The devices were unveiled at a glittering event at the SunBet Arena. Photo: Huawei
Tech giant Huawei has taken innovation to the next level with the launch of its new flagship smartphone, the Mate50 Pro, the FreeBuds 5i and MatePad SE 10.4in.
The Huawei devices were unveiled at a glittering event at the SunBet Arena at Times Square in Pretoria.
Huawei also celebrated the fourth anniversary of its AppGallery in South Africa.
It was the new Mate50 Pro that grabbed all the attention on the night.
The Mate50 Pro is equipped with a range of innovative technologies, breaking new ground and expanding the scope of what users can expect from a smartphone.
In addition to the signature Mate Series design language of iconic symmetry and Space Ring Design, the Mate50 Pro makes use of the Clous de Paris step-patterned embossing design for the first time ever.
This is often used in luxurious wristwatches, jewellery and other accessories.
The Mate series features the heritage of always innovating and bringing the latest technologies and the Mate50 Pro is no different, Akhram Mohamed, vice-president of operations at Huawei Consumer Business Group said when speaking to The Citizen.
“Another incredible aspect of the Mate50 Pro device is the launch of Kunlun Glass. This allows for ten times better drop resistance. This is a huge problem for most people, so dropping your phone is no longer an issue.”
The Mate 50 Pro features a symmetrical body design with a prominent aluminium alloy camera ring array on the back.
Inside the ring, users will find a powerful rear triple camera consisting of a 50MP primary sensor, a 13MP ultra-wide lens and a 64MP periscope telephoto camera.
Amongst its industry-first features, the Mate50 Pro also packs an Ultra Aperture XMAGE Camera, which boasts the first-ever 10-scale adjustable physical aperture and the most versatile photography capabilities ever seen on a Mate smartphone.
The smart aperture adjusts to match the aperture size with the scene and shooting scenario identified in Auto mode. Switching to Professional mode allows you to manually adjust the depth of field and degree of blur.
The Ultra Aperture Camera comes equipped with an F1.4 large aperture, working with the XD Fusion Pro image engine and high light intake to set the image brightness, light and shadow details, as well as cold and warm comparisons.
The Mate50 Pro is armoured by the ultra-reliable “Kunlun Glass”, which boosts drop resistance by 10 times.
Huawei said the “Kunlun Glass” consists of 10 quadrillion-level nanocrystals, the result of composite ion strengthening, which make it more resilient and drop resistant as verified by the first-ever five-star glass drop resistance certification from Switzerland’s SGS.
The smartphone supports IP68-rated water resistance of up to 6 metres underwater, allowing it to easily handle wet and dusty environments.
The Mate50 comes with a 6.74-inch FullView Display, a screen resolution of 2616 x 1212 pixels and a high refresh rate of 120Hz and 1440Hz PWM dimming, to reduce flickering and relieve eye fatigue.
Battery life is of significant importance to smartphones and the Mate50 Pro does not fall short.
It packs a 4700 mAh battery and offers 66W wired SuperCharge and 50W wireless fast-charging solutions to strike an optimal balance between battery life, fast charging and portability.
“Moreover, with an innovative low-battery Emergency Mode that activates when the battery level falls to 1%, SuperEnergy Boosting enables the Mate50 Pro to extend standby time by three hours or 12 minutes of call time,” Huawei said.
The SuperStorage feature removes duplicate files in an imperceptible way and compresses rarely used apps.
“This preserves up to 20GB of space (on a phone with 256GB of ROM), leaving more room for the abundance of photos and videos that today’s users capture.”
The Mate50 Pro has two different types of rear covers, glass and vegan leather.
The glass cover is available in two colours, Silver and Black.
The vegan leather version comes in Orange which Huawei said is inspired by the “radiant orange rays of the sun.”
Being the first smartphone from Huawei to run on EMUI 13, which streamlines daily interactions with an effortless one-touch navigation, the software introduces the Super Device SuperHub feature, which is an innovative file transfer capability.
Users can simply press and hold on any text, pictures, videos and files and drag to the SuperHub’s floating window to store the files temporarily.
They can then switch to another application, select the files within the SuperHub for a seamless cut and paste which can also be used for multi-files transfer between their smartphone, tablet and PC.
The Mate50 Pro comes pre-installed with the Huawei AppGallery which has become the third-largest app marketplace in the world.
It boasts a wide selection of global and local apps, is available in more than 170 countries and has over 580 million active monthly users.
Pre-orders for the Huawei Mate 50 Pro went live on Thursday, 26 January 2023, and it will be available from 1 February 2023.
In South Africa, Huawei will offer the Mate 50 Pro with 256GB internal storage in black or silver with both models starting at R24,999.
The Vegan orange is only available with a storage capacity of 512GB with a price tag of R26,999.
Customers can pay a deposit of R1,000 until 31 January 2023 to reserve their unit which will give them a discount of R2,499 on the 256GB model or R2,699 on the 512GB version.
Each pre-order purchase of the Mate 50 Pro also comes with a Huawei Watch GT Runner smartwatch, valued at R7,499.
Launching alongside the Mate50 Pro, Huawei also introduced the new FreeBuds 5i and MatePad SE 10.4-inch, which will be available for retail in South Africa in the coming months.
Huawei also introduced a new wearable called the Huawei Watch Buds.
Mohamed said wearable have taken the market by storm.
“The Huawei Watch Buds is a smartwatch that still gives you the incredible performance and the battery life, but embedded under the screen is Huawei FreeBuds with noise cancellation, so you have the best of both worlds.”
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