Huawei Mate 70, Mate 70 Pro announced

Huawei unveiled its four-strong Mate 70 series at a big event in Shenzhen, and we’ll be covering the vanilla Mate 70 and Mate 70 Pro in this article.

Starting with the Mate 70 – it’s the smallest phone out of the bunch, with small being a relative term here and the only one in the series that gets a flat frame. It’s the thinnest of the bunch at 7.8mm.

Mate 70 (left) and Mate 70 Pro (right)

Like most recent Chinese flagships, Mate 70 and 70 Pro are IP69-rated, which brings protection against pressurized water jets.

Mate 70 gets a 6.7-inch LTPO OLED with FHD+ resolution and a 1-120Hz variable refresh rate. Mate 70 Pro expands the screen diagonal to 6.9 inches while retaining the FHD+ resolution and variable refresh rate. Both phones feature 2,500 nits peak brightness and second-generation Kunlun Glass, which features basalt fiber tempered glass for added drop protection.

Mate 70 packs a single 13MP ultra-wide-angle selfie cam, while the Pro adds a 3D Depth camera for secure face unlocks. Keep in mind that, unlike their predecessors, the new Mate 70 models go back to side-mounted fingerprint scanners embedded in the power button. That button also integrates smart controls like toggling the flash, AI assistant or muting the device via double and long presses.

Next up, cameras.

Huawei is bringing its variable f/1.4-f/4.0 aperture for the 50MP main cam, which also offers OIS. That’s joined by a 40MP ultrawide lens on both phones.

Mate 70 gets a 12MP periscope with 5.5x optical zoom, while the Pro model gets a 48MP sensor with 4x optical zoom.

The more interesting bit is the new dedicated spectral imaging sensor, which sits in the middle of the camera island.

Unlike traditional red, green, green, blue (RGGB) color sensors or red, yellow, yellow, blue (RYYB) on past Huawei phones, spectral imaging modules can gather more color data, leading to improved color accuracy, natural skin tones and better shadow preservation.

Huawei's new sensors covers 1.5 million multi-spectral channels. This sensor works in tandem with the other shooters to offer natural color reproduction, even in complex light scenes.

If you’ve been following Huawei in its post-U.S.ban days, you know that it keeps details on its chipsets under wraps. That’s no different this time around, and we can just speculate that all of the new Mate 70 series phones are equipped with the rumored Kirin 9100.

Based on speculation, it's a 6nm SoC that’s allegedly fabbed on SMIC N+3 process and features a Cortex-X1 prime core clocked at 2.67GHz. Hopefully, teardowns will soon confirm the exact specs of the chips inside the Mate 70 series.

Both phones will ship with Huawei’s HarmonyOS 4.3, while an update to the latest HarmonyOS Next is expected in the future.

Mate 70 gets a 5,300 mAh battery with 66W wired and 50W wireless charging, while Mate 70 Pro brings a 5,500 mAh cell with faster 100W wired and 80W wireless charging.

Mate 70 and 70 Pro come in Spruce Green, Hyacinth Purple, Snow White, and Obsidian Black colors.

Mate 70 (Snow White) and Mate 70 Pro (Obsidian Black)

Pricing for the Mate 70 starts at CNY 5,499 ($757), while the Mate 70 Pro starts at CNY 6,499 ($895).

Both phones are already on pre-order in China while deliveries are expected to begin on December 4. Huawei did not reveal any plans for a global rollout of the Mate 70 series.

Huawei Mate 70 • Huawei Mate 70 Pro