Huawei announces the launch of the Mate 50 series in Europe. Romania gets only the Mate 50 Pro model

Huawei has officially announced the launch of the Huawei Mate 50 series in Europe. In Romania, only the Huawei Mate 50 Pro model will be officially launched for the first time, in two variants. A “standard” one, with a glass back, and a more special one with an orange vegan leather back. Although we still don’t have official prices for the new phones, nor a concrete release date, the Mate 50 Pro will arrive in local stores in the very near future.

Mate 50 Pro launches in Europe with a similar configuration to China

In terms of hardware specs, the Mate 50 Pro in Europe is similar to the one in China. We’re talking about the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-based configuration with 4G modem, 8GB RAM, 256 or 512GB internal storage and a 4700 mAh battery. Charging is 66W wired and 50W wireless, and there’s also wireless reverse charging for accessories like headphones or smartwatches.

The Mate 50 Pro’s screen, however, is a bit… unusual for 2022. That’s because although it has a 6.74″ diagonal and 2,616 x 1,212 pixel resolution, it comes with a notch at the top. It’s not very different from what Apple has used so far, but like the iPhone, it also has a definite purpose. The Mate 50 Pro is the only Android phone that still uses an advanced facial recognition system with 3D face scanning. Of course, there’s also an optical fingerprint sensor under the screen, for those who want that.

More interestingly, Huawei uses Kunlun Glass, not Corning’s American-made Gorilla Glass. Also, the water resistance is to the IP68 standard, but to a depth of 6 meters, not 1.5 meters as is the standard on other phones on the market.

Camera no longer Leica-branded, but benefits from a new system called XMAGE

The main camera uses a system called XMAGE that allows a variable aperture between f/1.4 and f/4.0 with ten intermediate steps. The 50-megapixel sensor also benefits from lens stabilisation and laser focusing. It is joined by a 3.5x optical zoom with 64 megapixel resolution, also stabilised, and a 13 megapixel sensor with ultra-wide lens. The front-facing camera is a relatively “mundane” 13-megapixel one.

Like Apple, Huawei also limits 4K shooting to 60 frames per second, even though other manufacturers in the market have had 8K or 4K shooting at 120 FPS for several years now.

Unfortunately, we don’t know concrete prices for Europe or Romania. However, we expect prices significantly higher than €1,000, somewhere in the price range at which the iPhone 14 Pro or Galaxy S22 Ultra have come in.