Huawei’s flagship has a big brother, and a big price tag

By Harrison Kaminsky October 23, 2016

mate 9 pro long island curved screen specs price — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Rumors surrounding Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei’s upcoming flagship smartphone made rounds last month, as the company prepares for the Mate 9’s expected Nov. 3 announcement.

It may not be alone.

A new leak from Venturebeat reveals the Mate 9 — codenamed “Manhattan” — will have a big brother, aptly codenamed “Long Island,” which will be released as the Mate 9 Pro. The premium device will come with a curved screen to directly compete with Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge pairing,

While Digital Trends reported on Long Island’s existence last month, this is the first sighting of the device’s in-market name and specs details. With a 5.9-inch display, the Mate 9 Pro will feature a HiSilicon Kirin 960 SoC, 4GB of RAM, and internal memory starting at 64GB and going up to 256GB.

While the Mate 9 offers a top of the line 1080p full-HD display, the Mate 9 Pro takes the screen up to another level with 1,440 × 2,560 QHD.

As noted in Venturebeat, this level of resolution (generally considered overkill) “is being utilized to maximize the 9 Pro’s Daydream VR experience. Someone familiar with company plans said that only the Pro will offer the new Android 7.0 Nougat feature.”

As for cameras, both the Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro will feature the same dual-lens shooters as the Huawei P9 and P9 Plus, but the specs have “allegedly been improved.” Blass later tweeted that both phones’ cameras have 4x optical zoom.

The Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro are both expected for a Nov. 3 launch at 2 p.m. CET/9 a.m. ET in Munich, Germany, with the company opening up orders a few weeks later. There is no word whether the phones will be available for order in the United States.

The price tag is presumed to be $1,300. While the phone’s maxed-out specs deserve premium pricing, the cost is a drastic spike when compared to the price of other recent flagships. The Google Pixel XL and iPhone 7 Pro are currently selling for $769, and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is selling for $792.

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Harrison Kaminsky

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