Mate 20 Pro fights with iPhone XS Max, Galaxy Note 9, as well as budget flagships like OnePlus 6T
Huawei Mate 20 Pro has been launched in India, after unveiling it in Europe last month. The flagship smartphone is exclusive to Amazon India online, and as can be expected from a top-end offering - it packs a lot of features. The most visually spectacular of the features is the presence of a triple rear camera setup. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro also comes with a dedicated neural processing unit (NPU), which will allow more efficient AI-based functions. as part of the 7nm HiSilicon Kirin 980 octa-core SoC, It also features a display notch up front, as well as an in-display fingerprint scanner. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro smartphone with its premium looks and specifications will give tough competition to the likes of iPhone XS Max and Samsung Galaxy Note 9, as well as the more affordable flagships like the OnePlus 6T.
We pit the flagships against each other to see which one fares better on paper, and if the Huawei Mate 20 Pro is worth a purchase consideration.
In India, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro price in India is set at Rs. 69,990 for the 6GB RAM + 128GB storage model. It will be available on Amazon India exclusively - from December 3 for Prime members and December 4 for non-Prime members. It will also be available in Croma retail stores from December 10. As part of an introductory offer, Huawei is bundling the Sennheiser PXC 550 wireless headphones if you pay Rs. 71,990. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro will be available in the Emerald Green colour variant.
The iPhone XS Max, on the other hand, is priced in India at Rs. 1,09,900, Rs. 1,24,900, and Rs. 1,44,900 for the 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage options respectively. It is available in Space Grey, Silver, and Gold colour options. The smartphone is available to buy online from Flipkart, Airtel Online Store, IndiaiStore, Jio.com, Amazon, and more. Ingram Micro and Redington are responsible for offline distribution of the iPhone XS Max.
iPhone XS Max Outselling iPhone XS by 4 Times
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 price in India starts at Rs. 67,900 for the 6GB RAM/ 128GB storage variant, while the 8GB RAM/ 512GB storage variant costs Rs. 84,900. It is available in Midnight Black, Metallic Copper, Ocean Blue, and Lavender Purple colour options. The smartphone is available to buy via Amazon India, Flipkart, Paytm Mall, and the Samsung Mobile Store online, and is also available from offline stores.
Lastly, OnePlus 6T is priced in India at at Rs. 37,999 for the 6GB RAM/ 128GB storage option, and it is available in Mirror Black variant only. The top model with 8GB RAM and 256GB inbuilt storage is priced at Rs. 45,999 and comes in only the Midnight Black option. The newly launched OnePlus 6T Thunder Purple variant is priced in India at Rs. 41,999 and is available in only an 8GB RAM/ 128GB storage configuration. The smartphone is available on Amazon.inand OnePlus exclusive stores.
The Huawei Mate 20 Pro ships with Android 9 Pie with EMUI 9.0 on top, while the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 runs on Android 8.1 Oreo with Samsung Experience UX customisations, and the OnePlus 6T runs OxygenOS-based on Android 9.0 Pie. The iPhone XS Max, of course, runs Apple's own iOS 12 out of the box. All the phones support dual-SIM slots, but the iPhone XS Max does this via eSIMs. The eSIM is soldered onto each phone's motherboard, and this enables telecom operators to set up a second SIM remotely by pushing a user's credentials onto the device. In India, Airtel and Reliance Jio support eSIM as of now.
The largest display is on the iPhone XS Max at 6.5 inches, with the OnePlus 6T, Galaxy Note 9, and Huawei Mate 20 Pro neck to neck with 6.41-inch, 6.4-inch, and 6.39-inch displays respectively. The iPhone XS Max sports an OLED Super Retina panel with a 1242x2688 pixel resolution, the OnePlus 6T sports a full-HD+ (1080x2340 pixels ) AMOLED display panel, the Galaxy Note 9 sports a Quad HD+ (1440x2960 pixels) Super AMOLED Infinity Display panel, while the Mate 20 Pro sports a QHD+ (1440x3120 pixels) curved OLED display panel. The Huawei and Apple phones sport a display notch, while the Samsung variant has a traditional display design with bezels on top and bottom. The OnePlus 6T, on the other hand, sports a waterdrop-style notch.
As mentioned, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro is powered by the flagship HiSilicon Kirin 980 7nm SoC with dual AI processor. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 6T is powered by the Snapdragon 845 SoC .The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is also powered by the Snapdragon 845 SoC (2.8GHz + 1.7GHz) in markets like the US, while countries like India receive the Exynos 9810 (2.7GHz + 1.7GHz) variant. Lastly, the iPhone XS Max powered by Apple's latest A12 Bionic SoC, which is also manufactured using a 7nm process.
