Huawei’s first 5G phone is launching this month

13 Jul 2019 10:27 AM
https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/12/20691453/huawei-mate-x-5g-release-date-china-italy-uae-android
Huawei’s debut 5G phone, the Huawei Mate 20 X 5G, will launch in select markets before the end of July, despite continued uncertainty around Huawei’s future as a manufacturer of Android devices. China’s state-run Global Times reports that the phone will go on sale in China on July 26th, while VentureBeat notes that the phone is currently available to preorder from Amazon’s Italian site with a release date of July 22nd, and will be available in the UAE on July 12th.

The Huawei Mate 20 X 5G is very similar to the existing Mate 20 X externally, with the same 7.2-inch screen, and trio of rear cameras. However, internally its components have been upgraded slightly to handle the demands of its 5G Balong 5000 modem. Most notably, the battery has been increased from 4,200mAh to 5,000mAh, its RAM has increased from 6GB to 8GB, and its storage has been boosted from 128GB to 256GB.

In other countries the release of Huawei’s first 5G handset is more uncertain thanks to the company’s continued presence on the USA’s Entity List, which has caused Google to suspend its Android license. In the UK, Huawei had originally intended to release it in June, but the handset was subsequently dropped from the 5G launches of both EE and Vodafone.

There are signs that the Trump administration could be set to ease restrictions on Huawei, but there are still ongoing questions about how this will affect its future phones. For now, US officials have said that Huawei will remain on the Entity List, but that it will issue licenses and allow US companies to trade with Huawei “where there is no threat to US national security.” However, it’s currently unclear what impact this would have on Huawei’s use of Android and ARM-based chipsets, for example.