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Huawei today announced the Mate 90 in China, the standard model in its new flagship series. The phone starts at CNY 5,999 (about $895) and comes with Huawei’s Kirin 9030 chip and HarmonyOS 7.
Unlike the Kirin 9035 on the Mate 90 Pro or the Kirin 9050 (Pro) on the Mate 90 Pro Max, the Kirin 9030 isn’t exactly a new chip. It was also used in last year’s Huawei Mate 80 Pro, but Huawei says it’s a sizeable step up from the Kirin 9020 in the Mate 80. Its own testing puts the CPU 13% ahead, the GPU 54% ahead, and the NPU 13% ahead, with a 27% overall performance increase.
The Kirin 9030 also supports hardware ray tracing at up to 31 million rays per second. Huawei tested the feature in Wuthering Waves, although it only works in certain scenes. Huawei’s FFRT scheduling system is also claimed to double image loading speeds.
A familiar design with a bigger battery
The Mate 90 has a 6.75-inch flat display and uses Huawei’s Xuanwu-style construction with third-generation Kunlun glass and nylon fiber material. Huawei says the glass has more than 50% better drop resistance than the Mate 80 series.
The phone has IP68 protection for submersion at up to 6 meters and an IP69 rating for high-temperature, high-pressure water jets. Huawei points out that these are laboratory ratings rather than a guarantee of permanent water resistance, and liquid damage isn’t covered by the warranty. The touchscreen is also designed to keep working with wet hands.
The Mate 90 comes in four colors: Crystal Green, Crystal Pink, Zero White, and Obsidian Black. The green and pink versions have Huawei’s lattice-pattern rear design, while the other colors use a simpler finish.
Three rear cameras
Huawei gives the Mate 90 three cameras on the back:
- Main: 50MP, 1/1.56-inch RYYB sensor, OIS, and a variable F1.4-F4.0 aperture.
- Telephoto: 50MP RYYB sensor, F2.2 aperture, OIS, 4x optical zoom, and 8x optical-quality zoom.
- Ultrawide: 40MP RYYB sensor with an F2.2 aperture.
The main camera also gets Huawei’s third-generation Red Maple primary-color camera. Huawei says it improves color accuracy by 37%.
The variable aperture gives the main camera some control over how much of a scene stays in focus. The F1.4 setting can produce more background blur, while stopping down to F4.0 keeps more of the frame sharp.
Huawei’s XMAGE assistant can also suggest shooting options. In photo and portrait modes, within the 4x zoom range, it can recommend one of 13 group poses or one of 14 composition layouts. The composition suggestions have to be enabled manually.
There’s also a live-streaming mode that can start a stream with one tap. It enables do-not-disturb and network acceleration while using face and product recognition to move focus between subjects.
A bigger battery without changing charging speeds
The Mate 90 has a 6,600mAh battery, with a rated capacity of 6,415mAh. That’s a sizeable increase over the 5,750mAh battery in the Mate 80. Charging hasn’t changed, though. Wired charging reaches 66W with a Huawei 66W or faster charger, while wireless charging goes up to 50W with Huawei’s own wireless charger. Both figures match the Mate 80.
Huawei also includes an outdoor mode that can extend battery life to up to 15 days. Petal Maps can provide up to 36 hours of screen-off route navigation in this mode.
The Mate 90 can automatically switch between its Wi-Fi and cellular antennas depending on the connection. With up to four nearby HarmonyOS 7 devices, Huawei’s multi-device network sharing can pool connections. Huawei says this can make file transfers up to 40% faster in crowded areas.
The phone also supports BeiDou satellite messaging, including picture messages. The feature is limited to mainland China and requires a clear view of the sky. Users also need to activate it through MeeTime or their carrier before using it for the first time.
A paired Huawei watch can trigger an emergency call through the phone. For now, that feature only works between Huawei Mate 90 series phones.
The phone comes pre-installed with HarmonyOS 7 and can also connect with an iPhone for features such as call forwarding, file transfers, and message notifications.
For security, the Mate 90 has a Mobile Security Processor with support for post-quantum cryptography for unlocking and payments. Huawei also includes voice-changer detection for carrier calls, MeeTime, and WeChat. The company says its warnings are only an indication and aren’t guaranteed to identify fake voices correctly.
Huawei Mate 90 price and availability
Huawei is selling the Mate 90 in three configurations in China:
- 12GB+256GB: CNY 5,999 (~$895)
- 12GB+512GB: CNY 6,999 (~$1,045)
- 12GB+1TB: CNY 8,499 (~$1,268)
The Mate 90 is available in Crystal Green, Crystal Pink, Zero White, and Obsidian Black. Only the green and pink versions have the lattice-pattern back. For now, these prices apply to China. Huawei hasn’t announced international pricing or availability yet.
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