Huawei has finally announced the Mate 8. Sporting the new HiSilicon Kirin 950 processor, the new 6-inch smartphone features the same 1080p display as the Mate 7; albeit with a much large colour gamut. As it is only due next year, the phone will ship with Huawei’s MUI 4.0, which is based on Android 6.0.
The HiSilicon Kirin 950 processor is the biggest deal with the Huawei Mate 8. This new homegrown octa-core processor utilises four Cortex-A72 cores and four Cortex A53 cores built on the 16nm FinFET+ manufacturing process. Graphic processing is provided by a Mali-T880 GPU, while LTE is supplied by an integrated Cat 6 modem.
As far as memory is concerned, the Huawei Mate 8 comes in three models. The first is a 3GB version that sports 32GB of internal storage; while there is a 4GB variant with a choice between 64GB or 128GB of storage. In any case, the phone also has a microSD expansion slot with support for cards of up to 128GB.
Round the back is a 16 megapixel camera with optical image stabilisation and phase detection autofocus. The camera is of some interest, as it features Huawei’s own image signal processor paired with a Sony-made sensor. Rounding out the specifications is a 4000mAh battery that features fast charge technology. Huawei claims that this will allow it to reach 37% charge in about 30 minutes.
At the moment, the Huawei Mate 8 is only scheduled for a release in China early next year. However, a global announcement is expected at CES 2016. The Huawei Mate 8 will retail at RMB2999 (about RM2000), RMB3699 (about RM2500) and RMB4399 (about RM2900) for the 32GB, 64 and 128GB models respectively.
