ELECTRONICS

Huawei's Aluminium Mate 8

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei is a fast-growing presence in the international smartphone arena, with their market share growing at the same time Apple and Samsung cede ground.
27 April, 2016
While Huawei's handsets remain a niche product in many parts of the world, their combination of functionality combined with affordability has made them an appealing alternative to more expensive brands in many markets.
China is the largest smartphone market in the world, and as a Chinese company, Huawei has traditionally enjoyed an advantage among consumers there. The company's smartphone shipments jumped 44% to cross the threshold of 100 million in 2015; Huawei shipped 108 million smartphones last year, in large part thanks to sales in China as well as in Western Europe. The rise in domestic sales is even more impressive in comparison to other companies: in the span of just two quarters, Huawei jumped from fifth place in sales to first, passing Samsung, Xiaomi and Lenovo.
Huawei raised itself to the number three spot this quarter from its fourth position in 2015 Q1... there was a continued push on premium devices from its Ascend Mate 7, P-Series, and Honor portfolio. The shipments of mid-range and high-end phones accounted for 35.5% of its smartphone shipments in 2015 Q2. Huawei's Y-series sold briskly both inside and outside China, as a valuable low-cost option in many markets.
IDC
Smartphone Market Analysis, 2015 Q2
Part of Huawei's newfound success beyond China is its shift from budget models to mid-range and high-end devices, putting it into more direct competition with Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy. Its latest handsets also include the P9 (a £450/$650 flagship model whose main calling card is its dual rear camera) as well as the Mate 8. These two models seem intent on going toe-to-toe with premium large-screen rivals like the Google Nexus 6P (also manufactured by Huawei) and the Samsung Galaxy Note 5.
The all-aluminium Mate 8 is one of the best six-inch smartphones currently available, earning excellent reviews in large part because of its chart-topping battery life: the extra large capacity (of 4,000 milliampere hours, or mAh) battery can last an estimated 103 hours (assuming average daily use) and quickly recharged (just a half hour can be enough for one full day of use).
For the Mate 8, Huawei chose an aluminium unibody with a sandblasted finish, with chamfered and rounded edges softening the appearance of the phone (while also providing much needed extra grip and helping to prevent accidental damage). Though a direct competitor in the large-scale market, the Huawei Mate 8 still manages to be 4.2mm shorter than the Nexus 6P and 1mm shorter than the iPhone 6S Plus. Even still, it offers a larger screen than the 5.5in version offered by the iPhone.

Internally, the Mate 8's 2.3GHz Kirin 950 chipset has proven itself capable of outperforming both the iPhone 6S and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge in speed tests. The 1080 x 1920px, 368ppi display would qualify as "Retina resolution" according to Apple's standards, while the phone's Android 6.0 Marshmellow operating system is skinned with Huawei's native EmotionUI. Critics have praised the phone's hardware (particularly its fingerprint reader) but generally consider the phone's photo and video cameras its weak points.

Image from Android Police.
While the Mate 8 was a featured product in Huawei's presentations earlier this year, it will not be available in the United States. American customers will instead be able to purchase the GX8 model, although Huawei's growing presence in North America should mean more choices in future.
Banner image by Android Headlines.