Huawei which is the latest manufacturer to join Nexus program has unveiled a brand new smartphone earlier today. Similar to the new Nexus 6P, the new Huawei Mate 8 is also a 6" phablet constructed from aluminum but this time around, Huawei has reduced the bezels on the front to make the Mate 8 easier to hold. However, with the new Huawei Mate 8, the company is focusing on it's performance as this is the first device to be powered by Huawei's own Kirin 950 SoC which is fabricated by HiSilicon.

Huawei Mate 8 Key Specifications:

• HiSilicon Kirin 950 SoC
• 3/4GB LPDDR4 RAM
• 2.5D 6" 1080P IPS LCD
• 32/64/128GB expandable storage
• 16MP rear camera with OIS
• 8MP front camera
• 4,000mAh battery
• EmotionUI 4.0
• 157.1 x 80.6 x 7.9mm (185g)

The inclusion of the new octa core Kirin 950 SoC is probably the biggest change from it's predecessor, the Huawei Ascend Mate 7. Other hardware features like the 6" 1080P display and the storage configurations remain the same. Huawei didn't include a fancy new USB Type-C port on the new Mate 8 but it did cleaned up the design and improved the camera optics. The rear camera is now up from 13MP to a 16MP Sony sensor that features OIS and the front camera has also been bumped up to 8MP. Finally, the rear mounted fingerprint scanner is still there but it is now a round ring like the Nexus 6P.

Huawei says that the new Mate 8 will go on sale in China early next year and will be previewed during CES 2016. As for pricing, the new Huawei Mate 8 starts at ¥2,999 (~MYR 1,988) for the 32GB model with 3GB of RAM and ¥3,699 (~MYR 2,452) and ¥4,399 (MYR 2,916) respectively for the 64GB and 128GB models with 4GB of RAM. Expect to see the Huawei Mate 8 arrive in Malaysia early next year but don't expect it to be that lucrative by then as Samsung, HTC, and even Huawei might even unveil an even better device.


ORIGINAL SOURCE: ANANDTECH