Planning to get a new phone and don’t want to settle for any of the ”cheap phones” in the market like the OnePlus 3T, the Samsung S7 Edge, or even the Google Pixel because any phone less than $1000 is ”cheap” right? Then you might want to narrow down your options to the Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design or Gionee M2017. We want to help you spend your money decide which one of these two phones is worth your hard-earned money.
Display
We know you’ve got a fat account, so a phone with a large display is what you need to show the world that you like big things.
The Mate 9 Porsche Design has a 5.5-inch 2K AMOLED display which is big enough but if you want bigger, the Gionee M2017 take the display size up to 5.7-inches with the same display type and resolution. Both displays are curved on both sides and should let you see your account balance in bright and vivid colors.
RAM, ROM, and Processor
The Gionee M2017 and Mate 9 Porsche Design both come with 6GB of RAM which is the highest you can get on any phone right now. The difference is in the storage option. Gionee let’s you choose either a 128GB model or a 256GB model, but Huawei on the other hand says its 256GB or nothing. But you want to know what we think? Go big or go home because 128GB is for cheapskates.
The processor is another important specification that we feel you should consider. The Gionee M2017 sports Qualcomm’s new mid-range king, the Snapdragon 653. This chip is synonymous to the Snapdragon 652 just the way the Snapdragon 821 is to the Snapdragon 820. The octa-core processor clocked at 1.95GHz should handle most tasks you throw at it but to be honest, it can’t hold a candle to the Kirin 960 present in the Mate 9. The Kirin 960 apart from having a higher clock speed (2.4GHz) also uses the newer Cortex-A73 CPU core which is more powerful than the Cortex-A72 present in the Gionee.
Camera and Battery
We know you have the money and we believe you should flaunt it. You need to show your friends that your pre-ordered Faraday Future SUV has arrived and you need a good camera that captures the beauty.
Both phones have dual cameras but right now Huawei seems to be the boss when it comes to dual camera phones. The Mate 9 Porsche Design sports a 20MP+12MP combo at the back of the device. The sensors are made in collaboration with German camera manufacturer, Leica. The setup has got OIS, 2x optical zoom, and laser autofocus. Up front is an 8MP shooter for selfies. You can check out camera samples here.
The Gionee M2017 uses a combination of a 12MP and 13MP sensor with 2x optical zoom and you also get an 8MP sensor up front for selfies. The Gionee M2017 just launched a few days ago and there are no sample pictures yet but we doubt if it can measure up to that of the Mate 9.
The M2017 is the champ here even before the fight starts. It packs a 7000mAh battery which dwarfs the 4000mAh battery inside the Huawei. Gionee’s phone has Quick charge 3.0 support while Huawei has equipped the Mate 9 Porsche Design with its own Supercharge feature.
Design and Extra Features
They are both luxury phones and their appearance reflects that. The Gionee sports a mixture of glass, aluminium and leather. The curved display meets the metal frame on one side and the leather back does the same on the other. You get calfskin leather for the 128GB model and crocodile leather for the 256GB version.
The Mate 9 Porsche Design on the other hand is a beauty too. It shares design similarities to the Galaxy Note 7 of blessed memory which was known for its stunning looks. There is no leather on the back but the matte black coating looks really nice on it.
The Gionee M2017 has a security chip that encrypts data but lacks NFC. There is a fingerprint scanner up front but there is no earphone jack. It also comes with Amigo OS 3.5 based on Android 6.0.
The Mate 9 Porsche Edition on the other hand doesn’t have a security chip but has NFC and an IR blaster. It ships with Android 7.0 Nougat, has its fingerprint scanner in front, and an audio jack at the bottom.
READ MORE: Battle for Mid-Range: Meizu M5 Note vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
Price
The Huawei Mate 9 is priced at around $1547 while the Gionee M2017 is priced at $1007 for the 128GB model and $2446 for the 256GB model.
It’s a no brainer really. The Huawei Mate 9 has a more powerful processor, latest Android OS, better cameras definitely, comes with NFC, an IR blaster and an audio jack. It also offers the same storage amount as the Gionee M2017 256GB model at almost $900 less.
