Huawei's massive and impressive Mate 9 will be coming to the U.S. this month.
Huawei's indomitable quest for world domination continues this week as it has announced its latest oversized flagship, the Mate 9, would be coming to the U.S. on January 6 for a very agreeable $599 through various online retailers including Amazon and Newegg.
The phone, which has been available in parts of Europe and Asia since December, has been met with considerable praise, with our Alex Dobie saying, "In a world without the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, the Huawei Mate 9 is now the best big-screened Android phone you can buy."
The fact that Huawei can put out phones of this quality underscores just how far it's come in the past year. Most of that is thanks to the new EMUI 5, which provides a far superior user experience to anything we've seen in earlier Huawei phones. And because the UI is so much improved, the rest of the phone shines through.
One thing that wasn't included in the previously-released versions of the Mate 9 was Amazon Alexa support, which will come in a forthcoming update to existing devices, and will be preloaded on new ones. Alexa will be included through an app, making it possible to communicate with the service the same way one would an Echo speaker or a smart refrigerator. Huawei isn't saying in which countries the Alexa update will roll out, but given that Alexa is only officially available in a handful, the selection will likely be small.
The Mate 9 will be available starting January 6 at Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy and B&H Photo in Space Gray and Moonlight Silver models.
At the Mate 9 announcement in Las Vegas, it was said that Leica, the famous camera company with which Huawei has an ongoing relationship to improve mobile photography, will open an "innovation center" at its German campus and, employing several Huawei engineers to improve the camera hardware and software experience in smartphones.
Reader comments
Huawei Mate 9 arriving in the U.S. Jan 6 for $599, will add Alexa support in a future update
1080p resolution ...fail
You know I'd go for a 1080p screen if it meant longer battery life than most Quad HD flagships.
1080p with a 4000mah battery is a win in my book.
How much better does QHD look than 1080p at normal viewing distance? Negligible at best.
How much better does QHD and a dead battery look than 1080p still powered on? #DropMic
I'd go QHD if it's an OLED panel.
Sounds like the QHD OLEDs have become pretty good in terms of power consumption.
Not entirely.
The PPI number does look low, but remember that it's an RGB panel.
Yes, if you squint, you can see some form of pixelation, but at a normal operating distance, it's more than adequate. And it's quite bright too.
Everything seems good but it isn't waterproof.... I really want to leave my s7 edge.
The asus Zenfone 3 Zoom also interest me. Specs aren't as good but if that camera rivals Samsung and Apple I'll take the snapdragon 625 with the 5000mah battery. Should be lower price too.
Ordered the moonlight white from B&H photo. Will be here on Jan 10. Choose it over Amazon because of no tax even though return might be a little hassle than Amazon if needed.
Returning with them is easy, you just have to pay for return shipping.
Take it from someone who has ordered and returned A LOT with them.
Thanks !!!
Oh yeah I'm definitely going to kill off Alexa if I see it on any of my phones. My kids got it on their tablets... Alexa isn't even that great compared Google AI unless you like being a compulsive buyer and are up to brim in cash...
Exactly. A nice feature for those where money is no object and just order whatever you want when you want. That isn't reality for the vast vast majority of people and doesn't have much use.
For businesses, a different story but again, a very small niche of businesses order things in that manner and useless for the vast majority of them.
I used the Mate 9.
It's seriously good. First Huawei I actually want to use as a daily. Snappy performance, terrific cameras, great battery life and a build of EMUI that finally gets it right.
A little late for the US, but it's still currently my top big-screen device for last year and it currently still is.
Your stamp of approval makes the cart I have it in look that much better lol.
I've been watching a lot of real camera reviews and the mate 9 looks like the next one for me.
I'm glad that I'm not the only one watching those Real Camera Reviews by @SomeGadgetGuy. Apparently they aren't getting as many views and shares as they would like. Might jeapordize future ones going forward. So please watch and share them! They are the most thorough mobile camera reviews out there!
Been watching Juan's camera reviews for a long while now.
Honestly, they've become my prime source for phone camera reviews because they're so in-depth and showcases the camera's performance in much wider scenarios. It was the RCR that actually showed me how the Pixel's lens flare issue actually looked like when in use.
