Chinese manufacturer Huawei is a well-known brand, and its Mate series has been a fan favorite for ages now. But it saw massive US sanctions by the former 45th President of the US.
The company did not release any phones due to the sanctions last year, but it’s back with a bang in 2022.
The Mate 50 series has beaten Apple – a day ahead of the iPhone 14 unveiling – by revealing support for satellite connectivity via China’s Beidou constellation. This feature will let users send texts and location information over satellite, but there’s a catch! Users won’t be able to receive messages via this medium.
This functionality does allow for communication in areas without no or weak cellular signals.
Interestingly, the rumor mill was abuzz that Apple’s next iPhone 14 model would feature satellite communication. Even the iPhone 13 series was supposed to get it, but it was delayed.
Apple leaker and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in his medium blog that “MediaTek and Huawei’s efforts further prove that satellite communication will likely eventually become a must-have feature of smartphones, including the iPhone.”
Huawei Mate 50 Pro, Mate 50 RS, and Mate 50 Specifications:
Coming to the specifications
The Mate 50 Pro features a 6.74-inch FHD+ 120Hz OLED curved panel, a 4,700mAh battery, and 256GB or 512GB of storage which is expandable via an NM card.
In the camera department, the phone packs a 13MP ultrawide camera with 120-degree field-of-view, autofocus, and a 64MP 3.5x periscope camera. As for the front camera, there’s a 13MP ultrawide camera and a 3D ToF sensor, all housed in a wide notch.
Huawei has also launched a Mate 50 RS Porsche Design model with a ceramic build and a similar camera housing design identical to the Mate 40 variant, which was launched in 2020. Besides the 64MP periscope camera, instead of the 48MP 3.5x periscope shooter, it can also shoot macro shots and videos.
There’s also a third option, which is much cheaper. The vanilla Mate 50 has a flagship SoC, IP68 rating, and variable aperture tech; for the cutbacks, there’s a a 4,460mAh battery, a 6.7-inch OLED display with 90Hz instead of 120Hz, and a flat-screen.
The phone has a 50MP variable aperture primary camera, a 13MP ultrawide camera, and a 12MP 5x periscope camera instead of an ultra high-resolution 3.5x periscope shooter. There’s no 3D ToF camera with the 13MP ultrawide selfie shooter.
