If you’re thinking of buying a flagship smartphone this December, don’t limit yourself to a choice between the new iPhone X or the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. Huawei is the dark horse of Android flagships with the new Huawei Mate 10 and the Huawei Mate 10 Pro. The beastly internals, AI CPU, competitive cameras (especially for selfies), and the cutthroat pricing puts them in a strong position to win in the Philippines.

Here’s a quick overview of what makes the Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro special:

Aritificial Intelligence Powered Kirin 970 Chipset – Huawei’s Kirin 970 chipset is one of the most advanced CPUs available in smartphones. It’s built to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to optimize battery life and auto post processing of photos.

You can read more about it here: Deep Dive into the Huawei Kirin 970 Chipset

Best in Class Camera – For DXOMark, the Huawei Mate 10 scored 1 point less the Google Pixel 2 at 97. They’re tied with the iPhone X. Yes, you read that right — Huawei tied the iPhone for camera quality.

See Also: Huawei Mate 10 Pro Full Review

Pricing – For the prices they’ve already announced that the Huawei Mate 10 will retail for just Php32,990. There’s no official SRP yet for the Mate 10 Pro but we suspect it will sell for less than Php40,000. They’ve practically undercut the standard Pho50,000 pricing that Apple and Samsung went into for their flagships this year.

Huawei’s Challenge: Marketing and Branding

When it comes to the product, Huawei has a fantastic offering. The key challenge for them will be to create desirability. They need to break away from the image that they’re “just Chinese phones” and elevate their brand to the levels of Samsung and Apple.

To stress my point: what’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear OPPO? Most likely it’s “selfie expert” or one of their endorsers like Alden Richards or Sarah Geronimo. You don’t even think that the brand is from China. That’s the magic of marketing and that’s the challenge now of Huawei.

Don’t Just Take Our Word for It

We suggest you get your hands on the Mate 10 or Mate 10 Pro to try when they’re available at their stores before you make your decision on which flagship to get yourself this Christmas. With all the great options out there the worst thing you can do is blind buy based on your biased loyalties.