Coming to the camera, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro includes a triple camera setup consisting of a primary 40-megapixel primary wide angle lens with f/1.8 aperture, a 20-megapixel ultra-wide angle sensor with f/2.2 aperture, and a third 8-megapixel 3X telephoto lens with f/2.4 aperture. These sensors are coupled with LED flash and Super HDR. There is a 24-megapixel RGB selfie camera at the front, with support for 3D facial unlocking.
The OnePlus 6T has a dual rear camera setup comprising a primary 16-megapixel Sony IMX519 sensor with an f/1.7 aperture, paired with a secondary 20-megapixel Sony IMX376K sensor with an f/1.7 aperture. It can shoot 4K video at 60fps, Super Slow Motion Video (1080p at 240fps and 720p at 480fps). A dual-LED flash accompanies the rear setup, while there is also OIS and EIS available. The front camera on the OnePlus 6T features a 16-megapixel Sony IMX371 sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and 1-micron pixels. The front camera also supports EIS, and can recording 1080p video at 30fps and 720p video at 30fps.
The Galaxy Note 9, on the other hand, has a horizontally-placed dual rear camera setup that includes a 12-megapixel dual pixel sensor along with a wide-angle lens that has a variable f/1.5 and f/2.4 aperture and a 12-megapixel sensor along with a telephoto, f/2.4 autofocus lens. For selfies, there is an 8-megapixel sensor backed by an f/1.7 aperture, autofocus lens.
Lastly, the iPhone XS Max sports a vertical dual camera setup with one 12-megapixel wide-angle sensor (f/1.8 aperture) and another 12-megapixel telephoto secondary sensor (f/2.4). The rear camera gets a 6-element lens and 2x optical zoom. There is also an improved TrueTone quad-LED flash at the back. On the front, the iPhone XS Max get a 7-megapixel RGB camera sensor with f/2.2 aperture.
The Huawei Mate 20 Pro has the biggest battery on paper with a 4,200mAh battery, with the Galaxy Note 9 following closely behind with a 4,000mAh battery, the OnePlus 6T holds the third spot with 3,700mAh battery, and the iPhone XS Max packs a 3,174mAh battery. The iPhone XS Max is thinnest at 7.70mm, while the Galaxy Note 9 is the thickest at 8.80mm. The iPhone XS Max is the heaviest though at 208 grams, and the OnePlus 6T is the lightest at 185 grams only.
All four phones support Face Unlock, but the iPhone XS Max has no support fingerprint scanning. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 packs a rear fingerprint scanner, while the Huawei Mate 20 Pro and the OnePlus 6T sport an in-display fingerprint scanner. Only the Galaxy Note 9, out of the four, features a 3.5mm audio jack. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Note 9 offer expansion of storage using the hybrid SIM slot tray. The Samsung variant offers microSD card support, while Huawei integrates the company's proprietary Nano memory card for expansion. OnePlus 6T and, of course, the iPhone XS Max do not offer storage expansion.
| Overall NDTV Rating | |||
| Design Rating | |||
| Display Rating | |||
| Software Rating | |||
| Performance Rating | |||
| Battery Life Rating | |||
| Camera Rating | |||
| Value for Money Rating | |||
| Display | |||
| 6.39-inch | 6.41-inch | 6.50-inch | 6.40-inch |
| Processor | |||
| HiSilicon Kirin 980 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 | Apple A12 Bionic | Samsung Exynos 9810 |
| Front Camera | |||
| 24-megapixel | 16-megapixel | 7-megapixel | 8-megapixel |
| Rear Camera | |||
| 40-megapixel + 20-megapixel + 8-megapixel | 16-megapixel + 20-megapixel | 12-megapixel + 12-megapixel | 12-megapixel |
| RAM | |||
| 6GB | 8GB | - | 6GB |
| Storage | |||
| 128GB | 128GB | 64GB | 128GB |
| Battery Capacity | |||
| 4200mAh | 3700mAh | - | 4000mAh |
| OS | |||
| Android 9.0 | Android 9.0 | iOS 12 | Android 8.1 |
| Resolution | |||
| 1440x3120 pixels | 1080x2340 pixels | 1242x2688 pixels | 1440x2960 pixels |
| Brand | |||
| Huawei | OnePlus | Apple | Samsung |
