Huawei’s Mate line of flagship smartphones has always been a showcase for mobile phone innovation, and this year’s Mate 50 Pro continues that tradition, introducing a 50-megapixel Ultra Aperture camera with a 10-way adjustable physical aperture a. The Mate 50 Pro was launched in China on September 6th and is now available in the international market.
Huawei continues to suffer under the weight of US sanctions, which explains the lack of Google Mobile Services and lack of 5G support in the Mate 50 Pro’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset. The Mate 50 Pro also uses Chinese-made Kunlun Glass instead of Gorilla Glass to protect the 6.74-inch 120Hz OLED display.
Compared to the Chinese version of the Mate 50 Pro, the international model runs EMUI 13, based on open-source Android, rather than HarmonyOS 3.0, and lacks satellite news support due to the use of the Beidou system.
This is how the Mate 50 Pro fares against its predecessor, the Mate 40 Pro:
| Huawei Mate 50 Pro | Huawei Mate 40 Pro | |
| Dimensions | 75.5mm x 162.1mm x 8.5mm | 75.5mm x 162.9mm x 9.1mm (glass back)/9.5mm (leather back) |
| weight | 209 g (glass back), 205 g (vegan leather back) | 212g |
| Colours | silver, black (glass back), orange (vegan leather back) | silver, white, black, green, yellow |
| advertisement | 6.74″ OLED, 2616 x 1212 pixels (428 ppi), 120 Hz refresh, 300 Hz touch sampling, 10-bit color (1.07 billion colors), 100% DCI-P3 | 6.76″ OLED, 2772 x 1344 pixels (456 ppi), 90 Hz refresh, 240 Hz touch sampling, 8-bit color (16.7 M colors) |
| Dust and water resistance | IP68 | IP68 |
| chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 4G | Kirin 9000 5G |
| R.A.M. | 8GB | 8GB |
| Internal memory | 256GB, 512GB | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB |
| External storage | Huawei NM slot (shared with SIM) | Huawei NM slot (shared with SIM) |
| operating system | Open source Android + EMUI 13 | Android 10 + EMUI 11 |
| Google Mobile Services | no | no |
| reversing cameras | 50 MP Ultra Aperture (f/1.4-f/4, OIS) • 13 MP Ultra Wide Angle (f/2.2) • 64 MP Telephoto (f/3.5, OIS) | 50 MP Ultra Vision (f/1.9) • 20 MP Cine (f/1.8) • 12 MP Telephoto (f/3.4, OIS) |
| front cameras | 13 MP ultra wide angle (f/2.4) • 3D depth-sensing camera | 13 MP Ultra Vision Selfie (f/2.4) • 3D depth-sensing camera |
| battery capacity | 4700mAh | 4400mAh |
| Charging the battery | 66W wired • 50W wireless • 7.5W reverse wireless | 66W wired • 50W wireless • 5W reverse wireless |
| Price | €1299 (8GB/256GB, Silver/Black) • €1399 (8GB/512GB, Orange Leather) | €1199 |
Available in silver or black with a glass back, or orange with a vegan leather back. The Mate 50 Pro offers flagship IP68 dust and water resistance, with the glass-backed versions being certified for submersion in up to two meters of water for up to 30 minutes, and the leather-backed version being submersible up to 6 meters in the same Time. Huawei also claims a five-star glass drop rating from Swiss SGS for the Kunlun glass screen.
The main feature, however, is the 50MP Ultra Aperture camera, which uses six blades and 10 positions to vary the size of the camera’s aperture – from f/1.4 to f/4.0. Auto mode chooses the aperture for you, while Pro mode gives you the exact depth of field you need.
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The other rear cameras are a 13 MP ultra wide-angle/macro camera (f/2.2) and a 64 MP periscope telephoto camera (f/3.5) with 3.5x optical zoom and optical image stabilization (OIS). The front camera, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle (f/2.4) unit, occupies a notch in the screen along with a 3D depth-sensing camera for face authentication. There is also an in-screen fingerprint sensor.
The Mate 50 Pro is powered by a 4700mAh battery and supports 66W wired charging, 50W wireless charging and 7.5W reverse wireless charging.
The Huawei Mate 50 is €1,299 (~$1,250 / £1,160) in silver or black with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, or €1,399 (~$1,350 / £1,250) in orange with 8GB / 512GB.
Huawei has not given any information on the international availability of other variants such as the Mate 50, 50E or Mate 50 RS Prosche Design.