Huawei Device Malaysia has officially announced the arrival of its latest flagship smartphone, the Mate S, alongside two of its latest mobile devices: the G8 smartphone and M2 tablet.
As we reported in our hands on article last week, the Mate S is Huawei’s latest flagship – and also its most expensive smartphone to date. At RM2,698, the device is playing on the same field as the Samsung Galaxy Note5 and most likely the Sony Xperia Z5 when it launches this week. Huawei believes that a combination of premium construction, high-end performance and a very impressive after-sales service justifies the hefty price tag.
The Mate S is powered by Huawei’s HiSilicon Kirin 935 octa-core chipset paired with 3GB of RAM. There is also a 5.5-inch Full HD display, 13MP rear camera with OIS and a 8MP front-facing camera. There’s also a 2,700mAh “step platform” battery, which has a shape that takes advantage of the device’s curved back – in theory it is similar to Apple’s liberal use of batteries on the new MacBook. Other notable specs include fast charging support, fingerprint sensor located at the back, hybrid dual-SIM support with dual-4G connectivity, and Knuckle Sense 2.0.
The Malaysian model will be the 64GB version, and Huawei is offering a choice of two colourways: Prestige Gold and Coral Pink. However, the Coral Pink colourway will only be available sometime in November.
Huawei is pulling all the stops in after-sales support for the Mate S. There’s a two-year warranty (perhaps the first in the world to do so), where the first year warranty is a one-to-one, no-questions-asked replacement warranty, and the first 3,000 Mate S owners in Malaysia will also receive a bespoke pewter VIP card for express service at Huawei’s network of service centres. This warranty also includes free pick-up and delivery of the device for servicing purposes.
Besides the Mate S, Huawei also announced the G8, a mid-range device featuring the same fingerprint sensor as the Mate S. It also sports a metal body, and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor with 3GB of RAM, a 5.5-inch Full HD display, 32GB of internal storage, 13MP rear and 5MP front cameras, and a 3,000mAh battery. The G8 runs on Huawei’s EMUI 3.1, based on Android 5.1.
In addition, Huawei also introduced the M2 tablet. This entertainment-centric tablet touts powerful media consumption properties, including an 8-inch Full HD display with a Huawei-patented visual enhancement technology called ClariVu, as well as 32GB expandable storage and a 4,800mAh battery. Also notable is the inclusion of large stereo speakers located at the top and bottom of the device, as well as two dedicated audio chips developed, tuned and certified by harman/kardon.
It is also “the world’s first full-metal unibody tablet with 4G LTE”. Other notable specs of the M2 tablet include a 2.0GHz Kirin 930 octa-core processor with Mali-T628 MP4 GPU and an i3 co-processor, LTE support, 8MP rear and 2MP front cameras, and EMUI 3.1 based on Android 5.1.
The Huawei Mate S and G8 are immediately available at all Huawei retailers nationwide starting from today, while the M2 tablet will go on sale sometime in late November. The Mate S will retail for RM2,698 (in Prestige Gold only), while the G8 is selling for RM1,499 in Space Grey and Mystic Champagne. The Huawei M2 tablet will also be sold at RM1,499, and will be available in Champagne Gold.
READ MORE: The Huawei Mate S is Huawei’s Most Expensive Smartphone to Date (Hands On)
