Huawei Mate 30 announced: Here’s what we know so far

The Huawei Mate 30 series is official. At a press event in Munich, the Chinese manufacturer announced a new range comprising five new handsets, including two second-generation 5G devices and a special Porsche RS edition. 

As expected, a Kirin 990 system-on-a-chip is running the show, with a 990 5G at the helm of the Mate 30 5G and Mate 30 Pro 5G. The Mate 30 Pro reportedly has 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage, and the Mate 30 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage.

The handsets have all been given a suitably futuristic facelift, with narrower bezels, a slimmer notch and a Samsung-esque “Horizon” display that oozes over the sides of the front panel. So far, we know that the Mate 30 Pro’s display is a Full HD+ 2,400 x 1,176 AMOLED number; the Mate 30 settles for a 2,340 x 1,080 resolution display of the same quality.

The rear camera has been redesigned, too: in place of the square camera array found on the Mate 20 series is a sizeable circular unit that houses a “SuperSensing” rear camera. On the standard Mate 30, this camera is made up of a primary 40-megapixel SuperSense lens, plus a 16-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens and an 8-megapixel telephoto lens (producing a maximum 30x digital zoom).

The Mate 30 Pro series has a slightly different arrangement, with a brand-new 40-megapixel Cine lens AND 3D-depth-sensor joining the 40-megapixel SuperSense and 8-megapixel telephoto lenses found on the Mate 30. The Cine lens/SuperSense lens combo supports a maximum ISO of 51,400 and can take ultra slow-mo video at 7,680fps, as well as 4K low-light ultra-wide time-lapse video. That’s a lot of hyphens. 

Somewhat confusingly, the Mate 30 Pro is smaller than the Mate 30; the former measures 6.53in diagonally, and the latter 6.62in. Both handsets come in a variety of shades, including “Emerald Green”, “Space Silver”, “Cosmic Purple”, “Forest Green”, black and orange. 

The Porsche Design Mate 30 RS edition sports a Porsche-themed design, a little like the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition. Otherwise, it’s essentially identical to the Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G, apart from the increased 512GB storage capacity and 12GB of RAM. 

Of course, we’ve been avoiding the all-important question: does the Huawei Mate 30 series run Android 10? The answer currently appears to be a resounding yes… ish. The Mate 30 series will run Android 10 with an EMUI 10 overlay, that much is certain; by the looks of things, however, the new Huawei phones will NOT use any of the normal Google apps or services.

Intriguingly, Huawei has not yet revealed a UK release date or price. Recent rumours suggest that the Mate 30 may skip a UK launch – whether there’s any truth to this remains to be seen.

We’ll be updating this article as soon as more information comes our way.