The Android battle of the autumn is shaping up to be the Huawei Mate 30 vs the Samsung Galaxy Note 10. However, judging by recent leaks, it appears the Note 10 will have the edge, at least when it comes to looks.
While the Note 10 is likely to follow the Galaxy S10’s lead and dispatch with the notch in favour of punch-hold cameras, the Mate 30 Pro is likely to retain the unpopular notch at the top of the display.
Purported images of display protectors and shatter-proof coating components for the Huawei Mate 30 Pro suggest the wide notch will endure when the handset arrives later this year.
Read our Hands on: Mate 30 Pro review
The holes in the protectors suggest the phone will offer a whopping five sensors, three of which will likely be for the selfie camera, proximity sensor and the earpiece speaker. We’ve heard suggestions Huawei will add some tech to enable Face Unlock and new Animoji-style characters will be present on the Mate 20 line.
image credit: TME Net
What else can we glean from the leaked images from TME.net (via GSM Arena)? Well the curved edges are perhaps slightly more pronounced than the predecessor, but honestly, it’s really difficult to tell from these images.
Last year’s Huawei Mate 20 Pro had a 6.39-inch OLED, QHD+ HDR display along with 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage. There was a 4200mAh battery with Qi wireless charging and four cameras, including a 40-megapixel main sensor and a 20-megapixel wide angle sensor.
The handset, which was more expensive than the Note 9 and only slightly cheaper than the iPhone XS Max, earned an impressive 4.5/5-star rating from our mobile editor Max Parker. He called it the “brand’s most audacious phone yet,” and praised the in-display fingerprint sensor, fast charging, great display an fast battery life.
The only caveat was Huawei’s Android skin. He added: “In fact, if it wasn’t for Huawei’s overbearing, slightly ugly software, the Mate 20 Pro would be the best Android phone you can buy in 2018.”
Of course, regardless of what rocks up when the Mate 30 and the Pro version arrive later this year, the range will have to content with the possibility of losing access to Google Play Services as part of the pending US ban on the company trading with American partners.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.