Week 44 in review: Huawei Mate 9 most interesting of a bunch of new phones

A host of new phones were announced this week, but none shines brighter than the Huawei Mate 9 and Mate 9 Porsche Design pair. Huawei is all about collaborations recently (Leica being the obvious reference) but the Porsche Design came as a bit of a surprise, even if we were hinted of a dual-curved version of the flagship.

A brand new Kirin 960 chipset, a dual camera on the back (mismatched as it may be at first glance - 20MP monochrome/12MP color), a sizeable battery, and large display - the new Mates take the best from the old Mates and mix it with some P9 to make a truly intriguing high-end phablet pair.

The lower key announcements include the (apparently) China-only Samsung W2017 clam shell with a rumored price tag close to $3000 redefining the word 'exorbitant'.

A trio of brand new Xiaomi Redmis sit on the opposite end of the price spectrum - the Redmi 4A, Redmi 4 Standard, and Redmi 4 Prime start at the equivalent of $74 in China.

Meanwhile, Meizu unveiled the Pro 6s - basically a Pro 6 with a new camera and larger battery, and the M5 to succeed the M3 (4 is not a particularly favorite number in Chinese culture).

For more details on these, as well as some of the other hot topics from the past week, click through the links below.

Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design has race car looks, a QHD AMOLED screen

Smaller and more premium than the regular Mate 9.

Huawei unveils the Mate 9 with dual Leica camera, Kirin 960 chipset

Huawei Mate 9 phablet just went official in Munich, Germany - 5.9" 1080p screen, Kirin 960 SoC, dual Leica camera.

Xiaomi unveils Redmi 4A, Redmi 4 Standard, and Redmi 4 Prime

Xiaomi has just announced three different Redmi 4 models - Redmi 4A, Redmi 4, and Redmi 4 Prime.

Samsung finally makes the W2017 Android flip phone official

It's powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and boasts 4GB of RAM, so this is one high-end device.

Meizu announces Pro 6s with a new main camera and a bigger battery

Meizu Pro 6s just went official - it updates the camera with 4-axis OIS, while the battery is 500mAh beefier.

Meizu M5 ups the screen to 5.2", has a fast fingerprint reader

And an affordable price too, not to mention some curious color options with special finishes.

Xperia G3112 and G3121 should be Sony's first 2017 devices

After the flagship launches, it seems it's time for something more affordable.

Xiaomi Mi Mix taken apart easily, but the screen may be hard to swap

No glue has been used and most components seem easy to replace - except the most important one.

First batch of Xiaomi Mi Note 2 units sold out in 50 seconds

The phablet has already laid the foundation for a great sales season in record-setting time.

LeEco Le X850 with Snapdragon 821 SoC, QHD display, and 16MP front camera clears TENAA

RAM is 4GB, while internal memory is 64GB. A large 3,900mAh battery is there to keep the lights on.

PS4 gets its first licensed third-party pro controllers

Sony has announced two new controllers for the PlayStation 4 consoles built for professional gaming. Built by Razer and Nacon, these are the first two controllers being made by third-party manufacture...

Google confirms only Pixel XL can charge with 18W, Pixel peaks at 15W

According to hard evidence, the Google Pixel does not charge with peak current of 18W.

New report says future 5.5-inch iPhone will have curved, OLED display

A report comes directly from the president of Sharp who says the company is committed to OLED technology.

Iris scanning reportedly coming to the friend-less LG G6 [Updated]

Unlike the Note7, LG's implementation will use the same camera for selfies and iris recognition.

Leak shows Huawei Honor S1 smartwatch with a round e-paper display

Going a different route than the Huawei Watch, this one should deliver amazing battery life.

MediaTek-powered Motorola Moto M stops by AnTuTu

It appears the handset will indeed come with a MediaTek SoC, like earlier rumors suggested.

New Samsung Galaxy Note Edge update brings security patches, other changes

Weighing in at over 350MB, the update is currently hitting unlocked units in Europe.