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A visitor holds the new 'Mate S' smartphone at the IFA in Berlin on Tuesday. Photo: EPA
China’s Huawei Technologies unveiled a new smartphone this week, taking aim at the high end of the market, which is dominated by Apple and Samsung Electronics.
The Mate S, launched on Wednesday on the sidelines of Europe’s biggest consumer electronics show, IFA, in Berlin, has a 5.5-inch display, a 13-megapixel rear camera and fingerprint security.
Huawei said it is one of the first smartphones to include a Force Touch display, which can distinguish between a light tap and deep press, enabling access to more functions just by pressing harder.
Apple is also expected to introduce iPhones featuring Force Touch technology next week.
Huawei became the world’s third-biggest smartphone company by sales last month, according to research firm Gartner, overtaking Chinese rival Lenovo, and aims to become the first Chinese firm to sell more than 100 million smartphones this year.
But it is still far behind Samsung, which had 21.9 per cent of the market in the second quarter, and Apple, on 14.6 per cent. Huawei’s share rose to 7.8 per cent from 5.4 per cent in the first quarter.
Richard Yu, CEO of the Huawei Consumer Business Group, presents the new model in Germany. Photo: EPA
Huawei’s Mate S phone will retail for 649 euros (US$732) - comparable to some higher-end Apple iPhone 6 series models - with a premium version for 748 euros, the Chinese company said.
"Huawei aspires to be the next Samsung, successful with both premium design and by shipping large numbers of smartphone models," said IHS analyst Ian Fogg, who expects Huawei to ship about 109 million smartphones this year.
"2015’s Huawei smartphone launches show the company is finally coming close to meeting these market goals which Huawei set some years ago."
The top of the smartphone market is a tough environment, as Samsung has experienced. While it remains the world’s biggest smartphone maker, Apple is reaping most of the rewards. The US company is estimated by some analysts to earn 90 per cent or more of the industry’s profits.
Margins at Samsung’s mobile division fell to 10.6 per cent in the second quarter, from 15.5 per cent a year earlier, despite the April launch of its critically acclaimed Galaxy S6 range.
Huawei has its roots in telecoms equipment gear where it competes with the likes of Ericsson and Nokia , but it has invested heavily in consumer devices in recent years.
Its Mate S will be available in more than 30 countries including China, Germany, Israel, Japan, France, Germany and Spain and can be pre-ordered in Western Europe from September 15.
The metal-clad Mate S is Huawei’s most stylish phone, but at a steep price
Mikael Ricknäs
IDG News Service
Sep 2, 2015 6:05 AM
The Mate S from Huawei Technologies has a metal design that rivals any other Android-based smartphone, but the price is equally awe-inspiring.
The company launched its latest flagship device at the IFA trade show on Wednesday. Huawei has continually been improving the design of its more expensive products during the last couple of years. The Ascend Mate 7 from last year was progress and the Mate S shows it can now compete with any vendors on design.
This year has seen two major trends in expensive high-end Android design; the all-metal look of the HTC One M9 and now the Mate S, or mixing glass with a metal frame, which Sony has stuck with and Samsung has chosen on the Galaxy S6 smartphones and the Galaxy Note 5.
Just like the HTC and Samsung devices, the Mate S isn’t cheap with a price tag at around €650 including sales tax for the standard version. That compares to €599 for the Galaxy S6 from Samsung’s German website.
It’s an emboldened Huawei that's launching the Mate S. The company was the third-largest smartphone maker in the world during the second quarter thanks to strong domestic and European sales that led to an impressive 48.1 percent year-on-year growth, according to IDC.
That success the company hopes it can build on with the Mate S.
The Mate S from Huawei has a fingerprint sensor on the back.
The design arguably justifies its cost. But the hardware specification, which includes a 5.5-inch screen with a full HD display, isn’t as impressive. Huawei skipped a 2K screen because it was too tough on the batteries. That may very well be the case, but when competing smartphones have the higher resolution, it can become a problem.
While the size and resolution doesn’t differentiate the screen, the support for force feedback does. Users can press on the screen to zoom in on images and configure their own shortcuts in the two top corners. The screen can also be used as a scale. The use of force touch is expected to be the next big thing in how smartphones are controlled thanks to Apple’s rumored use of the technology on its next iPhones.
The octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 935 processor, which has four cores running at 1.5GHz and another four at 2.2GHz, powers the Mate S. There is 32GB or 64GB of storage and 3GB of RAM. The battery has a 2,700mAh capacity, which helps keep the weight down to 156 grams. The fingerprint sensor is placed on the back.
Just like many other vendors, Huawei is betting on camera improvements to get consumers to upgrade. The Mate S has a 13-megapixel main camera with optical image stabilization and an 8-megapixel camera on the front. In additional to the usual automatic settings, Huawei lets users manually set ISO, exposure compensation, exposure time and white balance.
The Mate S will be initially available in more than 30 countries including China, Germany, Israel, Japan, France, Germany, Spain, South Africa and the United Arab Emirate, but there are no US launch plans. The Mate S will also be available for pre-order in Western Europe on Vmall.eu on Sept. 15.
