Huawei has just announced that their latest flagship smartphone is making its way over to Europe and it's actually got us quite excited.
The Huawei Mate 50 Pro is an all-singing, all-dancing handset with loads of up-to-date features that rival those found on some of the best phones in the world including the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Of course, because it's a Huawei phone, there are immediately some downsides that could put you off buying it like the fact that you won't be able to use Google apps on it, and it still doesn't come with 5G. But in saying that, there are a few elements that make the Huawei Mate P50 Pro sound like it could match up to or even trump Samsung's flagship.
Firstly, let's talk about design. The Huawei Mate 50 Pro looks stunning with its ring-shaped camera module and near-perfect symmetry, it's a lot less harsh than the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra opting for careful curves instead of sharp edges. You'll be able to buy it in one of three colours, black or silver glass, or if you're more into something that stands out, you will be able to buy it with orange vegan leather.
The camera system is what really makes this stand out against the rest of the phone crowd though. Packing a 50MP Ultra Aperture camera, a 54MP telephoto camera and a 13MP ultra wide-angle camera, it sounds very promising but what makes this smartphone snapper really special is the fact that the main lens uses the first-ever 10-size adjustable physical aperture.
According to Huawei, it will mean that in Auto mode, it will adjust itself to match the size of the aperture with the specific scene and shooting scenario, while if you make use of it in the Pro mode, you'll get more manual control over the depth of field and degree of blur. From what we've seen it could make quite a significant difference to the quality of the end results, although naturally, we will have to wait to get our hands on it to put that to the test.
Elsewhere, you'll find a brand new low battery Emergency Mode which switches itself on when the battery level hits 1% and can supposedly extend the life by 3 hours on standby or 12 minutes of call time. Again something that could make the world of difference, especially in more desperate situations.
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Plus there's a brand new super tough glass named Kulun which Huawei claims is 10 times more durable than before, as well as rock-solid IP68 water and dust protection so you won't need to worry about any little accidents. It's worth saying that Samsung Galaxy handsets do compare well there.
But even when it comes to software, Huawei has introduced some interesting new features that you won't find on Samsung Galaxy smartphones, including the SuperHub. It allows you to drag and drop content from different kinds of apps and hold it on a shelf, making it super easy to copy and paste text and images across different apps, say into an email or PowerPoint presentation. You'll even be able to use this to drag and drop content from your phone over to your Huawei laptop which will be seriously handy.
Although we don't know when or if the Huawei Mate 50 Pro will hit UK shores, we do know that prices will start from €1299 in Europe (about £1150) for the model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Keep your eyes peeled for more information to come on this!
Yasmine is the former Reviews Writer for T3, so she's been knee-deep in the latest tech products for reviewing and curating into the best buying guides since she started in 2019. She keeps a finger on the pulse when it comes to the most exciting and innovative tech – and since departing has also held a role as Digital Spy's Tech Editor. In her free time, you'll catch her travelling the globe – the perks of being a freelance tech expert – tending to her plants when at home and, but of course, planning her next big trip.
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