Huawei has opted to decrease the release of a pair of flagship models each year (the photography-centric P series and the technologically advanced Mate series) to manufacture a single model per calendar year. Huawei alternates between the P 50 series and the Mate 50 series.
Huawei’s Mate 50 could launch on September 7
ITHome says the range launches Sept. 7. These are Huawei’s first Mate phones since 2020. The Huawei Mate 50e, Mate 50, Mate 50 Pro, and Mate SR50 could be in the range. All but the Mate 50 RS could use Huawei’s Kirin 9000S.
Huawei’s Kirin 9000S chip isn’t enough for all four models. The US amended an export law in 2020 to allow American foundries to ship chips to Huawei. The flagship Huawei P50 series featured Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 chipset, but it was tweaked to prohibit 5G deployment.
Last month, we shared a Weibo rumour. Initially, we thought Huawei will employ 14nm CPUs to power next year’s P60 series. 14nm is China’s largest foundry, SMICmost ,’s sophisticated complicated chipset.
If Huawei wants to be competitive in the smartphone industry and relive its glory days, it will have to offer 5G devices. The Mate 50 series will only support 4G, which is amusing because Huawei has worked on more 5G networks than other firms. Its latest phones lack 5G capabilities. The Mate 50 series offers Huawei’s Harmony OS 3.0.
The Chinese firm lost its ability to use Google Mobile Services (GMS) because of a 2019 U.S. action. Huawei cannot access its US supply chain, including Google and the GMS version of Android, due to being on this list.
Farewell Leica, and welcome XMAGE
The Mate 50 will have new rear camera functions, and a concept film based on leaks and rumours shows an iPhone-style notch. Mate 30 series from 2019 was the last Mate model with a notch.
The Mate 50 rear camera uses XMAGE, Huawei’s new photographic technology for high-end phones. The company formerly teamed with camera and lens maker Leica to produce smartphone camera optics. That partnership terminated, and Leica now supplies Xiaomi.
So Huawei will create its own image and optical technologies under the XMAGE brand, which will appear on the Mate 50’s rear camera if it looks like the concept in the video we linked.
Huawei isn’t the smartphone behemoth it once was, but it still has the technology to innovate, so we should keep a watch on the phones it makes.