Speculations have floated online that the new premium flagship Mate 8, unveiled by China-based Huawei last month, will be launched this week.
The speculations seemed confirmed, though. According to GSM Arena, the announcement was made by Huawei itself through He Gang, the company's head for the smartphone division. Gang reportedly announced, with the poster published on the industry follower's site, that the Huawei Mate 8 will be available starting Dec. 9.
The confirmation debunked previous observations from observers like Android Headlines, expecting that Huawei doesn't have that much time for another release this year and will instead release its flagship in the early months next year.
Apparently, the Chinese company's hope is riding high on the newest iteration, as Huawei has been quoted as planning to produce as many as 1 million Mate 8 units a month starting this week.
The Huawei Mate 8's specs make it a premium flagship smartphone in the phablet category. Featuring a 6-inch display with 1920 x 1080 resolution, the newest Huawei flagship is powered by an all-new, Huawei-homegrown Kirin 950 octa-core chipset, with 64-bit architecture. The new processor is partnered with an option for either a 3 or 4 GB RAM, and comes in 32-, 64-, and 128-GB internal storage, which are all expandable via microSD.
In addition, the new iteration for the Mate series also employs an all-metal unibody form factor, available in a variety of color options. Being a premium flagship, it will also have a fingerprint scanner, as well as a massive, 4,000-mAh battery.
Prices for the Huawei Mate 8 are pegged at around $468 for the base model having 3-GB RAM and 32-GB storage. The 4-GB RAM is available for the 64- and 128-GB storage option versions and will come with $577 and $686 price tags, respectively.
