Huawei’s new Mate has a few mates of its own

October saw the Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications developer launch its latest flagship phone in Munich – the Huawei Mate 10 Pro and the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 10.

This month (November), South Africans can expect to get their grubby little paws on these smartphones themselves.

Carrying the weight of Huawei flagship phone title, is no easy feat but the Huawei Mate 10 undoubtedly shrugs off any burden to stand and deliver.

The Huawei Mate 10 Pro and the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 10 are breakthrough Artificial Intelligence (AI) phones that combine innovative hardware, the Kirin 970 chipset and an all-new, simplified EMUI 8.0 based on Android 8.0. It might not be the first phone with AI tech, but it will be the smartest around at the moment.

The Huawei Mate 10 has the ability to recognise what you’re pointing your camera at, translate text with a touch and predict which app you’re about to open – pretty smart, I say.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

“As we enter the age of intelligence, AI is no longer a virtual concept but something that intertwines with our daily life. AI can enhance user experience, provide valuable services and improve product performance,” says Likun Zhao, GM, Huawei Consumer Business Group SA.

“The Huawei Mate 10 Series introduces the first mobile AI-specific Neural Network Processing Unit (NPU), launching a new era of intelligent smartphones. For the South African market, we are bringing in our two premium phones in the series – namely, the Huawei Mate 10 Pro and the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 10 – as we believe these are the best phones to meet the mobile needs of tech-savvy South African consumers.”

AI

The new Kirin 970 processor, which powers the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, delivers AI enhancements for a faster, more customised mobile experience. The Huawei Mate 10 Pro’s specialised NPU, combined with Huawei’s innovative HiAI mobile computing platform, means the Kirin 970 delivers 25 times better performance and 50 times greater energy efficiency for AI-related tasks, compared to four Cortex-A73 cores. The Huawei Mate 10 Series is also the world’s fastest smartphone supporting super-fast LTE connectivity and download speeds. The device comes with the world’s first dual 4G SIM support and dual VoLTE connections. 

Translator

Huawei has also entered into a strategic partnership with Microsoft, which brings benefit to your phone. Microsoft is delivering the world’s first fully neural on-device translations in the Microsoft Translator app for Android, customised for the Huawei Mate 10 series. The phone’s NPU allows every Mate 10 user to have native access to online quality level translations, even when they are not connected to the Internet, which means faster and more accurate interactive translation for a smoother communication experience.

Camera

To ensure the Huawei Mate 10 Pro takes only the best images, Huawei kept up its relationship with Leica. The new Leica Dual Lens with f/1.6 aperture (the world’s largest aperture), allows users to easily take beautiful shallow depth-of-field pictures, crystal clear low-light photographs and blur-free shots of objects on the move. The 20MP monochrome sensor and 12MP R

GB sensor with Optical Image Stabilisation captures more light to perform at an expert standard. With intelligent photographic algorithms, the HuaweiMate 10 Pro identifies, in real-time, different types of scenes and objects – such as food, nightscapes, sunsets and beaches – automatically adjusting colour, contrast, brightness and exposure to produce vibrant and sharp photographs.

Caller identification

Really? Don’t we all have that on our phones? Yes, but the Huawei Mate 10 Pro’s new EMUI 8 OS enables users to connect directly to their LinkedIn accounts. Profile information on their LinkedIn contacts will be directly integrated into the address books on their devices. This means that when users receive a call or message, they can immediately see the individual’s professional identity.

Additional key features of the Huawei Mate 10 Pro and the Porsche Design Mate 10 include:

• A stunning 6-inch screen with an 18:9 FHD+ OLED display, barely there-bezel and HDR10 to support vivid colours.
• A 3D Glass Body, beautifully and symmetrically curved on all four sides for an ergonomic hold
• An IP67 Water and Dust Resistant exterior
• A Huawei SuperCharge and 4000 mAh battery with AI-powered battery management, which understands user behaviour and intelligently allocates resources to maximize battery life. It supports 4.5V / 5A low-voltage fast charging, powering the device from 1 percent to 20 percent in 10 minutes. Additionally, Huawei SuperCharge is the world’s first fast-charging technology to receive TÜV Fast-Charge Safety Certification, ensuring safe end-to-end charging

“We are delighted to bring the Huawei Mate 10 Pro and the Porsche Design Mate 10 to South Africa as we believe these smartphones will cater for the South African consumers’ needs as we enter the age of AI,” concludes Zhao.

The Huawei Mate 10 Pro is available from MTN, Telkom, Vodacom and Cell C stores, while the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 10 is exclusively available from MTN and Telkom. 

The RRP for the phones are:

Huawei Mate 10 Pro – R18,999

Porsche Design Huawei Mate 10 – R26,999