Huawei is getting ready for its biggest smartphone launch of 2026. The Mate 90 series is likely to launch in China in the last week of September, around two months earlier than the Mate 80 and Mate 70 series. This puts Huawei’s new flagship lineup in the same launch month as Apple’s latest iPhones, and most of us probably know why. 

The Mate 90 series is expected to include four models: the standard Mate 90, Mate 90 Pro, Mate 90 Pro Max, and Mate 90 RS Ultimate Design. Huawei has not confirmed the full lineup yet, but several tipsters have shared similar details, giving us a good idea of what to expect.

The chip: Kirin 9050 series and LogicFolding

The biggest change could be inside the phone. Huawei is expected to use the new Kirin 9050 chip based on a technology called LogicFolding. It is part of a wider design approach Huawei refers to as the Tau scaling law.

Instead of relying only on traditional transistor shrinking, the technology stacks logic circuits vertically. This allows Huawei to fit more computing power into the same space without depending on the most advanced chip-making processes.

Huawei has already shared some details about the technology. Compared with last year’s Kirin 9030 Pro, transistor density is said to increase by 53.5%, reaching around 238 million transistors per square millimeter. The chip area is also reportedly about one-third smaller, while power consumption at the same performance level drops by more than 40%.

The different Mate 90 models are expected to use different versions of the chip. The Mate 90 and Mate 90 Pro could get earlier versions, while the Mate 90 Pro Max and Mate 90 RS Ultimate Design are tipped to use the full Kirin 9050 Pro.

The same chip is already used in the Mate XT 2 tri-fold, which launched earlier this month. Huawei claimed a 42% performance improvement over the previous generation, including a 24% increase in single-core performance and a 52% gain in multi-core performance.

Display

The display could be one of the more familiar parts of the Mate 90 series. All four models are expected to use a 6.9-inch flat OLED panel with Huawei’s dual-layer tandem OLED technology.

This setup uses two emissive layers to improve brightness while keeping power consumption under control. Huawei first used the technology on last year’s Mate 80 RS Ultimate Design, but it is reportedly bringing it to the entire Mate 90 lineup this time.

A recent leak also points to a 1.5K resolution and an LTPO backplane, which would allow the refresh rate to adjust depending on what’s happening on the screen. The display is also expected to have large, rounded corners, giving it a softer look instead of sharp 90-degree corners.

The front design could remain largely unchanged, with the Mate 90 series reportedly keeping the three-hole punch cutout used on the Mate 80 series.

Huawei Mate 90

The standard Mate 90 will be the entry point into the lineup. Its rear camera setup is expected to include a 50MP main camera, a 40MP ultrawide camera, and a 50MP telephoto camera. A smaller multispectral sensor is also expected to help with color accuracy. 

Charging is reportedly limited to 66W, making it the slowest-charging model in the series. The phone is expected to come in black, white, green, and pink. Its dimensions are tipped at around 162.1 x 75.5 x 7.85mm, which should make it fairly manageable despite the large 6.9-inch display.

Huawei Mate 90 Pro

The Mate 90 Pro is expected to bring a noticeable upgrade in both charging and cameras. It will reportedly support 100W charging, while the main camera is tipped to use a large sensor with a variable aperture.

A variable aperture can help the camera adjust how much light enters the lens, which can be useful in low-light photography and when controlling depth of field.

The Pro model could also feature two periscope telephoto cameras. Having two separate periscope lenses would give the phone different optical zoom ranges instead of relying on a single telephoto camera.

Battery capacity is expected to be between 6,800mAh and 7,000mAh across the Pro-tier models. That’s considerably larger than the roughly 5,400mAh battery reportedly used in the iPhone 18 Pro Max.

Huawei Mate 90 Pro Max

The Mate 90 Pro Max is expected to have a large 1-inch-type main sensor alongside two periscope telephoto cameras. One of them could support up to 10x optical zoom.

Huawei could also change the camera design. The Pro Max is tipped to use a square camera module instead of the circular camera housing found on the Mate 80 Pro Max. 

The fingerprint scanner could remain on the side, however. Leaks suggest Huawei is not moving to an ultrasonic under-display fingerprint sensor on this model, despite the technology becoming more common on competing flagship phones.

The Pro Max is also expected to feature the Kirin 9050 Pro, a 6.9-inch dual-layer OLED display, and Wi-Fi 7.

Huawei Mate 90 RS Ultimate Design

The Mate 90 RS Ultimate Design will sit at the top of the lineup. Huawei’s RS models usually focus heavily on camera hardware and premium materials, and the Mate 90 RS is expected to follow the same approach.

It is tipped to feature two periscope telephoto cameras and the same Kirin 9050 Pro chip as the Pro Max. Premium materials and higher-end finishes are also expected to set it apart from the other models.

The RS could also offer the fastest charging speeds in the series, along with more exclusive color options aimed at buyers looking for a more premium design.

Software: HarmonyOS 7

All four Mate 90 models are expected to run HarmonyOS 7 out of the box. Huawei introduced the new software earlier this month alongside the Mate XT 2.

One of the biggest changes is Huawei’s focus on what it calls the “agent era.” The company’s Xiaoyi AI assistant is being turned into a system-level agent that can handle multi-step tasks instead of simply responding to individual questions.

HarmonyOS 7 also brings a redesigned interface with new lighting and motion effects, along with deeper AI features across the system. Huawei says the update also includes performance improvements that can lead to faster app launches and better battery efficiency when combined with the new Kirin chip.

Since HarmonyOS 7 has already debuted on the Mate XT 2, the Mate 90 series should launch with a more established version of the software rather than being the first devices to receive it.

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The post Huawei Mate 90 Series: Everything We Know Before Launch appeared first on Gizmochina.