin 990 5G chip has already been made known to the public. You can find out here why Huawei claims the chip is "the most advanced 5G SoC." Yu said the 5G version of the Mate 30 Pro can make use of the 5G network around the world, unlike Samsung's limited 5G capacity or iPhone 11's complete lack of 5G.
Charging: Contrary to leaked information, the Mate 30 only supports 27 watt wireless charge, but the Mate 30 Pro can be charged wirelessly at a speed of 40 watts. Huawei also built in-car wired/wireless chargers for car owners to enjoy faster charging time.
Camera: Huawei upgraded the triple-camera set to enable a 45-time zoom, from 30 in the P30 series. They also imported P30's RYYB sensor to the Mate series to let in more light in dark places. The sensor size is "137 percent" larger than the iPhone 11 Pro Max, according to Yu.
The Mate 30 Pro takes one step further with higher specifications. Check the picture below for details. These enable the Mate 30 Pro to use night-shot and HDR functions on the wide-angle camera.
On the video side, Huawei claimed they have reached the "world's highest video light sensitivity on smartphone." Bokeh video can also be taken with the faster sensor and CPU.
Huawei even challenged the GoPro on extreme sport videography.
We will update this post to cover more about the Mate 30 series.