Huawei Mate 30 Series Launch, 19 September: What to expect?

It’s around 24 hours until Huawei will be back in Germany for its launch event for the new Mate 30 series, which also marks the debut of the new 5G Kirin 990 chipset unveiled at IFA two weeks ago.

This year’s Mate unveiling is a little different in that there’s a cloud of uncertainty over whether the new phones will be released outside of China straight away, given the issues created by Donald Trump’s ongoing trade war with China.

As it stands, it appears the new phones would not be able to ship with Google services (Play Store, Google Pay, Drive, YouTube, Google Photos, Gmail etc) and while sideloading might be easy for hardcore fans, it simply won’t be viable to sell through mainstream channels.

This would be hugely disappointing for consumers, and incredibly frustrating for Huawei, but it could still be possible to import a model even if the UK release is delayed.

It’s unclear whether Huawei’s solution will be to ship with Huawei’s own HarmonyOS on the global release, so all eyes will be on Huawei’s launch tomorrow to find out what’s going on (it is suggested they will have Android 10 on all models).

Meanwhile, China and the USA are apparently having more talks this week so it’s clearly a developing story.

From the multiple leaks, the new Mate 30 Pro sports a circular camera design, but still with the central positioning and styling that retains the design language of the Mate series – enabling others to recognise the brand.

Following on from the P30 Pro, the Mate 30 Pro is expected to have two RYYB super-spectrum image sensors, enabling the same low-light image quality on the wide-angle photos as the primary camera.

A 3x telephoto camera will accompany them, along with a ToF (Time-of-Flight) camera. The hybrid zoom is expected to top out at 30x.

While a 5G model is a given, it’s not clear if the new phones will all come in 5G versions (there’s a standard and Lite model expected) and it is also possible the Mate 30 Pro will have 4G only and 5G variants.

It’s too early to tell based on the various information in circulation, much of it contradictory. But that’s half the fun, right?!

The screen now has a ‘waterfall’ design that wraps around the edges far more than before (akin to earlier Samsung phones that experimented with curved displays) and a reduced size face-unlock system.

A Porsche Design variant has also been leaked, including a rather interesting looking integrated stand (see photo).

There’s also a chance of seeing Huawei’s new 65-inch smart TV, the possibility of a new watch and updates on the new eyewear recently launched in China, following a teaser back at the P30 Pro launch event.

All in all, it’s going to be an interesting launch and I’ll be there tomorrow to introduce things as they’re announced.

More info: See all the official Huawei Mate 30 Series videos from Huawei.