| Model | |||
| Mate 20 Pro | 6T | iPhone XS Max | Galaxy Note 9 |
| Release date | |||
| November 1, 2018 | October 1, 2018 | September 1, 2018 | August 1, 2018 |
| Launched in India | |||
| No | - | Yes | - |
| Body type | |||
| Glass | Glass | - | - |
| Dimensions (mm) | |||
| 157.80 x 72.30 x 8.60 | 157.50 x 74.80 x 8.20 | 157.50 x 77.40 x 7.70 | 161.90 x 76.40 x 8.80 |
| Weight (g) | |||
| 189.00 | 185.00 | 208.00 | 201.00 |
| IP rating | |||
| IP68 | - | IP68 | - |
| Battery capacity (mAh) | |||
| 4200 | 3700 | - | 4000 |
| Removable battery | |||
| No | No | No | - |
| Fast charging | |||
| Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | - |
| Wireless charging | |||
| Yes | No | Yes | - |
| Colours | |||
| Emerald Green, Midnight Blue, Pink Gold, Twilight, Black | Midnight Black, Mirror Black | Space Grey, Silver, Gold | Midnight Black, Metallic Copper, Ocean Blue, Lavender Purple |
| SAR value | |||
| 0.81 | - | - | - |
| Screen size (inches) | |||
| 6.39 | 6.41 | 6.50 | 6.40 |
| Resolution | |||
| 1440x3120 pixels | 1080x2340 pixels | 1242x2688 pixels | 1440x2960 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | |||
| 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 | - | - |
| Protection type | |||
| - | Gorilla Glass | Other | - |
| Pixels per inch (PPI) | |||
| - | - | 458 | - |
| Processor | |||
| octa-core (2x2.6GHz + 2x1.92GHz + 4x1.8GHz) | octa-core (4x2.8GHz) | hexa-core | 1.7GHz octa-core |
| Processor make | |||
| HiSilicon Kirin 980 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 | Apple A12 Bionic | Samsung Exynos 9810 |
| RAM | |||
| 6GB | 8GB | - | 6GB |
| Internal storage | |||
| 128GB | 128GB | 64GB | 128GB |
| Expandable storage | |||
| Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Expandable storage type | |||
| Nano Memory Card | - | - | microSD |
| Expandable storage up to (GB) | |||
| 256 | - | - | 512 |
| Dedicated microSD slot | |||
| No | - | - | - |
| Rear camera | |||
| 40-megapixel (f/1.8) + 20-megapixel (f/2.2) + 8-megapixel (f/2.4) | 16-megapixel (f/1.7, 1.22-micron) + 20-megapixel (f/1.7, 1-micron) | 12-megapixel (f/1.8, 1.4-micron) + 12-megapixel (f/2.4) | 12-megapixel |
| Rear flash | |||
| Yes | Dual LED | Yes | - |
| Front camera | |||
| 24-megapixel (f/2.0) | 16-megapixel (f/2.0, 1-micron) | 7-megapixel (f/2.2) | 8-megapixel |
| Rear autofocus | |||
| - | Phase detection autofocus | Yes | - |
| Front flash | |||
| - | No | - | - |
| Operating system | |||
| Android 9.0 | Android 9.0 | iOS 12 | Android 8.1 |
| Skin | |||
| EMUI 9.0 | OxygenOS | - | Samsung Experience UX |
| Wi-Fi standards supported | |||
| 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac |
| Bluetooth | |||
| Yes, v 5.00 | Yes, v 5.00 | Yes, v 5.00 | Yes, v 5.00 |
| NFC | |||
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| USB OTG | |||
| Yes | Yes | - | - |
| USB Type-C | |||
| Yes | Yes | - | - |
| Number of SIMs | |||
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Active 4G on both SIM cards | |||
| Yes | Yes | Yes | - |
| Lightning | |||
| - | - | Yes | - |
| SIM Type | |||
| Nano-SIM | Nano-SIM | Nano-SIM | Nano-SIM |
| 4G/ LTE | |||
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SIM Type | |||
| Nano-SIM | Nano-SIM | eSIM | Nano-SIM |
| 4G/ LTE | |||
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Face unlock | |||
| Yes | Yes | Yes | - |
| 3D face recognition | |||
| Yes | - | Yes | - |
| Fingerprint sensor | |||
| Yes | Yes | No | - |
| Compass/ Magnetometer | |||
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Proximity sensor | |||
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Accelerometer | |||
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ambient light sensor | |||
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gyroscope | |||
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Barometer | |||
| Yes | - | Yes | Yes |
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