Everything we know so far about the soon-to-unboxed Huawei Mate 20 Lite

Get ready for a new wave of ground-breaking smartphones when Huawei launches the Mate 20 Lite smartphone in South Africa on October 5. The local availability of the Mate series will follow the international launch of the device set for early October.

“The Huawei Mate 20 Lite is yet another game-changer in innovation and intelligence from Huawei,” says Likun Zhao, general manager, Huawei consumer business group SA. “We are excited to launch it to South African consumers and know it will exceed all expectations.”

Unlike the P-series (the recently launched P20 Pro and P20 Lite), which is aimed at the fashion-conscious user, the Huawei Mate series is all about the latest specifications - but in this case, a Lite version thereof.

Sporting a look and feel that Huawei fans will feel comfortable with, the Huawei Mate 20 Lite smartphone features a 6.3-inch IPS LCD display, delivering a resolution of 2,340 x 1,080 pixels. It also features the now-familiar notch at the top of the screen but it’s a little wider thanks to the addition of a second camera to the front of the device.

This is one of the first smartphones that uses Huawei’s new 64-bit octa-core processor called the Kirin 710. This processor features Huawei’s neural processing unit artificial intelligence (AI) engine and the company claims it will deliver a 60% performance in mobile games, with a 30% reduction in power consumption with GPU Turbo. This is good news for fans of mobile games that demand more processing power.  

The phone’s battery is rated at 3750mAh and features quick-charge capabilities that will give you a big power boost for only a few minutes of charge time.  

The Mate 20 Lite is no lightweight in the camera department either. It has an impressive 24MP front-facing camera and a 20MP rear-facing camera. Each camera is accompanied by a depth-sensing 2MP camera that will allow the Mate 20 Lite’s AI to work its magic on your photos - most notably on adjusting blur around your subject, known as the bokeh effect. The dual camera can also recognise 22 different scene categories and adjust the camera settings to produce the best shot.

If you prefer portrait photography, you’ll also get some clever AI assistance thanks to dynamic portrait lighting on the Mate 20 Lite. The phone’s AI capabilities create a 3D model of the face you just photographed and add realistic-looking lighting to your subject. Huawei says there will be five types of 3D portrait lighting to select in camera or that can be applied to photos in the gallery.

Saving those pictures can be done on the 64GB internal storage or on a microSD card up to 256GB in capacity.

Those who love to shoot video can do so but only at 1,080p at 30fps or slow-mo videos at 480fps. This is more than enough for basic social media clips but those wanting a few more lines of definition will have to wait a little longer.

Another cool new feature that we’ll be seeing a lot more of is animated emoji, and Huawei is introducing their own version, called Qmoji. This feature will have you pulling faces at your smartphone, with comical effect, while your animated emoji mimics your every move.

One of the hottest topics on new smartphone trends these days is the omission of the beloved 3.5mm audio jack. Fortunately, for those who don’t want to cut the cord yet, the Mate 20 Lite will include one.

And finally, to make sure your device is secure, a fingerprint scanner is neatly situated on the back, just below the camera cluster. This allows you to easily unlock your phone by resting your index finger on the sensor as you pick up your smartphone.

Local pricing and operator deals have not yet been announced.

This article was paid for by Huawei.