It’s been almost two years since Huawei released the Mate 40 Pro in the Philippines. During that period, the company focused on other offerings like the new P and nova series smartphones. And to wrap up the year, Huawei is finally launching the Mate 50 Pro in the country. Are there any significant improvements? Find out in our review.
Design and Construction
One of the first things you’ll notice about the Mate 50 Pro is it brought back the wide-notch design that was found on the Mate 30 Pro. It doesn’t look ugly, though, as it uses curvier corners like the ones found on the P50 Pro. It houses the earpiece/loudspeaker, and the 13MP ultra-wide front camera with a 3D depth sensor.
It still has a curved screen with sides that curves almost seamlessly to the frame.
Placed on the right are the power/lock and volume buttons. The buttons are solid and tactile but silent when pressed. The power/lock button is easy to reach, however, the volume buttons might require that you reposition your hands so you can comfortably press them.
Up top, we have the IR blaster and secondary microphone.
Down below are the dual-SIM card slot with support for Huawei NM cards, the main microphone, and the loudspeaker.
Flip it on its back and you will see the protruding camera module that houses four cameras and LED flash.
The back panel is also covered with glass and curves towards the edges. Because of the curved sides on the front and back, the Mate 50 Pro feels thinner than it actually is. It’s hefty, though, at 209g, but because of the premium materials, the phone is a joy to hold that putting on a case ruins the whole experience. IP68 dust and water resistance are also retained. Still, you might still want to use that case to protect it from bumps and fingerprints.
Display and Multimedia
The Mate 50 Pro is equipped with a 6.74-inch screen with 2616 x 1212 resolution for a pixel density of 428ppi. The screen is OLED so you’ll get punchy colors and deep blacks, while the refresh rate is at 120Hz. You have the option to lower the resolution and refresh rate to preserve battery life or just use the auto mode. Protecting all of that is Kunlun Glass.
So far, we have no issues with the display as it is bright, sharp, and immersive. The notch isn’t an issue for us anymore, probably we got used to smartphones having a hole punch or a notch. But if that is still an issue, there’s still an option to hide the notch.
The Mate 50 Pro uses dual loudspeakers. Quality is okay as it is loud and has crisp trebles. Like many smartphones, the bass is weak but still immersive and more than enough for casual viewing or listening.
Cameras
The Mate 50 Pro has a 50MP main with variable aperture, 13MP ultra-wide, and 64MP telephoto triple-rear cameras with OIS and EIS. We no longer have Leica’s branding here and is now replaced with what Huawei calls the XMAGE Camera system.
We don’t notice any difference in performance from the Leica days and is still one of the best cameras in a smartphone we’ve used. The AI is quick to recognize scenes and either recommend a shooting mode or automatically switches to the appropriate lens for the best results. Shots taken by the main camera have plenty of details and natural colors. Low-light performance, as expected, is still top-notch. If you’re still wondering if it can still do moon shots, yes, it can. Although it would require that at least half of the moon is illuminated for the AI to identify it as a moon.
When it comes to the front camera, the performance is also good. We liked that it already has an ultra-wide lens for group shots. It’s sharp, preserves natural skin tone, and can implement bokeh with the help of the 3D depth sensor that also works as a 3D face scanner for biometrics.
As for video recording, the Mate 50 Pro can shoot at a maximum of 4K at 60 fps. Slow-mo is also possible at 1080p at 240 fps. Videos taken also have the same quality as the images with good dynamic range even in low light.
OS and Apps
Running the software department is EMUI 13 based on Android 12. Again, there’s no GMS, it uses HMS with AppGallery to give you access to Android apps. After a few years, we kind of got used to not being able to access Google services via apps. However, the recent GBox workaround has revived our excitement as we were able to install and use Google apps. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than not having it at all.
The only thing that we didn’t like about this OS is that it pre-installs on the home screen tons of recommended apps in six different folders. The only way to disable them is to tap on the folder, tap on the gear icon on the upper right, tap on Manage recommendations, then disable the recommend toggles. Once disabled, you’ll now have to delete the folders.
We’re pretty sure that Huawei has a reason for doing this. Even AppGallery now has ads on the welcome screen. But it would be much more pleasant without the ads.
Performance and Benchmarks
Huawei has dumped its Kirin processor and is now using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 chipset, along with 8GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. This is a strong configuration for a flagship and more than enough to handle all the tasks you throw at it, including games. Just check the benchmark scores below:
• AnTuTu v9 – 1,009,003
• AnTuTu Storage v9 – 66,535, 1663.2 MB/s (Seq. Read), 931.6 MB/s (Seq. Write)
• PC Mark – 12,399 (Work 3.0)
• 3D Mark – 2,728 (Wild Life Extreme)
• Geekbench 5 – 1,264 (Single-Core), 3,750 (Multi-Core), 6,486 (OpenCL)
Connectivity and Battery Life
The Mate 50 Pro has plenty of connectivity features, including dual SIM, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, a slew of GNSS, an IR blaster, and USB-C. If you’re already in the Huawei ecosystem or thinking of getting in, you can also take advantage of the Huawei Super Device feature which includes Multi-Device Galler, and Cross-Device Clipboard. This is probably the best ecosystem you can enjoy outside of Apple. What’s missing here, though, is 5G connectivity. Although, this is only a big deal if you really need 5G and 4G LTE sucks in your area.
Powering the Mate 50 Pro is a 4,700mAh battery, which is more than enough to last us a whole day going heavy on the cameras and light on games. PC Mark rated the battery life at 14 hours and 15 minutes, while our video loop test got us almost 19 hours of playback which is still good. Charging takes a little an hour with the 66W wired Huawei SuperCharge, but you can also take advantage of the 50W wireless Huawei SuperCharge if you have the wireless charger.
Conclusion
The Huawei Mate 50 Pro has significant improvements over the Mate 40 Pro with its higher refresh rate, better chipset, improved cameras, and bigger battery life. However, the Mate 40 Pro that launched in the Philippines has 5G, which the newer Mate 50 Pro doesn’t. We’d hold on to the older model if 5G is a huge requirement, otherwise, upgrading to the Mate 50 Pro is still worth it. You’ll enjoy better performance, the best cameras in a smartphone, and longer battery life.
The pricing of the Mate 50 Pro is yet to be announced. Stay tuned for the launch on November 18.
Huawei Mate 50 Pro specs:
6.74-inch (2616 x 1212) OLED display
120Hz refresh rate, 300Hz touch sampling rate, 1440Hz PWM dimming
Kunlun Glass
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 4G SoC
Adreno 730 GPU
8GB RAM
256GB, 512GB storage
NM Card support
Triple-rear XMAGE cameras:
• 50MP F1.4-F4.0 main
• 13MP F2.2 ultra-wide
• 64MP F3.5 telephoto, OIS
13MP F2.4 ultra-wide front camera + 3D Depth Sensing
Dual-SIM
4G LTE
WiFi 6
Bluetooth 5.2
NFC
GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS, NavIC
IR blaster
Fingerprint scanner
3D Face Recognition
USB 3.1 Type-C
IP68 dust and water resistance
EMUI 13
4,700mAh battery w/ 66W fast charging, 50W wireless fast charging
162.1 x 75.5 x 8.5 mm
209 g (Glass), 205 g (Vegan Leather)
Black, Silver, Orange
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