What you need to know
- Huawei will launch the Mate 40 on October 22nd, the company shared on Twitter.
- It will be the second of its Mate series to launch without a Google Play certification.
- The company has been battered by U.S. trade restrictions all through 2019 and 2020.
Huawei's next big phone, the Mate 40, is launching on October 22nd this year, the company announced. It will be the second phone in the Mate line to come without Google ever since the company was restricted from trading with the Android creator in May 2019.
Huawei says it'll be coming with "unprecedented power", a brag about its Kirin 9000 processor that will be shipping with this phone when it launches. While we don't have as much detail about the Mate 40 as we did pre-launch about phones like the OnePlus or Pixel, we still know a fair bit.
Like other Mates, it'll have a powerful triple/quad rear camera set up depending on whether you're getting the Mate 40 or Mate 40 Pro. Both phones will be slightly different in the size department. The Mate 40 is also said to be a 6.4-inch phone with an OLED 90Hz FHD+ display, while the Pro will be larger at 6.7-inches with a waterfall display for a bezel-free look. Of course, the Kirin 9000 will be on board. Other things like battery size, storage tiers, and so on are still unknown.
Despite all this rumored hardware excellence (borne out by its history), Huawei's previous phones have been neutered outside of China sales-wise due to the lack of software. In effect, they're the anti Pixel, showing that no matter how powerful and beautiful your phone is — you can't compete without good software that people need.
Huawei Mate 30
The Mate 30 was the first proper Huawei flagship to ship without Google's software on board. The hardware remains excellent even in 2020, but the lack of the Play Store and Google apps will be a deal-breaker for many.
