At the regional launch event of Mate 20 Series in Dubai, Huawei representatives: Mr.Clement Wong, Head of Global Product Marketing, Huawei Consumer Business Group and Mr. Jason Chen, Chief Marketing Officer, Huawei Consumer Business Group (Middle East & Africa) interacted with the press to answer few questions. The media was curious to get more insight into Huawei’s new Mate 20 lineup and also what plans it has for the future. Right ahead we have the complete interview session written for easier reading.
Mate series is Huawei’s second flagship lineup which gets released in the later half of each year. This time around, the smartphone packs some serious processing power, amazing new features and an improved camera system. You can take a look at the specifications of all Mate 20 phones and also watch our first impressions of the Mate 20 Pro.
Here is the full interview session with Mr. Clement and Mr. Jason at which TeamAndroid was present as well.
Mr. Clement is the Head of Global Product Marketing at Huawei. He has more than 23 years of experience in the mobile and digital consumer space. Whereas Mr. Jason Chen is Chief Marketing Officer of Huawei for Middle East and Africa. He has been involved in executing global launch events for Huawei flagships such as the P9, Nova, Mate 9, P10 and Mate 10. Both representatives from Huawei engaged with the media and answered their queries, all of which, you can read ahead.
Q: What is the main feature you are focusing on Mate 20 Pro?
Honestly, it is such a good product. It is good in so many aspects. But if you ask me, if you hold the phone in the beginning, it is the camera design which no one has done before. If you know some luxury car like Porsche, it is just like that. We have worked closely with Porsche for the design of our new phones. The Mate 20 is very sleek, and when you hold the phone, there is a sense of confidence. And the camera system has been improved quite alot. There is a ultra wide angle and very close macro angle.
Q: Is there any reason you removed the headphone jack from the new Mate 20 series?
There is only one main reason that is to make the device more compact. The second reason is USB Type-C is gaining popularity and allows for high resolution audio.
Q: Why is there no Mate 20 Lite being launched in Asian markets because Mate 10 Lite was quite a popular phone?
Successor to Mate 10 Lite is being offered through the new Nova lineup. We have transferred the Lite lineup towards the Nova because we think Nova offers the same flagship Lite features that you got in previous Mate 10 Lite.
Q: Will there be no Lite series phones going forward?
It’s hard to say.
Q: What about Mate 20 X, will it be launched in more markets other than UK?
Actually it is dependent on timing. But Mate 20 X series for some countries, it has been launched already. It also depends on shipment. Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro are popular phones which we would like to offer and focus for consumers.
Q: Is it true that the Mate series always gets the most innovation and the P series carries what the older Mate series had? Why is P series a compromised flagship?
I won’t call it a compromise. Our portfolio of flagship products consists of the P series and Mate series, as you know. The P series gets launched every February, around Spring time whereas Mate series gets launched around October, November. These are two different launch times. For Mate series, we launch it alongside the launch of our new EMUI version and new chipset. For P series, there is always a major jump in photography improvement. For P9, years back, we launched new camera system with Leica. For P10, latest portrait and for P20 we came with triple camera system. Always big innovation and improvement in camera comes in the P series.
Q: When can we expect 5G Huawei smartphones?
I think, very soon. I don’t have many news from upper management but recently we launched a 5G router. Further, it depends on country and how they adopt the new technology.
Q: So P20 Pro had a Monochrome lens and then a telephoto lens but Mate 20 Pro comes with a Ultrawide angle lens alongside the telephoto. Why did Huawei made the switch?
Actually, since the P9, we used the Monochrome lens as it captured more light. But as the technology has improved and so has our software, we can now capture a lot of light with the color sensor. So it is not necessary to stick with the monochrome sensor anymore, instead of that — to get more light — we included an ultra-wide lens which will bring more benefit to the user.
Q: Do you think Mate 20 is a product which can take on the iPhone this time?
If you look at, in particular, the photography benchmark DxOMark, we are number one with P20 Pro which was released quite some time back. This is after many different flagship products have been launched in the market. Further, we are not always chasing the competitor. Rather the whole engineering team, the whole crew is just focused on one thing which is to deliver a great product to the consumer that is the major driving force.