Huawei has announced the Mate 80 series in China today with in-house Kirin mobile processors. The vanilla Mate 80 is powered by last year’s Kirin 9020, while the Mate 80 Pro, Mate 80 Pro Max, and Mate 80 RS get to use the new Kirin 9030 chip.
The latter two models are covered in a separate article here.
Even with the same chip, Huawei claims the Mate 80 offers a 35% jump over the Mate 70, while the new Kirin 9030 inside the Mate 80 Pro delivers the same 35% performance bump versus last year’s Mate 70 Pro. There’s also a higher-binned Kirin 9030 Pro variant in the 16GB Mate 80 Pro configuration, which Huawei claims is 42% faster than last year’s flagship.
Both phones support Tiantong satellite calls and two-way Beidou messaging. More impressively, they’re the first phones to support 700MHz emergency communication even when there’s no network coverage.
Huawei says it can maintain a connection up to 13km away and can punch a signal even through three walls. You also get Bluetooth 6.0, seamless offline 2.4GHz communication, and Wi-Fi 7+.
Design-wise, the Mate 80 and Mate 80 Pro look nearly identical. Both feature a unique dual-ring back design and a full metal body wrapped in a nylon back. They come in four finishes: Obsidian Black, Snow White, Dawn Gold, and Spruce Green.
The Mate 80 gets a frosted aluminum alloy frame, while the Pro model switches to a glossy one. Both phones are relatively slim at 7.95mm and weigh around 217–219g.
Up front, the Mate 80 and Mate 80 Pro pack a 6.75-inch OLED display at 2832×1280, with a 1–120Hz adaptive refresh rate, 1440Hz PWM dimming, and 300Hz touch sampling. Huawei is also using its second-generation Kunlun glass, plus a side-mounted fingerprint reader.
Cameras and battery
On cameras, the entire Mate 80 lineup uses Huawei’s second-generation “Maple Leaf” primary-color imaging system.
The Mate 80 has:
– 50MP main camera with 10-stop variable aperture (RYYB, OIS, f/1.4–f/4.0)
– 12MP periscope telephoto (5.5x optical, OIS)
– 40MP ultrawide
– 13MP ultrawide selfie camera, autofocus
– Plus a 3D ToF depth sensor
While the Mate 80 Pro comes with:
– 50MP main camera (RYYB, OIS, 1/1.28”, f/1.4–f/4.0)
– 48MP macro telephoto lens (OIS, 4x / 8x)
– 40MP ultrawide
– Upgraded 9th-gen ISP promising 2x faster real-time processing
Huawei is also releasing a new TILTA pro-grade photography kit, including a 3.3x teleconverter designed for the Pro model, along with modular quick-release accessories.
Both the Mate 80 and Mate 80 Pro carry a 5750mAh battery (rated 5620mAh). Wired fast charging hits 66W on the Mate 80 and 100W on the Pro, while wireless charging goes to 50W and 80W, respectively. There’s reverse wireless charging as well, and the Mate 80 Pro even offers an extreme low-power mode that lasts up to 13 days.
The entire family is IP68/IP69 rated and ships with HarmonyOS 6, which Huawei is promising will bring new visual effects, lighting dynamics, and more fluid animations.
Pricing and Availability
For the standard Huawei Mate 80, the 12GB + 256GB version is CNY 4,699 (around $660 USD), the 12GB + 512GB is CNY 5,199 (about $730 USD), and the 16GB + 512GB version is CNY 5,499 (roughly $770 USD).
As for the Huawei Mate 80 Pro, the pricing starts at CNY 5,999 for 12GB + 256GB (about $840 USD), goes up to CNY 6,499 for 12GB + 512GB (around $910 USD), then CNY 6,999 for 16GB + 512GB (about $980 USD), and finally CNY 7,999 for the top-end 16GB + 1TB version (roughly $1,120 USD).
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