Huawei's Mate family is bigger than ever this year.
Following up on last year's Mate 10 series, Huawei's cranking things up to, well, 20, with its all-new Huawei Mate 20 family. There are a total of four phones in this year's lineup, but the two you'll care about the most are the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro.
We've got a lot to dive into with this guide, so without further ado, here's everything you need to know about the Huawei Mate 20 series!
The Latest Mate 20 News
January 18, 2019 — Huawei Mate 20 Pro receives DxOMark score of 109
It's no secret that the Huawei Mate 20 Pro has an impressive camera setup, by now that the folks at DxOMark have officially reviewed it, we can see how it compares on a technical level to the other devices it's tested.
As you can tell by the headline, the Mate 20 Pro received an overall score of 109. That ties it directly with the Huawei P20 Pro and puts it a step above the iPhone XS Max and Pixel 3 which have scores of 105 and 101, respectively.
DxOMark praised the Mate 20 Pro for its "outstanding image performance", "excellent zoom capabilities", and more. Some finer textures weren't rendered as naturally as they could be, but overall, this is further evidence that Huawei knows what it's doing when it comes to cameras.
October 31, 2018 — Mate 20 Pro breaks Huawei's pre-order record in Western Europe by 40%
Although the Mate 20 Pro won't be sold in the United States, it's been extremely popular in other parts of the world even during its initial pre-order state. In fact, Huawei recently confirmed that the phone topped its previous pre-order sales numbers by 40% over in Western Europe.
The P20 Pro was previously Huawei's most pre-ordered phone for its first 10 days of availability, but the Mate 20 Pro has already overtaken it. It's unclear exactly how many units have been sold, but a 40% increase certainly isn't anything to scoff at.
Have you picked up a Mate 20 Pro for yourself yet?
October 22, 2018 — None of Huawei's Mate 20 phones will be sold in the U.S.
We weren't expecting Huawei to launch any of its Mate 20 smartphones on U.S. carriers, but similar to the Mate 9 and Mate 10 Pro, we were looking forward to at least one model making its way to the States in the form of an unlocked variant.
According to a new report from , that won't be happening this year.
Speaking to the publication, a spokesperson for Huawei said:
We are not planning to sell the Mate 20 series in the U.S. While international variants of the Mate 20 series may be available on some U.S. online retail sites, we encourage individuals to carefully read the details about the warranty and network compatibility before purchasing.
In other words, while you'll probably be able to find the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro somewhere on Amazon, they won't be covered by a warranty and might not have the proper bands to take full advantage of your carrier's network.
All the big details
Check out our hands-on coverage
As mentioned above, the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro are the biggest and most impressive handsets of this entire lineup. As such, we spent a good deal of time with both phones to get an idea for how they work and feel ahead of our full review.
The Mate 20 features an extremely small waterdrop-style notch with great specs across the board, but the real star of the show is the Mate 20 Pro. Its triple rear camera package is one of the most capable we've ever seen, it's using Huawei's own take on Face ID, and the display glass is curved over the sides to mimic something you'd find on a Samsung Galaxy or Note phone.
We need to reserve any final judgment for the final review, but right now, things are looking mighty good for Huawei.
Here are the Mate 20 + Mate 20 Pro specs
Speaking of specs, both the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro have plenty of these to dive into.
Want a fast processor? The Kirin 980 is a best. Need lots of RAM? How's 6GB sound?
Check out the full rundown here
The Mate 20 Lite is the most affordable of the bunch
If you don't want to spend a ton of cash on a new phone but still want the Huawei experience, the Mate 20 Lite should be at the very top of your radar.
Announced in late August during IFA 2018, the Huawei Mate 20 Lite comes equipped with a 6.3-inch Full HD display, Kirin 710 processor, dual 20MP + 2MP rear cameras, and a pretty solid 3,750 mAh battery.
The phone isn't quite as impressive as what you'll find with the Mate 20 Pro, but with a starting price of just £379, it offers a tremendous amount of value.
And then there's the ginormous Mate 20 X
Among all of the Mate 20 phones, perhaps the most eye-catching is the Mate 20 X.
This phone came as a complete surprise during Huawei's announcement event for the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro, and its biggest standout feature is easily its ginormous 7.2-inch display.
The Mate 20 X also has the powerful Kirin 980 CPU, a ridiculous 5,000 mAh battery (the Note 9 has a 4,000 mAh pack, for comparison), and can be used with an optional gaming grip to essentially turn it into an Android-powered Nintendo Switch. This thing's crazy.
