Huawei announces Mate 20 Series featuring 7nm Kirin 980 SoC, Matrix Camera system

[Shawn Knight]

Bottom line: Huawei's new Mate 20 Series could vie for the title of best Android phone of 2018 but the fact that it isn't coming to the US really hurts its chances. If you aren't scared off by potential privacy concerns and availability issues, it may be worth further consideration.

Huawei at a flashy media gathering on Tuesday in London announced the Mate 20 Series, its flagship line of smartphones encompassing four devices – the Mate 20, the Mate 20 Pro, the Porsche Design Mate 20 RS and the Mate 20 X.

The Mate 20 Series is powered by Huawei’s own Kirin 980 Soc. Built on a 7nm process, this new chipset offers a CPU that is 75 percent more powerful than the Kirin 970 and features a GPU that is 46 percent more powerful. The NPU, meanwhile, is said to be 226 percent more powerful than its predecessor.

Accompanying the added power is increased efficiency. Huawei claims the CPU, GPU and NPU are 57 percent, 178 percent and 182 percent more efficient, respectively, compared to the previous iteration.

The Mate 20 features a 6.53-inch LCD display boasting a resolution of 2,244 x 1,080 while the Mate 20 Pro has a slightly smaller 6.39-inch OLED panel at 3,120 x 1,440 pixels. Or how about the Mate 20 X with its massive 7.2-inch display? The Mate 20 will be offered with your choice of 4GB or 6GB of RAM while the Mate 20 Pro will only come in a 6GB + 128GB combination.

Unique to Huawei’s Mate 20 Series is the rear-facing Matrix Camera system, a tri-camera array arranged in a square shape that consists of a 40-megapixel main camera with f/1.8 aperture, a 20-megapixel ultra-wide camera with f/2.2 aperture and an 8-megapixel telephoto camera with f/2.4 aperture. Rounding out the square is a standard flash element.

The Mate 20 Series also impresses in the battery department. The Mate 20 Pro packs a sizable 4,200mAh battery with wireless charging capabilities. Conveniently enough, it also has what Huawei calls wireless reverse charge technology which allows the device to work as a power bank for other electronics supporting wireless charging.

If that’s not enough capacity, perhaps the Mate 20 X’s 5,000mAh pack will better suit your needs?

Huawei’s new Mate 20 Series is big, bold and beautiful but the fact that it isn’t destined for US markets is a bummer. Those in overseas markets, however, will be able to get their hands on Huawei’s latest from today starting at 799 Euros.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/76952-huawei-announces-mate-20-series-featuring-7nm-kirin.html

 

[Mister_K]

Why not one bigger sensor than 4 focking small ones?
https://xd.adobe.com/view/d7681453-eda2-4a2c-407c-f9d73f2a9e07-a159/

 

[senketsu]

"potential privacy concern"??? well, it's Android OS, a well known privacy concern already. I like how most just ignore this which means nothing will ever change

 

[p51d007]

Why not one bigger sensor than 4 focking small ones?
https://xd.adobe.com/view/d7681453-eda2-4a2c-407c-f9d73f2a9e07-a159/

Because people DO NOT understand how camera sensors, and capturing the available light works.
THEY think "more is better". I'd rather have ONE sensor, MANY TIMES larger than the multiple TINY
sensors that have to use software to put the image back together, then use software tricks to make the
image.

 

[p51d007]

Can you BLAME Huawei for NOT releasing one in the USA?
After the way they were treated, I wouldn't blame them for NEVER setting foot inside
the USA market again. I've had 3, loved all of them other than Huawei isn't known to be
"fast" on getting updates to the phones. You can still probably find one that works in the
USA, but getting support will be problematic.

 

[Mister_K]

Because people DO NOT understand how camera sensors, and capturing the available light works.
THEY think "more is better". I'd rather have ONE sensor, MANY TIMES larger than the multiple TINY
sensors that have to use software to put the image back together, then use software tricks to make the
image.

You have the RED Hydrogen, but I think it only allows RED attachments which will get quite expensive quick.

I guess if you want to go take videography or photography seriously, you will just get a DSLR, still besides the point. Also bigger size means easier to damage? Must be some technical reason they are not doing it (lack of space physical even).

 

[kapital98]

Why not one bigger sensor than 4 focking small ones?
https://xd.adobe.com/view/d7681453-eda2-4a2c-407c-f9d73f2a9e07-a159/

Because people DO NOT understand how camera sensors, and capturing the available light works.
THEY think "more is better". I'd rather have ONE sensor, MANY TIMES larger than the multiple TINY
sensors that have to use software to put the image back together, then use software tricks to make the
image.

There are probably numerous reasons. First, none of these cameras can really have optical zoom due to the size limitations. So, on a DSLR you can just pop on huge lenses and get telephoto or wide angle. You can't do that on a smartphone (well, you can, but very few do).

The second reason is probably manufacturing costs. It's probably much cheaper to make 3 small cameras that have different optics than one large one with a good lens. A 40MP camera with a 1.8 f/stop in a DSLR would require a full frame lens with at least a $300 lens (and that's a cheap lens). It makes sense they would cut corners to reduce manufacturing costs. The software will largely make up for the optical limitations.

My biggest complaint is that all these are different lenses. It would be really interesting/cool if you could do on-the-fly HDR composition by using all three cameras at once and blending the result.

 

[m3tavision]

Can you BLAME Huawei for NOT releasing one in the USA?
After the way they were treated, I wouldn't blame them for NEVER setting foot inside
the USA market again. I've had 3, loved all of them other than Huawei isn't known to be
"fast" on getting updates to the phones. You can still probably find one that works in the
USA, but getting support will be problematic.

Yes, you can blame Huawei...
They are the ones putting extra chips in the devices for the Chinese government. Same with several other Chinese manufacturers.. that the US government issued a statement and essentially banned their products in the Unites States.


I won't even let people with a ZTE phone in my house without putting it in my metal cricket box near my front door. Stupid people are stupid and will buy the cheapest possible (not best)... while selling their American heritage down the road. People who don't have a job take free handouts (or nearly free, just to look like a real person who buys real phones)

 

[techarrow]

US goverment obligated microsoft to have backdoors and spy many decades ago, same thing happened with apple.Why you mention only China?

 

[kapital98]

US goverment obligated microsoft to have backdoors and spy many decades ago, same thing happened with apple.Why you mention only China?

The intent is completely different. Companies operating in the US must comply with lawful warrants. They are not above the law. A backdoor is an easier way to do this (when the proper warrant is in place).

Meanwhile, China is doing this as an act of corporate espionage and a way to potentially blackmail prominent individuals.

This is a serious national security issue.

 

[Knot Schure]

"potential privacy concern"??? well, it's Android OS, a well known privacy concern already. I like how most just ignore this which means nothing will ever change[/QUOTE

Hence some of us use privacy-focused ROMs on our devices.

I don't know the status of Apple, or Windows Mobile, but I expect there to be between little, to no choice.