This is the new design of the Huawei Mate 30 Pro. On the front it is all screen except for a small notch.
On the back, it looks like a compact camera, which makes sense given Huawei's photo expertise and because it is rumored to have “breakthrough” video features. Love them or hate them, Huawei is making some excellent iron lately.
At least according to master rumormonger Ice Universe, who usually is spot-on on his predictions. In a tweet, the galactic cat pointed out that he is “looking forward to a breakthrough in video shooting”. If this means that Huawei has implemented its best-of-class depth of field and low-lighting photographic abilities into the Mate 30 Pro’s video mode, users will be very happy.
But for now, we only know for sure how the phone will look, thanks to these exclusive renders by @onleaks for Indian tech site Pricebaba. The renders are in line with a recently leaked marketing poster made public by Ice Universe. I’m digging the back design. Instead of doing the ugly square pirate patch found in early renders of the iPhone 11 and the Pixel 4, Huawei has chosen to embrace a symmetric camera look that reminds me of the Canon Ixus compacts, but more elegant and ultra-thin. I like the sharply cut top and bottom ends too.
According to the rumors, the camera module will have two 40-megapixel sensors, plus an 8-megapixel telephoto lens and a Time-of-Flight sensor capable of capturing three-dimensional information of the scene to make depth of field effects.
The first 40MP sensor will allegedly have a lens with variable aperture from f/1.4 to f/1.6, with a RYYB pixel layout, same as the current king of the photographic hill, the P30 Pro. According to Sony — the sensor manufacturer — the RYYB layout collects 40% more light than standard RGGB sensors. A RYYB sensor uses can capture there times more light as a standard RGGB sensor, since the Y pixels are made of two red and green pixels each.
The second 40MP sensor is the same as the first, but with a 120-degree ultra-wide lens. The telephoto will offer a 5x zoom, according to the rumors posted by reliable leaker @Onleaks. On the front the rumor is that there will be three sensors, perhaps to enable facial id and selfie depth of field effects.
The display — which is a curved OLED similar to the one used in Samsung Galaxy phones — is estimated to be a whopping 6.6 inches, again according to @Onleaks. The entire package will be allegedly powered by the latest HiSilicon Kirin 990 chip, which has a built-in modem.
The phone will include a 4,500mAh battery with 25W wireless charging and fast 55W wired charging. It’s all pretty solid — except there is no headphone jack. The bottom has a USB Type-C pro, microphone, speaker, and the SIM card tray.
It is expected that the Mate 30 Pro will run an open source version of Android. Google confirmed that it has not licensed its apps for pre-installation in the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro following the U.S. Department of Commerce’s “Entity List” that bans American companies from doing business with the Chinese company.
Mate 30 users will be able to download the apps on the internet like they do in China — where Google apps are not included in Huawei terminals — installing an app shop like Aptoide, Google Play, or directly from any APK repository, like APKmirror.com. It’s a nuisance, but an acceptable one.
We will know more about the Mate 30 line when it is announced on September 19 in Munich, Germany.
