Will Huawei Mate 9 Fill The Void Left By Galaxy Note 7 Fiasco?

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The Galaxy Note 7 battery fiasco and its consequent discontinuation have left a huge void. It looks like the upcoming Huawei Mate 9 could fill that void. The Chinese company is planning to unveil the new Mate devices next month in Munich, Germany. Just weeks ahead of its official unveiling, popular tipster Evan Blass has leaked the images of Mate 9.

There will be two models of Huawei Mate 9

According to Blass, Huawei will launch Mate 9 in not one but two different body styles. One of them, internally code-named Manhattan, will have a flat-screen display while another one, code-named Long Island, is said to have a dual-edge display like Samsung’s now-killed Galaxy Note 7. The leaked images suggest that Huawei has taken more than just a little from Samsung’s flagship products.

https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/786212403369218048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The flat-screen model looks similar to previous Huawei smartphones. But the curved display version makes you think of the Galaxy S7 Edge and the Note 7. It will be more powerful of the two Mate 9 models. Leaks suggest that the Huawei Mate 9 will feature a 5.9-inch QHD screen, 6GB RAM, 256GB of storage, and a 64-bit octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 960 chip.

The Long Island version is also rumored to sport a dual-lens, dual-sensor Leica design, similar to the Huawei P9. The Mate 9 camera sensors and lenses will both see improvement over P9 as it is tipped to have 20MP resolution and f/2.0 aperture, according to VentureBeat.

Long Island will be a China-exclusive model

The dual-edge Long Island model will reportedly support Google’s Daydream virtual reality platform. Manhattan won’t support Daydream. If true, Huawei will be one of the first hardware vendors to release a Daydream-compatible smartphone. However, Huawei’s price tag could disappoint users. When the company unveiled its flagship P9, many Android fans had a hard time justifying its price tag relative to the phone’s features and display resolution.

Evan Blass added that only Manhattan would get a worldwide release. The Long Island model will be sold only in China. The timing of Huawei Mate 9 launch is right. Samsung has pulled out its Galaxy Note 7 ahead of the crucial holiday shopping season. Google Pixel, which was unveiled earlier this month, looks ridiculously overpriced at $749 for 128GB version.

Apple’s iPhone 7 and 7 Plus too stand to benefit from the Galaxy Note 7 withdrawal. But a large number of users would prefer to stick to Android, and this is where Huawei Mate 9 could establish itself as a worthy contender. The Mate line has been one of Huawei’s most successful products, thanks to their impressive battery life and larger display.

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