Huawei Mate 20 spotted in the wild at the IFA show floor

IFA, or any major tech convention, for that matter, is an incredibly chaotic and overcrowded place. Kind of like a sensory overload, especially for a tech junky. That being the case, the incredible attention to detail among some of you never ceases to amaze us.

Mix in a little creepy stalking-style photography and you end up with today's leak, consisting of a few live shots of what is probably the Huawei Mate 20. The Chinese giant already confirmed an October 16 launch date for the device, meaning that there is still some waiting to be done. However, definitely not long enough to exclude the possibility of early hardware units already existing in the wild. In fact, that kind of falls into the norm.

Huawei Mate 20 back

Well, an IFA attendee, probably affiliated with Huawei in some official capacity, judging by the branded wristband, decided to casually use his prototype unit around the show floor. Given the thickness of the case and the setting in the shots, we doubt that the sneaky appearance was intentional. Even so, the photos provide a surprising amount of detail about the phone.

Huawei Mate 20 bottom

First and foremost, there is the major telltale - a triple camera setup, arranged in a very distinct square module, just like the one featured in some recent XDA renders. Of course, we have no way of knowing whether these snappers are borrowed from the P20 Pro. The important bit, however, is that this gives more credibility to the rest of the XDA leak and particularly, the specs, as seen in the tweet.

Huawei Mate 20:
- Waterdrop notch
- Triple rear cameras
- Kirin 980
- 4200 mah
- 6.3" AMOLED
- 2244 x 1080
- Wireless charging
- Android Pie (EMUI 9)
- 3.5mm headphone jack on top
- USB Type-C
- Speaker above the notch & bottom side
- Glass back cover#huawei #mate20

— 📱 🖥️ 👦 👦 🔍 🇮🇩 (@bang_gogo_) August 20, 2018

However, it might not be prudent to take these at face value quite yet. Looking at the photos, a few things stand out. For one, the case does not appear to have a cut-out for a fingerprint reader, which previous leaks claimed would be found on the rear of the device. Perhaps that could indicate Huawei decided to go with a more high-tech under-display solution, like on the Mate RS Porsche Design?

Huawei Mate 20 front

Another potential mismatch with other rumors is the speaker setup and location. By all accounts, one of the two speakers on the Mate 20 should be positioned on the bottom frame. Granted, the photos are very grainy, but we can't really see any speaker grill next tot the Type-C port. Then again, why would the bottom portion of the case be cut so wide if not to house some components?

Huawei Mate 20

Anyway, a few other observations can also be made based on the various angles. The front of the device is mostly covered, except for an earpiece hole, There also seems to be a window, extending along a big chink of the display, likely to enable some quick glance UI. Also, it kind of looks like the Mate 20 panel is slightly curved on the sides.

Last, but not least, a 3.5mm audio jack hole is clearly visible on the top side of the phone. As far as we currently know, the Mate 20 series will consist of the Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro (perhaps a Mate 20 Porsche Design) and the Mate 20 Lite, which was announced last week. The Mate 20 will feature a 6.3-inch AMOLED screen with a water drop notch, triple cameras, 4,200mAh battery, Wireless Charging, stereo speakers and glass on both sides.

Source (in Spanish)