Huawei giving premium smartphone masters a run for their money

In the smartphone business, Huawei, the Chinese telecom company, started humbly, establishing its name in value smartphones. That is, relatively low-budget, reducedcapability phones. But that was then. More recently Huawei has made inroads into the premium-class smartphones, in the company of the iPhones by Apple and the Galaxies by Samsung. This development started a few smartphone launches ago with the most recent launch being the Huawei P20 in April 2018, followed by the unveiling of a series of the “Mate 20” smartphone models on 16 October 2018 at an event in London. The unveiled phones include (Huawei) Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro, Mate 20 X, and Mate 20 Lite. The devices are expected to be launched in November of this year.

Relative to Apple and Samsung, Huawei is a late comer to the premium smartphone market, but it seems the company is catching up pretty fast. The Huawei P20 Pro is being compared to Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and iPhone X, while Mate 20 Pro will certainly be in the class of iPhone XS and Galaxy Note 9. The P20 Pro is sold in China, U.K., Canada, and all over Europe. The advertised price of the P20 Pro is 900 euros, or around $1,100. The P20 is cheaper at 650 euros, or about $850. Huawei phones are not sold in the US because the law makers in that country suspect that the Chinese government may be using devices manufactured by Chinese-owned companies to spy.

Let’s take a peek at Huawei P20 Pro. Its form factor (aspect ratio or the way it feels in your palm) is not bad at all. The phone has a finger print scanner on the bottom center of the front of the phone, a location that is not favored by some customers. The battery life is excellent and outperforms that of the rival phones, for example, Galaxy S9. With 4000-milli-Amphour (mAh) for P20 Pro versus 3500 mAh for S9, P20 Pro will probably keep going after one year, by which time S9 may be on its way out. Because of the need to transmit radio wave signals - which happen to work well through glass - the back of the phone is made of glass. This means that it gathers finger prints and requires cleaning ever so often. Incidentally, a glass back is all part of the premium deal, as there are not many choices of materials. (Of course, you can cover the glass with third-party Huawei phone covers.)

The resolution of P20 Pro is not as high as that of S9, but you may not be able to tell the difference. Also, S9 has wireless charging while P20 Pro does not, but it charges very fast. The chips on S9 are either Snapdragon 845 (US customers) or Exynos 9810 (International), with the latter being faster, and either of these being faster than the Kirin 970 chip on Huawei P20 Pro. This means that demanding applications, such as high-end games, may run better on S9. The P20 Pro has dual sim sockets, which is handy if you have sim cards from two carriers.

The camera in Huawei P20 Pro is the big deal. It is the first smartphone with three-back facing camera lens, respectively with 40 megapixels (MP) for color, 20 MP for monochromatic shoots, and 8 MP for telephoto. There is also the 24 MP frontfacing camera lens; for selfie. The main advantage of the threesensor camera system is the ability to take great pictures in very low light environments. Some even go as far as describing the way the camera system works as magic, in reference to its ability to take good pictures in peach-black environments!

On the newly unveiled Mate 20 Pro, the 40MP and 8MP cameras have wide-angle and telephoto lenses, as in P20 Pro, but the 20MP camera is now an RGB unit with an ultra-wideangle lens supporting macro images. The mono sensor in 20MP camera, which serves to add extra detail to images, is now considered unnecessary due to improvements in the Mate 20 Pro’s main 40MP sensor.

Which phone is better between S9 and P20 Pro? It depends on what you are looking for: If the features of duo sim, incredible battery life, and versatile camera setup appeal to you, then you should take a look at P20 Pro. If on the other hand you are recording videos, with the need for the fastest processors, you love bright screen in outdoor environment, wireless charging, and a headphone jack, then S9 may be your phone.

The unveiled Huawei Mate 20 phones, including Mate 20 Pro, have considerably improved on the processor power with the 7- nanometer (nm) Kirin 980 processor. This chipset is considered to have no rival in the Android universe, making Mate 20 Pro the best iPhone XS rival, the latter also using the 7nm chip technology. (Samsung will only launch 7nm-chip phones next spring.)

As you can see, Huawei’s smartphone technology is getting up there, thanks to diligence, discipline, aggressiveness, and perhaps a burning desire to be the best.