Huawei finally revealed its Mate 90 line-up in China earlier today, but we’re only really interested in the Mate 90 Pro. That’s the device the company’s past behaviour suggests is most likely to reach South Africa. And, if the pricing for the Chinese models is any indication, it won’t carry much of a markup over the Mate 80 Pro. Those price increases are for the more overpowered models.
The Chinese launch has four different variants of the Mate 90 Pro — 12GB/256GB and 12GB/512GB at the lower end of the price spectrum, and then 16GB/512GB and 16GB/1TB models. Again, based on Huawei’s South African history, we’re only likely to get one. That would be the 16GB/512GB model. Here’s what we’ll probably see in a few months.
Mate 90 Pro tips its hand
The 90 Pro will arrive with a 6.75in 2,832 x 1,280 display, with most of the usual bells and whistles. Plus, an especially loud one. A 120Hz refresh rate, a 300Hz touch sampling rate, and a fantastic 12,000 nits of peak brightness are in store. Huawei’s putting its own chipset, the Kirin 9035, inside. The more expensive models in the lineup get some interesting tweaks to the chip, but it doesn’t appear that there’s anything quite as special for this one.
Three rear camera sensors — a 50MP main, 50MP telephoto with 4x optical zoom, and a 40MP ultrawide — are coming. There’s also a new multispectral sensor for additional photographic improvement. The front pairs a 3D depth sensor with a 13MP camera.
The Mate 90 Pro will include an IP68 rating, a 6,600mAh battery (with 100W wired charging), and WiFi 7+. These are all specs for the Chinese model, so there’s a chance there will be a few changes. It’s possible, based on recent launches, that Europe will see a smaller battery included. If so, that’s something South Africa will probably skip.
Pricing for all of the company’s 90 Pro phones is known in China. Since we’re only concerned with one specific variant, the ¥8500 16GB/512GB, a likely price for the phone is about R21,000. That’s just a shade higher than the Mate 80 Pro’s launch price.
