Huawei has made its newest flagship a full lineup as it announces the three versions of the Mate 9 series in China.
In a press event, the China-based tech maker has revealed a new iteration in the series, the Mate 9 Pro. This is welcome news to fans who have been waiting for the step-up version to become official. Although Huawei has already announced the Mate 9 in a press launch in Munich earlier this month, the debut only focused on the Mate 9 base version, as well as the custom-branded Porsche Design edition.
However, many of the observers who are following the Huawei flagship are saying that the Mate 9 Pro may only be a China-exclusive device, though global fans will not be left out since it shares the same specs and features as the Mate 9 Porsche. The Mate 9 Pro also has the same, smaller 5.5-inch screen with Quad HD resolution, while the base version has a phablet-sized, 5.9-inch display. Under the hood, all of the three Mate 9 variants share the same processor, Huawei's homegrown Kirin 960 chipset.
Instead of the Mate 9 Pro being a step-up option like the Porsche Design, the new addition is launching as a full lineup, with both a base version and top-tier model. The Mate 9 Pro has a 4-GB base model with 64 GB of onboard storage, while a 6-GB RAM version has 128 GB of available storage.
The Mate 9 Pro is initially available in China for CNY 5,299 or $775 for the 128-GB storage variant. It is unclear if Huawei will roll out a 256-GB version of the step-up version, much like what it had done with the Mate 9 Porsche. The base version, on the other hand, goes on sale for CNY 4,699 or around $686.
Huawei has yet to comment if it will launch the Mate 9 Pro in other regions.
