Huawei has officially launched the latest crop of smartphones for its home market. Succeeding last year’s Mate 80 lineup, the Mate 90 series serves as the brand’s flagship offering. This time, the company has introduced a total of five models, namely the vanilla Mate 90, the Mate 90 Pro, the Mate 90 Pro Max, the Mate 90 Pro Max Collector’s Edition, and the Mate 90 RS Ultimate Design.
Visually, the quintet largely retains the familiar build with a centre-aligned camera module on the rear. Meanwhile, the front of each model sports three punch holes for the selfie camera and hardware for the 3D face unlock feature. The lineup also comes with an OLED display with 12,000 nits of peak brightness, an anti-reflective coating, and 3rd Gen Kunlun Glass. All variants also boast IP68 and IP69 ratings. Beyond that, they all run on HarmonyOS 7 and feature NFC, Bluetooth 6.0, and satellite connectivity.
Mate 90
The base model in the lineup sports a 6.75-inch OLED screen with a 1,280 x 2,832 pixel resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. Internally, the phone maker has equipped the device with a Kirin 9030 chipset. This gets paired with 12GB of RAM, with storage options ranging from 256GB to 1TB. Keeping the handset powered is a 6,600mAh battery with support for 66W wired charging, 50W wireless charging, and 5W wired reverse charging.
For imaging, the smartphone sports a 50MP primary shooter with a variable f/1.4-f/4.0 aperture. This is accompanied by a 50MP telephoto lens with up to 4x optical zoom and 40MP ultrawide camera. Not to be forgotten is the third generation Red Maple multispectral sensor. For selfies, the device features a 13MP selfie snapper.
Mate 90 Pro
Like its more modest counterpart, the Pro model comes with a 6.75-inch OLED display. This panel offers the same 1,280 x 2,832 pixel resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. However, the Pro features a different processor, specifically the Kirin 9035. For memory, the phone gets up to 16GB of RAM and a maximum of 1TB of storage. While it also packs a 6,600mAh battery, charging speeds get a boost, with support for 100W wired and 18W reverse wired charging.
The imaging setup is pretty much the same as the vanilla version. So, the Pro basically gets a 50MP main camera with a variable aperture, 50MP 4x telephoto lens, 40MP ultrawide snapper, and the Red Maple sensor. The 13MP front camera is also on board.
Mate 90 Pro Max And Collector’s Edition
The Pro Max model gets a bigger 6.9-inch display. This double-layer OLED panel offers a 1,320 x 2,848 pixel resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. Naturally, the company has equipped this variant with a more capable chipset. This is the Kirin 9050 Pro, which was previously featured on the Mate XT 2. For memory, the Pro Max version comes with either 12GB or 16GB of RAM, paired with either 512GB or 1TB of storage. Furthermore, the handset comes equipped with a 6,800mAh battery with support for 100W wired, 50W wireless, and 18W reverse wired charging.
On the imaging end, the phone features an almost identical setup to its siblings. However, the telephoto camera uses a 200MP sensor instead. It still uses the same 13MP selfie snapper, though.
As mentioned earlier, there is a Collector’s Edition, which sets itself apart from the regular version by incorporating Basalt Kunlun Glass in its design. Other than that, it comes with 16GB of RAM by default. Oh, and of course, this variant is compatible with the brand’s new Ruiying Z10 external camera module. This accessory adds a 1-inch sensor, 10x continuous optical zoom, a 24-240mm focal range and an f/2.0-f/4.5 aperture.
Mate 90 RS Ultimate Design
The final member of the lineup has a slightly more distinctive design composed of titanium. It also comes with a 6.9-inch 1,320 x 2,848 double-layer OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. This panel is also protected with Basalt Kunlun Glass. Under the hood, the phone sports a Kirin 9050 Pro SoC, paired with 16GB of RAM. Storage options go from a minimum of 512GB to 2TB. Additionally, the phone comes with a 6,800mAh battery.
Furthermore, it comes with the same 50MP primary camera and 40MP ultrawide lens as the rest of the lineup. And much like its Pro Max sibling, the device sports a 200MP telephoto lens. The selfie snapper also uses a 13MP sensor. Furthermore, the phone is compatible with the Z10 external camera module.
Pricing
This year’s lineup is notably pricier compared to the previous generation. The base Mate 90 starts from CNY5,999 (~RM3,657), while the Pro model starts from CNY6,999 (~RM4,266). As for the Pro Max, pricing starts from CNY9,499 (~RM5,790) for the standard version. Meanwhile, the Collector’s Edition has a starting price of CNY10,999 (~RM6,705). Lastly, the RS model is the most expensive of them all with its starting price of CNY12,999 (~RM7,924). As for the camera module, Huawei is offering it for CNY5,999 (~RM3,657).
For the time being, Huawei has yet to disclose details on global availability. Based on the company’s track record, though, we’re unlikely to get all models in the lineup, assuming it launches here anyway.
(Source: Huawei [1], [2], [3], [4], [5])
