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Huawei
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Huawei Mate 20 series first look: Pro’s reverse wireless charging and huge battery stand out

The Mate 20 and the Mate 20 Pro both have a triple-camera set-up on the back and a 24-megapixel selfie camera, while the Pro also manages to cram a fingerprint scanner underneath its screen

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The Huawei Mate 20 Pro (left) next to the standard Mate 20. Photo: Ben Sin
Ben Sin

Huawei introduced two new phones on Tuesday as part of its Mate 20 series – and in a twist, the device with the smaller screen and significantly larger notch is the premium “Pro” model.

Both the standard Mate 20 and the Mate 20 Pro have a triple-camera set-up on the back and a 24-megapixel selfie camera on the front; they both are powered by Huawei’s own 7-nanometre chip set with a dual-NPU (neural processing unit); and both run the latest Android 9.0 with Huawei’s own software skin on top.

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro has a larger notch to accommodate a real facial scanning system just like the one pioneered by Apple. Photo: Ben Sin
The Huawei Mate 20 Pro has a larger notch to accommodate a real facial scanning system just like the one pioneered by Apple. Photo: Ben Sin
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Just those specs would be enticing enough to most Android consumers: Huawei’s triple-camera system has proven to do wonders in lowlight; a 7-nanometre mobile chip is a technological breakthrough in the semi-conductor field that Qualcomm and Samsung still haven’t been able to achieve; and Huawei releasing a device with the latest version of Android makes LG and Samsung’s recent releases (still stuck on Android 8.1) look bad.

But the Pro model offers more: the larger notch is to accommodate a legitimate 3D facial scanning system (just like the one in the iPhone X), and the slightly smaller display (6.4 inches compared to the standard model’s 6.5) is because of the curvature on all four sides of the OLED display panel.

The Pro feels smoother and more elegant than the standard, flatter device, with an LCD display that is clearly not as vibrant.

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