Huawei announces international launch of the Mate 50 Series

Despite its precarious position in the industry, Huawei keeps chugging along and putting out premium phones that can compete with industry juggernauts like Samsung and Apple. This year, it looks like the Chinese-based company is doing it again with the international launch of its new Mate series — the Mate 50.

Huawei is known for releasing luxurious flagship phones and the Mate 50 is no exception. The rear of the phone will come in glass or vegan leather. Its glass finish will be available in either silver or black. The vegan leather variant will instead come in an orange color the company says is inspired by the “radiant orange rays of the sun.”

Also on the back of the phone is the company’s Space Ring design, making a return from the Mate 40. However, this time around, it looks more elegant, utilizing a Clous de Paris step-patterned embossing design which is a first for the company. In the Space Ring appears a 13 MP ultra wide-angle camera, 64 MP telephoto camera, 50 MP ultra aperture camera, and a proximity light sensor.

The ultra aperture camera is Huawei’s first 10-size adjustable physical aperture. According to Huawei, the smart aperture can adjust automatically to match the aperture size with the scene when in auto mode. Switching to professional mode will allow you to manually adjust depth of field and degree of blur.

The front side of the phone will be covered in a new type of Kunlun Glass instead of Gorilla Glass. Huawei claims Kunlun Glass makes the device 10 times more durable than regular glass. With that also comes an IP rating of IP68 for water and dust resistance. You can visit our IP ratings article to learn what these ratings mean.

As for what’s powering the device, the Mate 50 series will feature a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 with 4G. It will also have a 4,700mAh battery with 66W wired SuperCharge support and 50W wireless SuperCharge.

With no Google ecosystem to back up the Mate 50 series, unfortunately, it still remains a hard phone to recommend. But if you have to have it, the Mate 50 Pro (8GB + 256 GB) will be available in black or silver for €1,299 (~$1,249) and the Mate 50 Pro (8GB + 512GB) will be available in orange for €1,399 (~$1,346).