The Mate 20 Pro's camera package is insane
A big focus for the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro are the cameras, and for good reason. Both handsets have three rear cameras, but the combo on the Mate 20 Pro is what really has our attention.
The main camera is a wide-angle 40MP sensor with an 1/1.8 aperture. This is joined by a 3x telephoto 8MP camera, and unlike the P20 Pro, the Mate 20 Pro ditches a monochrome third sensor in favor of an ultra-wide 20MP one.
This combination of sensors should allow for some truly incredible photographs, potentially going on par or besting what you'll find on the Google Pixel 3.
Huawei's got two different notch styles
Although the Mate 20 Pro is the most powerful of all these phones, it actually has the biggest notch. Inside that notch is not only the front-facing camera, but also the earpiece and helpful sensors that allow Huawei's take on Face ID to work.
The regular Mate 20 lacks those additional sensors, but as such, has a much smaller notch in the waterdrop style we've been seeing from some other OEMs.
The new colors are simply gorgeous
Huawei's been dabbling with new and exciting colors for its past few smartphones, and with the Mate 20, that's no different.
The Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro are available in a total of four colors, including Black, Twilight, Midnight Blue, and Emerald. The Twilight color is the same one that was introduced on the P20 series earlier this year, but Midnight Blue and Emerald are brand-new and feature a subtle texture underneath the glass that helps reduce fingerprints and add a big of welcome grip.
A note on U.S. availability
If you follow the tech world, you'll know that the U.S. government and Huawei aren't on the best of terms. As such, you won't see any of these phones sold on wireless carriers here in the States.
Huawei previously sold official unlocked variants of the Mate 9 and Mate 10 Pro here in the United States, but that's changing this year with the Mate 20 series.
On October 22, spoke with a Huawei spokesperson that said:
We are not planning to sell the Mate 20 series in the U.S. While international variants of the Mate 20 series may be available on some U.S. online retail sites, we encourage individuals to carefully read the details about the warranty and network compatibility before purchasing.
Here's when and where you can buy the phones
Interested in buying any of the new Mate 20 phones? Here's what you need to know.
Updated October 17, 2018: Refreshed this guide now that all of the Mate 20 series has been revealed.
Following up on last year's Mate 10 series, Huawei's cranking things up to, well, 20, with its all-new Huawei Mate 20 family. There are a total of four phones in this year's lineup, but the two you'll care about the most are the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro.
We've got a lot to dive into with this guide, so without further ado, here's everything you need to know about the Huawei Mate 20 series!
The Latest Mate 20 News
January 18, 2019 — Huawei Mate 20 Pro receives DxOMark score of 109
It's no secret that the Huawei Mate 20 Pro has an impressive camera setup, by now that the folks at DxOMark have officially reviewed it, we can see how it compares on a technical level to the other devices it's tested.
As you can tell by the headline, the Mate 20 Pro received an overall score of 109. That ties it directly with the Huawei P20 Pro and puts it a step above the iPhone XS Max and Pixel 3 which have scores of 105 and 101, respectively.
DxOMark praised the Mate 20 Pro for its "outstanding image performance", "excellent zoom capabilities", and more. Some finer textures weren't rendered as naturally as they could be, but overall, this is further evidence that Huawei knows what it's doing when it comes to cameras.
October 31, 2018 — Mate 20 Pro breaks Huawei's pre-order record in Western Europe by 40%
Although the Mate 20 Pro won't be sold in the United States, it's been extremely popular in other parts of the world even during its initial pre-order state. In fact, Huawei recently confirmed that the phone topped its previous pre-order sales numbers by 40% over in Western Europe.
The P20 Pro was previously Huawei's most pre-ordered phone for its first 10 days of availability, but the Mate 20 Pro has already overtaken it. It's unclear exactly how many units have been sold, but a 40% increase certainly isn't anything to scoff at.
Have you picked up a Mate 20 Pro for yourself yet?
October 22, 2018 — None of Huawei's Mate 20 phones will be sold in the U.S.
We weren't expecting Huawei to launch any of its Mate 20 smartphones on U.S. carriers, but similar to the Mate 9 and Mate 10 Pro, we were looking forward to at least one model making its way to the States in the form of an unlocked variant.
According to a new report from , that won't be happening this year.
Speaking to the publication, a spokesperson for Huawei said:
We are not planning to sell the Mate 20 series in the U.S. While international variants of the Mate 20 series may be available on some U.S. online retail sites, we encourage individuals to carefully read the details about the warranty and network compatibility before purchasing.
