On 3 November 2016, Huawei revealed not just the Huawei Mate 9, but also the bespoke Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design. Before their official launch, we were given exclusive access to the Huawei Mate 9, albeit only for a few short hours. We are now allowed to reveal to you the photos and details in our exclusive Huawei Mate 9 preview.

 

The Huawei Mate 9 Preview

The Huawei Mate 9 has a 5.9″ IPS display with a full HD resolution of 1080 x 1920. It is powered by the new Kirin 960 octa-core SoC, with 4 GB of LPDDR4 RAM. The Kirin 960 offers four 2.4 GHz Cortex-A73 cores and four 1.8 GHz Cortex-A53 cores, together with the powerful Mali-G71 MP8 GPU.

In the photography department, it boasts a second-generation dual-lens Leica-designed camera. This camera now pairs a 20 MP monochrome sensor with a 12 MP colour sensor. They both feature f/2.2 Leica lenses, and support optical image stabilisation (OIS).

How good is the new Leica-designed dual-lens camera? Take a look at this monochrome sample (full-size 20 MP @ 6 MB here). The new Huawei Mate 9 also comes with a 4,000 mAh lithium-polymer battery that supports Super Charge. Super Charge allows for very fast charging, thanks to its 22.5 W charger.

The Huawei Mate 9 will come with 64 GB of internal flash storage, and a microSD card slot that supports up to 256 GB of additional storage. It’s priced at €699 for Europe.

Sadly, that’s all we could take out of the exclusive Huawei Mate 9 preview session. We hope to get more hands-on time with the Mate 9 when it hits the stores (see the launch dates below).

 

Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design

For those who want something more exclusive, Huawei offers the bespoke Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design variant.

Available only in Black Graphite, the Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design features a 5.5″ curved AMOLED display with a higher resolution of 1440 x 2560. It also comes with a whopping 6 GB of LPDDR4 memory and 256 GB of internal flash storage. However, it does not come with a microSD slot.

The other features of the Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design remain the same with the “standard” Mate 9. It comes with the same processor and dual-lens Leica-designed camera. It will, however, retail for twice the “standard” Mate 9’s price at €1395 in Europe.

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The Huawei Mate 9 Availability New!

Huawei will launch the Mate 9 in these 12 countries first – China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Thailand and the UAE.

Here in Malaysia, our sources say that the Huawei Mate 9 launch will take place either on the 18th (Friday) or the 24th (Thursday) of November.

 

The Huawei Mate 9 Models vs. Mate 8 Comparison

If you’re wondering how do the two Huawei Mate 9 models compare against the Huawei Mate 8, we prepared this comparison for your convenience.

Specifications	Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design	Huawei Mate 9	Huawei Mate 8
Operating System	Android 7.0 Nougat	Android 7.0 Nougat	Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Display	5.5" AMOLED display - 1440 x 2560 pixels (534 ppi, 73.2% screen to body ratio)	5.96" IPS-NEO LCD display - 1080 x 1920 pixels (368 ppi)	6.0" IPS-NEO LCD display - 1080 x 1920 pixels (368 ppi, 78% screen to body ratio)
Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 3	Corning Gorilla Glass 3	Corning Gorilla Glass 4
System Platform	HiSilicon Kirin 960	HiSilicon Kirin 960	HiSilicon Kirin 950
Processor	4 x ARM Cortex-A73 (2.4 GHz) 4 x ARM Cortex-A53 (1.8 GHz)	4 x ARM Cortex-A73 (2.4 GHz) 4 x ARM Cortex-A53 (1.8 GHz)	4 x ARM Cortex-A72 (2.3 GHz) 4 x ARM Cortex-A53 (1.8 GHz)
Graphics Processor	ARM Mali-G71 MP8 (900 MHz)	ARM Mali-G71 MP8 (900 MHz)	ARM Mali-T880 MP4
Memory	6 GB LPDDR4 SDRAM	4 GB LPDDR4 SDRAM	4 GB LPDDR3 SDRAM (NXT-L29) 3 GB LPDDR3 SDRAM (NXT-L09, NXT-L19)
Storage	256 GB internal flash storage NO microSD card slot	64 GB internal flash storage microSD slot (supports up to 256 GB)	64 GB internal flash storage (NXT-L29) 32 GB internal flash storage (NXT-L09, NXT-L19) microSD slot (supports up to 256 GB, shared with SIM2)
Front Selfie Camera	8 MP sensor with f/1.9 lens	8 MP sensor with f/1.9 lens	8 MP sensor with f/2.4 lens
Main Camera	Dual-lens camera with f/2.2 Leica lens - 20 MP monochrome + 12 MP RGB sensors - 2X hybrid zoom, OIS support - PDAF and laser autofocus - dual-tone LED flash	Dual-lens camera with f/2.2 Leica lens - 20 MP monochrome + 12 MP RGB sensors - 2X hybrid zoom, OIS support - PDAF and laser autofocus - dual-tone LED flash	16 MP sensor with f/2.0 lens - PDAF autofocus, OIS - dual-tone LED flash
Connectivity	WiFi : 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band Bluetooth : v4.2, A2DP, EDR, LE USB : USB 3.0 Type C port	WiFi : 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band Bluetooth : v4.2, A2DP, EDR, LE USB : USB 2.0 Type C port	WiFi : 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band Bluetooth : v4.2, A2DP, EDR, LE USB : microUSB port
SIM Support	Single nano SIM Dual nano SIM, Dual Standby	Single nano SIM (MHA-L09) Dual nano SIM, Dual Standby (MHA-L29)	Single nano SIM (NXT-L09) Dual nano SIM, Dual Standby (NXT-L29)
GPS	Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS and BDS	Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS and BDS	Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS and BDS
NFC	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fingerprint Sensor	Yes	Yes	Yes
Battery	4,000 mAh lithium polymer battery (non-removable)	4,000 mAh lithium polymer battery (non-removable)	4,000 mAh lithium polymer battery (non-removable)
Dimensions	75 mm wide 152 mm tall 7.5 mm thick	78.9 mm wide 156.9 mm tall 7.9 mm thick	80.6 mm wide 157.1 mm tall 7.9 mm thick
Weight	169 g	190 g	185 g
Available Colours	Black Graphite	Black Graphite, Space Grey, Moonlight Silver, Champagne Gold, Mocha Brown, Ceramic White	Space Grey, Moonlight Silver, Champagne Gold, Mocha Brown

 

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