Huawei is back in the game with its flagship Mate 40 series. Comprising of the Mate 40, Mate 40 Pro, Mate 40 Pro+, and Mate 40 RS, all are powered by Huawei’s in-house Kirin 9000 series processor. The new processor (and possibly the last Kirin processor for now) is the first 5nm processor with a built-in 5G modem, though it only supports sub-6Ghz frequencies.
The vanilla Mate 40 uses a Kirin 9000E processor, and its key differences is with the GPU—it has 22 cores vs 24 cores on the regular Kirin 9000, and NPU—the Kirin 9000E has a single big core while the regular Kirin 9000 has a dual Big Core configuration.
Key features of the Mate 40 series include:
- An awesome curved display. All Mate 40 variants get a 6.76-inch Full HD+ waterfall display with a 90hz refresh rate, 240hz touch sampling rate, and DCI-P3 certified. The vanilla Mate 40’s display has a 68-degree curve with a 2376×1080 resolution, while the Mate 40 Pro and Pro+ get a groundbreaking 88-degree curve on its display, along with a 2772×1344 resolution.
- Flagship features. All Mate 40 models get niceties like stereo speakers, IP ratings (IP53 for the Mate 40, IP68 for the Mate 40 Pro and Pro+
- Insanely fast charging speeds. The Mate 40 Pro and Pro+ series get 66w wired charging and 50w wireless charging—both being class-leading—for its 4400mAh battery. The Mate 40, on the other hand, gets a smaller 4200mAh battery with 40w wired charging.
- A compelling rear camera setup. The Mate 40 and Mate 40 Pro get a 50-megapixel f/1.9 SuperSensing camera, the Mate 40 Pro gets a 20-megapixel f/1.8 ultra-wide-angle Cine camera with a free-form lens, 12-megapixel f/3.4 telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom and OIS, while the Mate 40 gets a 16-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera and an 8-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and OIS. The Mate 40 Pro+ gets the same Cine camera from the Mate 40 Pro and adds a ToF camera, and two telephoto cameras: A 12-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and OIS and an 8-megapixel f/4.4 periscope camera with 10x optical zoom and OIS.
- Free-form lens!? The Mate 40 Pro and Pro+’s unique free-form lens aims to reduce distortion associated when shooting using an ultra-wide-angle lens. This tech ensures that photos shot using the ultra-wide-angle Cine camera is distortion-free by default.
- An equally good front camera. All Mate 40 variants get a 13-megapixel f/2.4 SuperSensing camera for selfies, while the the Mate 40 Pro, Mate 40 Pro+, and Mate 40 RS get additional sensors for3D face unlock.
- Unique tricks like gesture controls and Eyes On Display (EOD). While gesture controls is something we have seen before in phones like the Reno4, the Mate 40’s EOD feature ensures that the display will only light up when it detects your eyes looking at it. There’s also Smart Multi-Window that keeps multiple windows organized through a series of gestures.
Aside from the usual Mate 40 series, there’s also an ultra-premium Porsche Design Mate 40 RS, which sports a hexagonal rear camera module and symmetrical stripes at the back to give it a race car-inspired design. The camera module is similar to the Mate 40 Pro+ with the addition of a color temperature sensor and an Infrared thermo-sensor.
Pricing for the latest Mate 40 series are as follows:
Mate 40 8GB/128GB – 899 Euro(~Php 51.7k)
Mate 40 Pro 8GB/256GB – 1199 Euro(~Php 69k)
Mate 40 Pro+ 12GB/256GB – 1399 Euro(~Php 80.5k)
Mate 40 RS 12GB/512GB – 2295 Euro(~Php 132k)
Do note that European pricing is always more expensive, so local pricing may be lower.