So yes, I would suggest you watch them and leave a comment telling your thoughts and maybe how you'd like to see it improve. Very few camera reviews actually make me interested, but Juan's reviews are one of those.
Most other camera reviews are so subjective that I take them with a grain of salt. That's why I love Juan's Real Camera Reviews.
I'm not big on others because they don't reality comment on the nitty-gritty and go into much detail, mainly only talking about the camera's overall performance, usually in auto mode and maybe a small glimpse at manual mode.
I love Juan's reviews not only due to how deep it is, but also how he addresses both the crowd who tends to use the auto mode often and the shutterbugs who treat their phones more like creativity tools.
Absolutely! The best camera reviews out there. I obsess over optics because it's one of the only differentiating aspects of most smartphones these days and I used to pay the bills as a 1st cam assistant so I still have a love for that side of life.
By far the most in depth and as close to scientific as possible when it comes to reviews.
I don't think you'll regret it.
It's a great phone, They finally sorted out my major gripe, which is the software.
If I didn't get the Moto, this would probably be my daily now. That said, I do actually like the Moto, surprisingly enough.
Just ordered mine through Amazon same day shipping! This phone is going to be a beast! Great reviews from what I have seen so far. And for the price with the screen, battery, processor you can't beat it! Yes its a Chinese phone. But Huawei is making some damn good phones as of late. The Honor 8 is one of the best mid range phones out there.
Very nice! Same day shipping is AWESOME!
Just wait until you look at the amount of dynamic range the two lenses produce without even needing HDR. Then the amount you get when you only shoot with the monochrome lense.
It's delicious.
They went from "alright" with the Mate 8 to "pretty damn good" with the P9/Mate 9.
A bit of a hard beast to tame if you're new, but once you do, it's terrific.
Wondering if the mate 9 pro will be released as well. Loved my 6p before I lost it. Definitely will be getting this by the end of the month
Why they don't sell 6g 128g version in US also would like to see black one as well .
There are more colors including black just not in the US currently.
This. The only way to get the 6GB 128GB version in the US is to import one, which costs you warranty coverage. That may disqualify this phone for me. A shame, because that screen size is calling me.
Ordered mine on bhphotovideo will be here tomorrow next day air. Wahoo
Nicee!
I am going to be honest. This phone won't move in the US unless they sell it through the major carriers.
I say this despite wanting one badly.
You are sadly correct. Until the US moves away from..The carrier finance model this is the world a lot of people are forced to live in when it comes to this stuff.
First world problem? Sure. Still annoying? Absolutely.
Good that they aren't selling muddled crappy ugly carrier versions
Huawei needs to offer financing options directly to consumers if they want to avoid going through carriers.
Much like how Motorola used to do financing. It would be a great way to gain entry into the US market and undercut the carriers in one fell swoop.
Agree with that, I just use PayPal while checkout and with PayPal credit you get 6 months interest free to pay off balance. That's fine with me just to spread out payments. But yeah every OEM should have the 2 year interest free financing option if people want to go that route.
Really? I didn't even realize that was an option with PayPal. My God I've been living a LIE! lol
That isn't anything I'm sure they don't already know, but a valid point nonetheless. If they were concerned, they would've contracted with them but obviously didn't want to do that with this phone quite yet and chip away at the market slowly before doing contracting with them.
Still no word on a UK release date!! :(..........or price, but undoubtedly will be expensive.........for a Huawei device. :(
I was just in London and saw the ads for it. I thought it was already released there?
Nope not yet and no info on when it will be available except that the 3 network maybe ranging it.
Oh bummer.
Yay! Excited for all of those who wanted a big phone!
One thing that is great about them is that they announce and then it's out shortly after!
Will any normal (not tech geeks) Americans buy a 600$ chinese phone they almost never heard before or a 650$ iPhone 7?
My thoughts exactly. Why buy this when it is close to Pixel and iPhone prices?
