As formally teased and expected, Huawei has announced its latest high-end device for the Chinese market, the Mate 8. The 6-inch (and just 1080p) device is made entirely out of aluminum in four color choices, rocks a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and is powered by Huawei’s brand new Kirin 950 processor.
On the software side, the Mate 8 will launch with a freshly redesigned EMUI 4.0 interface from Huawei, and that bump in versions coordinates with the move to Android 6.0 Marshmallow as well.
The announcement comes just a handful of weeks after Huawei detailed the new 950 chipset, which is an octa-core unit — four A72 2.3GHz cores and four A53 1.8GHz cores — that offers enhanced power saving, as well as a so-called “i5” coprocessor to handle various low-power processes such as always-on sensors.
If details seem a bit light right now, that’s because Huawei is saving them for when the Mate 8 is officially unveiled and detailed to the press at CES 2016, where we’ll learn all of the specifics. It’ll be available to the public thereafter in China starting in Q1 2016 — there aren’t yet any details on a potential release outside of China.
Press release:
Huawei Consumer Business Group Launches Huawei Mate 8 Smartphone in China, Featuring New Kirin 950 Chipset
Shanghai, China – November 26, 2015 – Today in Shanghai, the Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG) unveiled the Huawei Mate 8, its most advanced flagship smartphone that combines beauty and practicality with a metallic, seamless design, 6-inch FHD screen and Huawei’s latest chipset architecture, the Kirin 950. As the latest innovation from Huawei’s Mate series, the Mate 8 features a customizable, next-generation Huawei EMUI 4.0 operating system based on Android M (6.0). Its body is made from aerospace-grade aluminum and unique 2.5D curved diamond cut glass, delivering an optimal design effect.
Huawei Mate 8 will be unveiled at CES 2016, and will be available in the market starting from Q1 2016.
Additional specifications and features include:
- Refined Look and Feel – In addition to its smooth, curved interior, the Mate 8 also includes an 83 percent screen-to-body ratio, slimmer dimensions and wider color range display, which covers 95 percent of NTSC gamut. Users will be able to further personalize their experience with the choice of four colors: Champagne Gold, Moonlight Silver, Space Gray and Mocha Brown.
- High-performance, Low-power Consumption – The Mate 8 is the first smartphone to run on Huawei’s recently announced Kirin 950 chipset and use TSMC 16 nm FinFET plus chip technology. The leading-edge architecture features redefined properties that achieve balanced power consumption with 4 x A72 2.3 GHz processors and 4 x A53 1.8 GHz processors.
- Revolutionary i5 Intelligent Processor – The Mate 8’s i5 intelligent processor is the most powerful coprocessor currently available. It supports speech recognition, low-power consumption MP3, all the functions of a sensor hub, fused location provider (FLP) navigation, and reduces location-based power consumption.
- New Intelligent Features – Some of the Mate 8’s most notable features include voice controls, a power-saving firewall, a defragmenter and eRecovery. The smartphone also offers improved roaming, navigation and payment capabilities.
Availability
The Mate 8 is currently available in China.
About Huawei Consumer BG
Huawei’s products and services have covered over 170 countries, and a third of the population in the world, ranking third in the world in mobile phone shipments last year (2014). Sixteen R&D centers have been set up in the United States, Germany, Sweden, Russia, India, and China. Huawei Consumer BG is one of Huawei’s three business units and covers smartphones, mobile broadband devices, home devices, and cloud services. Huawei’s global network is built on 20 years of expertise in the telecom industry and dedicated to delivering the latest technological advances to consumers around the world.