Exclusive: This is the Huawei Mate 20 with a waterdrop notch and triple rear cameras

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Huawei is, according to some metrics, the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, surpassing even Apple but falling behind Samsung. Although the Chinese company’s ambitions were killed in the United States, the company has seen great success in Western Europe, India, and in its home country of China. The company’s flagship smartphone line-up, which consists of the Mate and P series, was recently refreshed with the Huawei P20 series, which introduced a display notch, triple rear cameras, and gradient coloring to Huawei’s smartphone designs. Now, the company is gearing up to launch the Huawei Mate 20 series, and ahead of its launch, we are able to show the first renders of the device.

Last month, we were able to obtain firmware files for the Huawei Mate 20, code-named “Hima.” Based on these firmware files, we were able to provide some of the basic hardware specifications of the Huawei Mate 20 including the presence of the HiSilicon Kirin 980 system-on-chip, a 4,200mAh battery, a 6.3-inch AMOLED screen, wireless charging, and a variant with 6GB RAM/128GB internal storage. We were also able to confirm that the software build on the Huawei Mate 20 is EMUI 9-based Android Pie. Now, we are able to share the recreated renders of the Huawei Mate 20 based on photographs of the original device.

The renders published in this article are based on real-life photographs of the Huawei Mate 20 that XDA-Developers was able to view. The photographs of the device were of an engineering sample and came from a trusted Chinese source who got into contact with FunkyHuawei.club. We verified the authenticity of the source based on details provided that first led us to discover the firmware files several weeks back. To protect our source’s identity, we contracted @SRenderr to recreate the design of the Huawei Mate 20 based on the photos that were provided.

Due to the fact that these renders are recreated from photographs of an actual engineering sample of the device, there are a few things we should note:

We do not have the exact dimensions of the device, so we can’t guarantee that the size of the bezels, notch, and camera sensors are perfect. Since we don’t have the exact dimensions, we can’t guarantee that the position of the buttons, ports, cameras, etc. will perfectly match the positions on the actual device.

Because the rear of the sample device was protected, we do not know the position of the logos. Furthermore, we don’t know the shape of the rear fingerprint scanner—just that there will be one. (We don’t show the fingerprint scanner in the render of the rear because we’re unsure what it looks like.)

Huawei Mate 20 Renders

The front

We can see the volume rocker and a power button on the right side of the phone, while the SIM card tray is on the left side. More importantly, Huawei is continuing the 2018 trend of adopting a display notch, but this time they’ve cut down on its size. Compared to the Huawei P20’s notch, the waterdrop notch on the Huawei Mate 20 is more reminiscent of the OPPO F9’s tiny notch. The notch is at the top of the Huawei Mate 20’s 6.3inch AMOLED screen. We were able to independently confirm the design of the notch by finding the notch overlay in the Huawei Mate 20’s firmware files, just as we confirmed the Huawei P20’s notch design from its firmware files. The notch overlay is for the resolution “2244×1080” so we assume that the Huawei Mate 20 will have that screen resolution.

If we zoom into the front of the device, we can see a speaker above the notch. We don’t often see stereo speakers on phones these days, so it’s nice to see them here.

The top

The Huawei Mate 20 has a 3.5mm headphone jack on top, bucking the other 2018 smartphone trend of dropping the headphone jack.

The bottom

You can see a microphone, USB Type-C port, and the second speaker on the bottom side of the Huawei Mate 20.

The back

As mentioned previously, our source was unable to provide a fully unobscured photograph of the rear. Thus, we chose not to make a full render of the rear based on incomplete information. We are, however, able to share the render of the camera system, along with some details of what our source was able to see on the rear of the device.

Our source suggests that the Huawei Mate 20 has a glass back, which is a necessity for wireless charging. Furthermore, the Huawei Mate 20 seems to feature 3 cameras, much like the Huawei P20 Pro. The camera system also includes a flash.

Huawei Mate 20 Specifications

Here is everything that we know about the device so far:

Specification Huawei Mate 20 OS Android 9 Pie SoC HiSilicon Kirin 980 RAM 6GB, other configurations unknown Camera Triple rear camera system Storage 128GB, other configurations unknown Display 6.3-inch AMOLED screen, 2244×1080 Audio 3.5mm headphone jack, stereo speaker Battery 4,200 mAh Connections USB Type-C, wireless charging Price Unknown

That’s as much information on the Huawei Mate 20 that we can share for now. We still don’t know the Huawei Mate 20’s release date or the price, but keep in mind we’re a few months away from the release date. The Huawei Mate 9 was announced in November of 2016 and the Huawei Mate 10 was announced in October of 2017, so we expect the Huawei Mate 20 to be announced in 2-3 months time. Huawei is expected to unveil more information on the HiSilicon Kirin 980 SoC during IFA, so we’ll at least learn more about the chipset powering the device in about 2 weeks.

Lastly, the Huawei Mate 20 will of course not have an unlockable bootloader, just like any other new Huawei phone. If this is a deal breaker for you, then you’ve probably already written off this device as a potential purchase. If the lack of bootloader unlocking doesn’t phase you, then we hope that these renders we’ve posted will be helpful for you.