Huawei is expected to introduce its Mate 60 series later this year, maybe with a fresh new CPU inside.
Despite the usual drawbacks of Huawei devices, the Mate 50 series managed to amaze, with some top-tier photographic capabilities.
Here’s all we know about the Huawei Mate 60 series thus far.
When will the Huawei Mate 60 series be released?
At the time of writing, we don’t have a definite date from the corporation, but rumors have begun to circulate that the new phones will be released in September 2023.
Wisdom Pichaku, a Chinese tech tipster (don’t they have the greatest names?) recently blogged about a special edition of the Mate 50, with the hint that potential buyers might want to wait until the Mate 60 series debuts in September.
This makes logical given that the Mate 50 series devices were only available in China in September 2022. Only the Huawei Mate 50 Pro (Mate 50, Mate 50 Pro RS Porsche Edition) found its way to the West a few months later. We don’t know if it will be the case this time, but it appears plausible.
Because of the continuing trade conflict, none of them will make it to the United States.
How much will the Huawei Mate 60 series cost?
Again, no word from Huawei yet, so we’ll have to turn to prior generation prices for hints.
When they first appeared in China, the Mate 50 series looked like this:
- Huawei Mate 50 – ¥4999 (approx $695)
- Huawei Mate 50 Pro – ¥7799 (approx $1,085)
- Huawei Mate 50 RS Porsche edition – ¥12,999 (approx $1,800)
When the Pro finally made it to the UK and Europe it came with these prices tags attached:
- Huawei Mate 50 Pro – £1,199/€1,299 (approx $1,539)
With the world’s economy still in shambles as a result of the energy crisis and Covid, not to mention Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we’d be shocked if those statistics fell significantly. So, plan on the same costs as the Mate 50 series, and maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
What features will we see in the Huawei Mate 60 series?
As you may have guessed, Huawei hasn’t made any announcements regarding the new models, therefore we don’t have any definite specifics about the specs that will be revealed later this year. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been some intriguing rumors circulating around the Mate 60 series.
According to sources from China GSMArena, Huawei will employ a pill-shaped space to house the front-facing cameras, similar to the Dynamic Island found on the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. This is a departure from the notch seen on the Mate 50 Pro, however it’s unclear whether there will be any software advancements similar to those done by Apple.
It is, however, a return to form, since the design was previously used on the Mate 40 series. If the company follows in the footsteps of the Mate 50 Pro, the ‘Spirit Island’ (as GizmoChina says) will have a 13Mp ultra-wide angle f/2.4 camera and a ToF sensor for facial unlocking. There is also the possibility of a second camera, but no information are available at this time.
While most flagship phones in 2023 are expected to use Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipsets, there are speculations that Huawei may take a different approach. One variant appears to be equipped with the Snapdragon, while another may be equipped with a proprietary CPU manufactured by Huawei. According to recent rumors, the business has rediscovered a means to create 5G enabled phones, which has been a significant difficulty since the US government prevented suppliers from engaging with Chinese manufacturers. This might be part of the new chipset architecture, implying that Huawei has overcome one of their devices’ two major limitations (the other being lack of access to Google services and apps).
This is very certainly going to emerge in the Mate 60, however some rumors say Huawei may enhance the technology to provide seamless transitions across the aperture settings rather than the stepwise method. While there have been no definite leaks concerning the camera array’s composition, a Twitter (are we still allowed to call it that?) post from @RODENT950 purports to reveal a new design for the camera module with a band across the centre. It’s unclear if something is purely decorative or has a functional purpose. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait long to find out.