4000 Mah battery , 190 grams of solid build quality. Huawei Mate 9 is for obvious reasons a better Note 7.
A better note 7... Lol. Emui is a horrible ui and this phone isn't even out yet. I highly doubt it it's got s pen features along with all the ui features that the slim down galaxy ui has now. I'd hold off on counting it better than even the note 5 at this point. Only thing it has going for it is that the note 7 had an exploding battery.... That's about it.
EMUI is horrible so is crappy Samsung software. But given a choice yeah will choose Samsung.
Samsung ui on s6 and note 5 and s7 has changed a lot. When they get nougat it will be even less bloated or bogged down. It's not as bad as it used to be.
Yankee USA, ironically, NOT one note 7 ever exploded!!!
If you want to be technical, yes, the phone itself didn't explode but the batteries did. But whether it exploded or caught on fire it's bad anyway.
The Pixel XL is too small for some.
First of all when it comes to the Pixel, a camera lens that does not constantly flare due to design issues Google has already stated won't be fixed.
Second of all if you watch any in depth review on line pocketnow for the devices in Comparison it's really easy to see that all 3 are direct competition, wining some areas and losing others.
Just depends on what you care about.
For me I care about screen size, battery, camera. So it's mate 9 for me.
I would, but I'm not in need of a new phone.
Huawei is one of the world's largest smart phone manufacturers. It has a 6 inch screen in a body the same height as the large iPhone. It has an SD card slot. It's battery is 50% larger for zero battery anxiety. It's an Android phone. This is an Android site, so very few people reading this article want an iPhone. I own the Mate 8 and it blows away all the other phones I've had, including the Nexus 6p.
What provider are you using your mate 8 with? Did you get the nougat update?
This is exactly right. I had a mate 7 with a launcher on it and...While not perfect...It was an absolutely great phone. If I were buying right now it wouldn't even be a contest. My only two competitors would be the OnePlus 3T and the mate 9.
how's the screen qual here? lower res right? camera compete with the best? if those are good enough i might jump.
Try 7hundred and some change.. Then ask this question again.
Its $599 at B&H photo
I am a Canadian working between UK and Canada in a very environment. Therefore, its very essential to have both reliable and efficient mobile device. Having read all the projects of the new phone call called Huawei mate8, I was happy with what I read so I acquired my device from Hongkong the second of its introduction for £680 (US$830) and have been using Huawei mate8 (128GB) for over a year now. I was initially an iPhone enthusiast up until the 5, then moved Samsung 5 before Huawei. And the Huawei is the best phone ever used. No lagging, no freezing, no shutting and the battery life is amazing. And its one of the best decisions I have ever made.
If they want a big phone, why not! A lot of Note lovers tried the v20, some loved it, others not so much. This is the perfect big phone.
One of our incredibly non-geeky sales droids (Secondary Click was just found by him on his Macbook Air, on accident) when he was in China (selling stuff) bought one. He was over there for a few months, so he bought it to use over there. He liked it better than his current phone (iPhone 6+) at the time, He then brought it back to the US, and uses it here.
To make this story even more of an oddity, we are in Texas, so one of those non-geeky Americans *in the south*, bought a Huawei phone in China, and still uses it over his iPhone.
I believe the above is a literal translation of one of the 4 horseman. :)
The average, non-tech geek, American is only aware of iPhone or "Galaxy" anyway.
People keep saying this, then backing it with anecdotal experiences. But it's shifting, a lot.
first, the iphone is a chinese phone.
second, to get a comparable iphone or pixel you have to get the larger xl or plus model which is $100 more.
and if you'll need more than 32gb, which is everybody but grandma, you have to upgrade to 128gb -another $100.
that puts you at $870. not all that close to $600 really.
That's not their marketing approach so its irrelevant. If it were, they would've contracted with the major Service Carriers.
Nice might pick up one.
Dearest Huawei,
Please make a large screen flagship phone that will work on Verizon. The Nexus 6P has been a wonderful, trouble-free device for me and I would like to continue our relationship.
Thank you.
*Sigh*
The Alexa app would be first in the disabled list
Same for me, especially since I have Google Home.
I'm pretty sure that you should be able to uninstall it.
Hahaah (dead)