The Huawei Mate 9 family is now complete. This comes after the addition, last Friday, of a new member, the Huawei Mate 9 Lite.
Yes, there’s now a “lite” version of Huawei’s flagship smartphone for the second half of the year.
This news came just under a week after the Chinese device maker officially announced the Mate 9 Pro during the Mate 9’s launch event in China. The Mate 9 Pro is just a remake of the Porsche Design Mate 9 without the Porsche Design influence and as a result, way cheaper.
To qualify as a “lite” mid-range version of the high-end Mate 9, the Mate Lite’s specifications have been excessively watered down. The processor, for instance, is stepped down from the new Kirin 960 to the mid-range Kirin 655. To make sure there is no excessive demand on the processor, the software that the device packs is also not up to date. Unlike the Mate 9 that arrives with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box, the Mate 9 Lite ships with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and EMUI 4.1. The latest version of EMUI is 5.0 and it is what runs on the Mate 9.
Even though stepped down and without the Leica branding, the dual-camera setup that is the Mate 9’s signature lives on in the cheaper device’s back. Underneath it is the fingerprint sensor which has also survived the axe.
The screen resolution remains the same at 1080p (full high definition).
Huawei Mate 9 Lite Specifications
| Size and weight | 150.9 x 76.2 x 8.2 mm, 162g |
| Display | 5.5-inch full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS TFT protected by Gorilla Glass 4 with support for wet touch input |
| Processor | Octa-core Kirin 655 (4x2.1GHz+4x1.7GHz) |
| Memory | 3GB RAM+32GB internal storage (expandable via microSD) or 4GB RAM+64GB onboard storage |
| Camera | Back: 12MP+2MP; Front: 8MP |
| Operating System | EMUI 4.1 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow |
| Battery | 3,340mAh |
| Network | 3G, 4G LTE |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ |
| Other | Fingerprint sensor |
Huawei has for a while now maintained a tradition of releasing watered-down versions of its flagship devices that cost almost half the price of their superiors. Just like the P9 Lite I just reviewed. The Mate 9 Lite is expected to follow this trend even though its official pricing has not yet been revealed. As is its availability date in the international market.
The device will be available in gray, gold and silver colour options.
