Huawei Mate 10 Pro review

Unboxing the Huawei Mate 10 Pro

The Huawei Mate 10 Pro's packaging and accessories are similar to those of the regular Mate 10. The phone comes bundled with a 22W charger, an enhanced USB Type-C cable, a USB Type-C headset with earbuds and a silicone case. There is, of course, a 3.5mm-to-USB-C adapter for the jack-less Mate 10 Pro.

The retail box • the contents • the silicone case • the Mate 10 Pro wrapped in the case

The Pro, just like the vanilla Mate 10, has glass on either side, so the transparent soft case should help minimize the risk of getting the back scratched. Our Mate 10 Pro came with a factory-applied screen protector too, which we removed favoring looks over safety, but it's a decision you should make for yourself.

Huawei Mate 10 Pro 360-degree spin

The Huawei Mate 10 Pro measures 154.2 x 74.5 x 7.9mm, which is just 2mm taller than the Mate 9 Pro, yet the screen grew half an inch. Compared to the regular Mate 10, the Pro is 4mm taller, but 3mm narrower given the wider screen aspect. Finally, the Mate 10 Pro weighs 178g, about right for a phablet and close to the Mate 10's 186g.

The best way to see how the different aspect ratio affects the phone size is to put the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro side by side.

Design

Once there was one all-glass phone, and then there were none. The pause didn't last too long and the design again became trendy in the premium tier. The Huawei Mate 10 Pro is yet another glass-sandwich flagship, the kind that's very popular this season.

The dual-glass design is almost everywhere and even its pioneer, Apple, has returned to it. Huawei's take is rather unique with 4-way curved glass and the reflective strip at the back. The metal frame running along the sides has a matte finish with a sandblasted feel to it for a reasonably secure grip.

Huawei used Gorilla Glass either side but the version is unspecified. The latest Gorilla Glass has better shatter-proofing at the expense of scratch-resistance, so the bundled case makes a lot of sense. We didn't use the case for obvious reasons but both the Mate 10 and 10 Pro survived our review routine without a scratch, so it may as well be an older generation Huawei went for, probably Gorilla Glass III.

The most notable difference compared to the Mate 10 is the repositioned fingerprint scanner. The 6" 18:9 AMOLED screen is almost borderless and, just like on the Mate 10, is curved at the edges.

Flipping the Mate 10 Pro over reveals a beautiful view. The 4-way curved glass is stunning, while the glossy frame of the always-on fingerprint sensor is an accent that goes very well with the dual camera. All Mate devices so far had the fingerprint reader at the back and we like it that the Pro follows suite. And the Mate 10 pair of phablets have the fastest and most accurate scanners we've experienced to date.

The purpose of the reflective strip at the back is to highlight the updated Leica Dual Camera. Not that this setup needed more attention, but it does the design a massive favor. If you look closer, you'll notice the strip is not simply a darker shade of the base color but a multitude of fine fibers. The two camera sensors sit behind bright f/1.6 lenses and bulge just a tiny bit. The metal frames mask those small humps very well though, and that's probably one of the cleanest dual-camera setups we've seen.

The Mate 10 Pro drops the analogue audio jack - not the most user-friendly decision, but there's nothing you can do about Huawei going with Apple. On the flip side the Pro gets to be the company's first water-tight smartphone (if we don't count the long-forgotten Ascend G350)

Handling this Pro model is a pleasure. It's about as big as the Galaxy S8+, has the right bit of heft in the hand, and is comfortable to operate in spite of the 6" display. Glass on both sides is tricky but the Pro isn't all that slippery thanks to the grippy frame. And yes, it's as premium as they get.

Device overview

The retired audio jack aside, there are no other surprises on the Mate 10 Pro. The front is mostly screen, with the earpiece and the selfie camera in their usual place at the top. The SIM slot is on the left, while the volume and power keys are on the right.

Huawei Mate 10 Pro • the earpiece • the SIM slot • the volume and power keys

The top of the Mate 10 Pro has the IR blaster and the second mic. The mouthpiece and the primary mic are next to the USB Type-C port at the bottom.

The updated dual-camera setup is at the back, bulging just a little bit. It's accompanied by a dual-LED flash and the laser autofocus module.

The top • the bottom • the back • the dual-camera