Recently crossing Apple as the second-largest smartphone brand, Huawei is all set to launch Mate 10 on October 16th, having it confirmed later via a tweet. Via other speculations, rather more credible sources, Huawei Mate 10 might come in three variants.
The Huawei Mate 10 is reportedly coming in four variants with three widely available including Mate 10 Standard, Lite, and Pro models while the forth could be a special edition for. All of these four are being reported to have code names this year – Alps, Rhone, Blanc and Marcel respectively.
If all these models are true to some extent, it unsurprisingly follows the current line up of Huawei Mate 9, Mate 9 Lite, Pro and the Porsche Design. Three models – standard, lite and pro are in circulation right now with speculated features but the fourth one is only referring to have a code name – Marcel, which is assumed to be like last year’s Porsche Design with all the Pro features but in more premium outfit.
Mate 10 Pro – The Blanc
Mate 10 Pro will be featuring the recently launched Kirin 970 system-on-chip with special powers to run AI at extreme levels. It will be sporting 6-inch large display with QHD+ resolution of 2880×1440 pixels. This absolutely makes it to adopt 18:9 aspect ratio which has gained momentum. However it could be either an IPS display or an AMOLED one as both are being reported occasionally – our guess is with the latter. But wait, the new Kirin 970 is reported to have only up to FHD+ or 2k resolution of 2160x1080p.
A slimmer bezel profile gives and edge to edge display with larger screen-to-body ratio as much as reportedly 89.89%. Huawei has already called it as an EntireView Display as its own term to refer. Expect it to carry a fingerprint scanner on its back. It’s also being reported to be as slim as 7.5mm with 4000mAh battery (or 4200mAh other reports).
The Pro variant is reported to be featuring an improved version of dual-camera configuraion of Huawei P10 with Leica branding. It’s supposed to feature f/1.6 large aperture lens like the one in LG V30. The front-facing camera will be an 8-megapixel unit.
Mate 10 Pro will feature LTE Category 16 and will include IP68 water and dust resistance (or IP67 according to other reports). Running Android 8.0 Oreo with EMUI 6.0, it will be shipping in at least two variants – 6GB+64GB and 6GB+128GB. Other reports suggest that there could be two more variants – 6GB+256GB and a whopping 8GB+256GB model.
Official Confirmation of Dual Camera Configraion
A video teaser was released earlier by Huawei Mobile Deutschland showing off a set of vibrant photographs supposedly taken with Mate 10. It also showed off the Leica branded rear dual-camera featuring 12-megapixel RGB sensor and a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor.
Mate 10 Standard – Code name: Alps
The standard edition is reported to have a 5.9-inch EntireView display but with more regular FHD 16:9 resolution. This edition is also reportedly having water and dust resistance and a same battery power as Pro – 4200mAh is being reported.
Mate 10 will also be featuring the same Kirin 970 chipset but might be shipping in some lower memory and storage packages. 4GB+64GB, 6GB+128GB and 6GB+256GB are the reported options. It will also be featuring similar dual-camera configuration as Pro with Leica branding and large f/1.6 lens aperture along side optical image stabilization.
In addition fingerprint scanner, the phone will be featuring facial and iris recognition.
Mate 10 Lite – Code name: Rhone
More recently the Mate 10 Lite variant started appearing in the wild. It may follow on the above models with lower specifications.
Update: Mate 10 Lite is now reported to power Kirin 659 chipset with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. It will supposedly be backed by a 3340mAh battery power. Quad-camera configuration is the prominent feature of this model with 16MP+2MP rear dual-camera and 13MP+2MP front dual-camera. It will not have Leica branding for sure but will support features like Portrait mode with bokeh effects.
Huawei Mate 10 Pricing
Mate 10 Standard (Alps) is reported to start from $650 to $850 for three variants of 4GB+64GB, 6GB+128GB and 6GB+256GB. The middle one is about to cost $744.
Mate 10 Pro (Blanc) will reportedly start selling at $835 base price and will go up to $1138 among four variations in memory and storage.
Update: Mate 10 Lite (Rhone) will cost $455 and to be available in blue, black and gold colors. It will start shipping a month later than the announcement on October 16th.
