Huawei Mate 20 Pro has been officially launched in India at an event in New Delhi on Tuesday. The latest flagship, Mate 20 Pro, is Huawei’s answer to the premium-segment flagship devices such as Samsung Galaxy Note 9, Apple iPhone XS Max, and Google Pixel 3 XL. The smartphone comes with a triple-camera setup from Leica, which was first introduced by P20 Pro, another flagship smartphone from the company that was launched earlier this year. It is the sequel to the Mate 10 Pro that never made it to the country, which also makes the Mate 20 Pro important for Huawei to establish its position amid OnePlus, Samsung, Google, and Apple in India.
Huawei Mate 20 Pro Price in India
The Huawei Mate 20 Pro India price is Rs 69,990 for the single variant with 6GB RAM. Amazon is offering a Sennheiser PXC 550 headphone bundled with the Mate 20 Pro at a cost of Rs 71,990. The smartphone comes in Emerald Green and Twilight colour options. The smartphone will be exclusively available via Amazon. The Mate 20 Pro goes on sale starting December 3 for the Amazon Prime members while open sale starts the next day, December 4. The Vodafone Idea users will get additional data on postpaid plans worth Rs 499 and higher for 12 months, in addition to 20 per cent off on monthly rentals for 12 months.
The Huawei 15W Wireless Charger will be sold separately, however, the price is not known yet. Additionally, the waterproof rugged case for underwater photography will also be available. However, this is not all – Huawei has announced it will launch the Mate 20 Pro Porsche Design RS, Huawei Watch GT, Huawei MateBook X Pro, and Huawei AI Cube in India soon.
Huawei Mate 20 Pro Specifications
The Huawei Mate 20 Pro is the successor to the highly-acclaimed Mate 10 Pro that introduced the first Kirin processor that was powered by AI. The Mate 20 Pro takes things a level up with a better processor that is touted to have AI at the heart and a triple camera setup that company believes can replace the need for a telephoto lens on a DSLR. While telephoto capabilities of phone cameras are not something new – Google Pixel 3 XL has Super Res Zoom that’s essentially a substitute for a telephoto lens, Huawei Mate 20 Pro aims to enhance the results with the help of AI so that zoomed images don’t look subpar.
Huawei said at the India event that it has shipped 100 million devices till July this year and aims to ship 200 million by the end of the year. The company’s sub-brand Honor has a substantial foothold in the entry and mid-range segments in India, however, Huawei smartphones, priced in the premium segment, have not really created a dent amid the likes of OnePlus, Samsung, and Apple.
For the specifications, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro has a 6.39-inch QHD+ OLED curved display with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 1440×3120 pixels. The screen-to-body ratio of the smartphone is 86.90 per cent. The smartphone is powered by the company’s 7-nanometre HiSilicon Kirin 980 SoC paired with 6GB and 128GB internal storage, which is further expandable via microSD card. However, Huawei launched the world’s first Nano Memory (NM) card that is only supported on the Mate 20 series but India is not getting it as of now. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro is IP68-rated, which offers protection against water and dust. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro comes with Cat.21 network standards for faster 4G speeds. Huawei claims the Mate 20 Pro gives the fastest Wi-Fi signal and speeds. There is dual-frequency GPS available on the Mate 20 Pro, supported by AI. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro runs EMUI 9.0 based on Android 9 Pie out-of-the-box.
Microsoft’s Thirumalai Anandanpillai, who heads the company’s AI team in Hyderabad, was on stage to talk about the integration of AI prowess on the Mate 20 Pro. This tells how Microsoft is investing hugely into mobile businesses optimistic about AI. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro supports real-time translation, both verbal and written, across English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, and Telugu among other international languages.
The cameras are the USP of the smartphone – a setup of three sensors powered by Leica. A 40-megapixel wide-angle lens, a 20-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens, and an 8-megapixel telephoto lens. The cameras support AI Image Stabilisation, Super HDR, and Night Mode photography mode. For selfies, the Mate 20 Pro has a 24-megapixel 3D depth-sensing camera, which also offers face scanning. The images are backed by dual NPU sensors. There are photography effects such as Hollywood mode, underwater mode, and Macro mode among several others to leverage the camera sensors to produce some DSLR-like photos, claims Huawei. There is a Spotlight Reel that keeps the subject in focus while a video is being shot so that other things serve as the background. There are 3D Emojis, as well as 3D live object modelling available on the Mate 20 Pro that allows scanning a live object and create its 3D image on the phone. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro comes integrated with Google’s ARCore that offers AR-based applications
The Huawei Mate 20 Pro also comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor as the second biometric unlocking solution. The notch at the top of the display houses a flood illuminator, a proximity sensor, an IR camera, a dot projector, and an ambient light sensor, which is identical to the Face ID setup on the iPhone X onwards. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro comes with a 4200mAh with 40W SuperCharge technology proprietary to Huawei. Huawei Mate 20 Pro is the world’s first smartphone to come with reversible wireless charging that essentially charges other devices that support wireless charging via its rear surface. Huawei has also launched its 15W wireless charger in India. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro comes with NFC, which is required to cardless payments powered by Huawei Pay. however, neither Huawei Pay nor Google Pay with NFC is available in India.
