Cover (Image: Huawei)

What to know about the Chinese tech giant's upcoming products, after its split from Google

The Mobile World Congress 2020 may have been cancelled due to fears over the coronavirus outbreak, but Huawei pushed through with its key launches for the year yesterday via a live stream from Barcelona.

The lineup included the MatePad Pro 5G tablet, the refreshed MateBook X Pro—which now comes in green—and Sound X, a Bluetooth-enabled smart speaker. But the headliner was definitely the Mate Xs, the second edition to Huawei’s highly-anticipated foldable phone that launched in China last year.

Here’s what we know about the new launches:

Tatler Asia
Above (Image: Huawei)

1. Huawei Mate Xs

While the highly-anticipated Mate X—Huawei’s answer to the Samsung Galaxy Fold—has yet to be released outside China, the Chinese tech giant has announced its successor, the Mate Xs which has been confirmed for a global release.

At first glance, the two phones look almost identical and that’s because nothing has changed on the outside. The new Mate Xs features the same design, which boasts a 6.6-inch main display and 6.38-inch rear display when folded, and seamlessly unfolds inwards into an 8-inch main display; OLED screen; interstellar blue shell; and Leica Quad camera.

The difference, however, lies on the inside, as the Mate Xs gets an upgrade to the Kirin 990, a 5G SoC (system on chip) that is faster, more powerful and takes up less space compared to the previous Kirin 980.

The Mate Xs will also run on Huawei’s own EMUI 10 operating system and use its own AppGallery, due to the US government’s entity list ban that prohibits US companies, including Google from collaborating with the Chinese tech giant.

The Mate Xs is expected to arrive in Singapore in March.

Tatler Asia
Above (Image: Huawei)

2. MatePad Pro 5G

A 5G version of its 10.8-inch flagship tablet, the MatePad Pro 5G features a 90 per cent screen-to-body ratio and 4.9mm-thin bezels, as well as a 13-megapixel rear camera and 8-megapixel punch-hole front camera. While its attachable Smart Keyboard and M-pencil have many Apple fans touting it the iPad Pro clone, its specifications might be much closer to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 5G.

Running Huawei’s Kirin 990 5G platform and EMUI 10 operating system, this tablet’s key features include 27w wireless charging and up to 7.5w reverse wireless charging; seamless cross-device collaboration with your smartphone and multi-window support.

MatePad Pro 5G features 8gb RAM with the option of 256gb or 512 bg ROM and comes in orange and forest green. It is expected to launch in Singapore, though details have yet to be revealed.

Tatler Asia
Above (Image: Huawei)

3. MateBook X Pro

Like the Huawei Mate Xs, not much has changed for the refreshed MateBook X Pro on the outside, other than the addition of a new Emerald Green shade. The 14.6mm-thin flagship laptop still boasts a 13.9-inch touch-screen display with 91 per cent screen-to-body ratio, embedded fingerprint scanner, and pop-up webcam, but with Intel’s 10th Gen processors.

The highest-powered option go up to the Core i7, with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. It also comes with Nvidia’s GeForce MX250 graphics card. The laptop will be available in Singapore for the first time, but details have yet to be released.

Tatler Asia
Above (Image: Huawei)

4. Sound X

Co-engineered with French luxury audio specialist Devialet, Sound X appears to be Huawei’s answer to Apple’s HomePod with its rounded cylindrical shape. Equipped with a quad-core processor, 512mb RAM and 8gm internal storage, the Sound X also packs a 60w dual subwoofer with 360-degree surround sound, utilising Devialet’s signature “Push-Push” configuration to cancel vibrations while offering powerful bass.

In terms of smart home integration, Huawei’s Xiaoyi voice assistant is only available in China, making its smart features unusable in other regions. According to the company, this feature will be integrated at a later date. There is no news yet on its availability outside of China, besides an expected launch in Europe this year.

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