On 18 November, Chinese tech giant Huawei announced that it would be holding a brand event for its Mate smartphone line on 26 November. It will be, as many expect, the official launch of the long-awaited “iPhone 16 killer” Mate 70 series, among other additions to its smartphone and smartwatch line-up. Along with the preview for the event, Huawei also started to take pre-orders for the smartphone on the day of the announcement.
The Mate 70 series will consist of Mate 70, Mate 70 Pro, Mate 70 Pro+ and Mate 70 RS Ultimate Design models. The Huawei global flagship store in Wangfujing, Beijing saw over 400 people queuing for 2 hours after pre-ordering opened. As pre-orders are free, over 1.36 million pre-orders were taken across China in just 4 hours. On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, several Mate 70-related topics went on the Hot Search list. The hashtag “Huawei Mate 70” (#华为Mate70#) reached number 16 on the list with 130 million views.
The Mate 70 is another smartphone that Huawei produced with its proprietary microchips which debuted with the Mate 60 last year. However, the manufacturing capacity has increased significantly since Mate 60 as sources say Huawei is preparing to produce around 15 million units in the lifespan of the Mate 70 series, 20% higher than its predecessor. And of course, the new models will be factory-equipped with the “pure-blood” HarmonyOS NEXT system.
As the price has not yet been disclosed for the Mate 70 series, pundits feel pricing might be a challenge for Huawei, especially after the trifold Mate XT drew backlash for its high cost. Its predecessor, the Mate 60 was priced at 5,499 RMB (759.55 USD). There has also been speculation and purported leaks of its specifications, especially the chipset it uses, on social media. As the pre-orders are free and do not guarantee stock, it will likely be later until we find out if the Mate 70 can really outdo its Apple rival.