In other words, while you'll probably be able to find the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro somewhere on Amazon, they won't be covered by a warranty and might not have the proper bands to take full advantage of your carrier's network.
All the big details
Check out our hands-on coverage
As mentioned above, the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro are the biggest and most impressive handsets of this entire lineup. As such, we spent a good deal of time with both phones to get an idea for how they work and feel ahead of our full review.
The Mate 20 features an extremely small waterdrop-style notch with great specs across the board, but the real star of the show is the Mate 20 Pro. Its triple rear camera package is one of the most capable we've ever seen, it's using Huawei's own take on Face ID, and the display glass is curved over the sides to mimic something you'd find on a Samsung Galaxy or Note phone.
We need to reserve any final judgment for the final review, but right now, things are looking mighty good for Huawei.
Here are the Mate 20 + Mate 20 Pro specs
Speaking of specs, both the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro have plenty of these to dive into.
Want a fast processor? The Kirin 980 is a best. Need lots of RAM? How's 6GB sound?
Check out the full rundown here
The Mate 20 Lite is the most affordable of the bunch
If you don't want to spend a ton of cash on a new phone but still want the Huawei experience, the Mate 20 Lite should be at the very top of your radar.
Announced in late August during IFA 2018, the Huawei Mate 20 Lite comes equipped with a 6.3-inch Full HD display, Kirin 710 processor, dual 20MP + 2MP rear cameras, and a pretty solid 3,750 mAh battery.
The phone isn't quite as impressive as what you'll find with the Mate 20 Pro, but with a starting price of just £379, it offers a tremendous amount of value.
And then there's the ginormous Mate 20 X
Among all of the Mate 20 phones, perhaps the most eye-catching is the Mate 20 X.
This phone came as a complete surprise during Huawei's announcement event for the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro, and its biggest standout feature is easily its ginormous 7.2-inch display.
The Mate 20 X also has the powerful Kirin 980 CPU, a ridiculous 5,000 mAh battery (the Note 9 has a 4,000 mAh pack, for comparison), and can be used with an optional gaming grip to essentially turn it into an Android-powered Nintendo Switch. This thing's crazy.
The Mate 20 Pro's camera package is insane
A big focus for the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro are the cameras, and for good reason. Both handsets have three rear cameras, but the combo on the Mate 20 Pro is what really has our attention.
The main camera is a wide-angle 40MP sensor with an 1/1.8 aperture. This is joined by a 3x telephoto 8MP camera, and unlike the P20 Pro, the Mate 20 Pro ditches a monochrome third sensor in favor of an ultra-wide 20MP one.
This combination of sensors should allow for some truly incredible photographs, potentially going on par or besting what you'll find on the Google Pixel 3.
Huawei's got two different notch styles
Although the Mate 20 Pro is the most powerful of all these phones, it actually has the biggest notch. Inside that notch is not only the front-facing camera, but also the earpiece and helpful sensors that allow Huawei's take on Face ID to work.
The regular Mate 20 lacks those additional sensors, but as such, has a much smaller notch in the waterdrop style we've been seeing from some other OEMs.
The new colors are simply gorgeous
Huawei's been dabbling with new and exciting colors for its past few smartphones, and with the Mate 20, that's no different.
The Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro are available in a total of four colors, including Black, Twilight, Midnight Blue, and Emerald. The Twilight color is the same one that was introduced on the P20 series earlier this year, but Midnight Blue and Emerald are brand-new and feature a subtle texture underneath the glass that helps reduce fingerprints and add a big of welcome grip.
A note on U.S. availability
If you follow the tech world, you'll know that the U.S. government and Huawei aren't on the best of terms. As such, you won't see any of these phones sold on wireless carriers here in the States.
Huawei previously sold official unlocked variants of the Mate 9 and Mate 10 Pro here in the United States, but that's changing this year with the Mate 20 series.
On October 22, spoke with a Huawei spokesperson that said:
We are not planning to sell the Mate 20 series in the U.S. While international variants of the Mate 20 series may be available on some U.S. online retail sites, we encourage individuals to carefully read the details about the warranty and network compatibility before purchasing.
Interested in buying any of the new Mate 20 phones? Here's what you need to know.
- Mate 20 Lite: Available for purchase now from Carphone Warehouse, Vodafone, and EE for £379.
- Mate 20 X: Available October 26 for €899.
- Mate 20: Pre-orders likely opening soon; starts at €899.
- Mate 20 Pro: Pre-orders likely opening soon; starts at €1049.
Updated October 17, 2018: Refreshed this guide now that all of the Mate 20 series has been revealed.