HUAWEI Consumer Business Group has launched the latest in its flagship Mate series, the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro, and marked the fourth anniversary of the HUAWEI AppGallery in South Africa. The new smartphone is packed with cutting-edge technologies and a range of industry-first features that are set to raise the bar for what users can expect from a smartphone.
One of the standout features of the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro is its Ultra Aperture XMAGE Camera, which boasts the first-ever 10-scale adjustable physical aperture and the most versatile photography capabilities seen on a HUAWEI Mate smartphone to date. The camera represents a major step forward in mobile photography, as it offers users the ability to capture stunning images with greater flexibility and control.
In terms of performance, the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro is protected by the ultra-reliable “Kunlun Glass.” This advanced material is made up of 10 quadrillion-level nanocrystals, the result of composite ion strengthening, making it more resilient and drop-resistant. The smartphone is the first ever to achieve a five-star glass drop resistance certification from Switzerland’s SGS, making it one of the most robust devices on the market.
The HUAWEI Mate50 Pro also offers a range of features that are designed to enhance user experience. The device is equipped with a 6.74-inch HUAWEI FullView Display, which offers a resolution of 2616 x 1212 pixels, a high refresh rate of 120Hz, and 1440Hz PWM dimming to reduce eye fatigue. The P3 wide colour gamut and fine-tuned colours ensure that the images displayed on the screen are absolutely authentic.
The smartphone also comes with a powerful 4700 mAh battery, which supports 66W HUAWEI SuperCharge wired and 50W HUAWEI SuperCharge wireless fast-charging solutions. The innovative low-battery Emergency Mode, which activates when the battery level falls to 1%, and SuperEnergy Boosting technology enable the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro to extend standby time by three hours or 12 minutes of call time. The SuperStorage feature removes duplicate files and compresses rarely used apps, preserving up to 20GB of space, giving users more room for the photos and videos they capture.
The HUAWEI Mate50 Pro also has a well-crafted, classic design that sets it apart from other devices on the market. The smartphone features iconic symmetry and Space Ring Design, as well as the elegant Clous de Paris step-patterned embossing design, which showcases a new kind of ordered beauty that is crafted down to the last detail. The device is available in two different rear covers, glass in Silver and Black, and vegan leather in Orange, allowing users to choose the look and feel that best suits their style.
On paper, the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro is arguably one of the best flagship handsets on the market, but, despite the brand’s reassurances that it’s found workaround and solutions to its software woes, this isn’t entirely true. Yes, AppGallery has some of the most popular apps from South Africa and around the world available, but if you’re using your device for work and need to it to work with apps, platforms and software that requires certain types of permissions and data, you’re going to be out of luck. The lack of GMS, as a result of being placed on the entity list, continues to cause havoc for the brand.
Many of the Google apps seen on the Mate50 Pro handset at the event were web-apps, e.g. Google Maps opened in the browser and then saved to your home screen and displayed as an app. In essence this does provide you with access to these services but usually the experience is poor and, in my opinion, not an adequate substitution for the real thing.
HUAWEI needs to make significant strides to either bring HarmonyOS to their smartphones and tablets in South Africa or find a better solution because the Mate50 Pro takes the best pictures of any phone I’ve ever used. Combined with its fast charging capabilities, long lasting battery and great build quality, it’s clear that the brand has lost none of the hardware magic that made so many people fall in love with their devices.
The brand also unveiled a new, lower cost tablet, new wireless buds and a new smartwatch that comes with wireless buds under the display.
More interesting than that was the announcement of the HUAWEI Power-M, backup power solution, along with the updated FusionSolar App.
The stackable modular design allows the system to be customised, providing a maximum of 15kW with 45kWh storage. Power-M also supports various power sources and uses the safest electrochemical cell material, lithium iron phosphate, and supports a very wide voltage range from 90V – 300V. This power makes it a safe and reliable choice as a residential power backup solution. Users can also use the FusionSolar mobile phone app to check the status of their system’s running and energy yield anytime, from anywhere.