Huawei Norway invited the press to a launch event in Gambit H + K's premises in Borggården at the City Hall in Oslo. Here we got a keynote from Barcelona. Following an introduction by Andrew Garrihy (Director of Brand Huawei Consumer Business Group), Richard Yu took over - the CEO of Huawei Technologies Consumer Business Group.

Huawei Mate Xs

And what had been the great momentum was exposed right from the start - the big news that rumors expexted to be launch in March / April was already presented today. And then of course we talk about 2nd generation of the groundbraiking folding mobile from Huawei. The Mate X was launched in 2019, as one of the very first cellphones With foldable screens on the market. And the successor Mate Xs was launched today. It is similar to its predecessor, but has some improvements. The most important thing is that the processor is now a 5G Kirin 990, but also an improved Falcon Wing design in the hinge is important.

The screen of the Huawei Mate Xs is a flexible construction consisting of a two-layer polymer structure. The foldable display is made with a Huawei-developed technique where two layers of aerospace-grade polyamide are held together with an optically clear device. Huawei claims that the unique material gives the display fantastic image quality, saturation and brightness, while retaining good durability.

In folded mode, there are two screens on the Mate Xs. A 6.6-inch, and a 6.38. Now that the phone is folded out, it gives an 8-inch screen which is in reality like a small tablet of 8 inches.

Mate Xs feature Leica's SuperSensing four-camera system, which consists of a 40MP main camera (wide angle, f / 1.8), 16MP ultra-wide angle camera (f / 2.2), 8MP telephoto camera (f / 2.4, OIS) and a 3D Depth Sensing camera. Huawei's camera system has previously distinguished itself on predecessors such as the P30 Pro, and also on the Mate 30 Pro that has just arrived in Norway to a limited extent.

Mate Xs make use of multitasking, though with the large screen that can also be split into two workspaces this is of great use. Two apps can be displayed side by side, and images, text and documents can be moved from screen to screen. And with Huawei's ecosystem, it also facilitates easy transfer between mobile, tablet and PC across the operating system.

There was a sample of Mate Xs present in the demo room after the keynote, with the opportunity for close contact with both this one and other devices that were launched.

Unlike its predecessor Mate X, Mate Xs become available in Norway. This will happen at the end of March, and the price will be from NOK 24,990, - upwards. No, I didn`t say it will come for free… 

Read more about Mate Xs at Huawei

P40 Series

The P40 series is the series the world is waiting for after the Mate 30 Pro was launched a little while ago, by the way, without coming to Norway at start. Gradually it has arrived in limited stores, but then without Google's apps.

The next series out is the P40 series, and here it was a bit unusual that it was the Lite model that was shown in the demo room. Previously, the Lite version has come after the standard and Pro models, but this time it seems to come first.

There was no presentation of P40 Lite by Richard Yu, and we can't see that it has been officially launched, so specifications are only at the rumor stage. But there were certainly three Nice looking samples present, although they ended up a bit in the shade of the folding Mate Xs.

And rumors say it has 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage, 4 cameras that traditionally doesn't come from Leica on the Lite version, and neither this time. Furthermore, rumors say that the display is 6.4 inches and that the processor is a HiSilicon Kirin 810.

Huawei's representative did not know the expected price, but since previous Lite models have launched around four thousand NOK, he expect that the P40 Lite will also be in the immediate area, +/- a five hundred NOK.

Huawei MatePad Pro

The other major mobile news at today's launch was the Huawei MatePad Pro. This tablet is Huawei's flagship in the new MatePad series. Huawei boasts that the MatePad Pro has the world's best ratio of 10.8 inch screen and body, with a ratio of 90%.

Also the MatePad Pro has the same Kirin 990 chip that the Mate Xd has. EMUI10 also provides support for features such as Multi-Window, Multi-screen Collaboration and Huawei APP Multiplier.

Huawei's M-Pencil and Smart Magnetic Keyboard are highlighted by available accessories. Huawei claims that MatePad Pro is the world's first tablet to support wireless and reverse charging.

The weight of the MatePad Pro is just under 500 grams.

Prices in Euro on various variants of MatePad Pro:

• 549 € with 6GB memory and 128GB storage, WiFi
• 649 € with 8gB memory and 256 GB storage, WiFi
• 749 € with 8GB memory and 256 GB storage, WiFi. Includes M-pencil / Vegan Leather edition
• 599 € with 6GB memory and 128GB storage, LTE
• 699 € with 8GB memory and 256 GB storage, LTE

Read more about MatePad Pro at Huawei

Huawei AppGallery

The well-known exclusion of Huawei from Google's apps, including the Play Store, has obviously triggered Huawei to boost the work on their own App store. Or Huawei AppGallery, as it's called. We might imagine seeng a hint of the motto: If you can`t join them, beat them?

Richard Yu spent a lot of time emphasizing the rise of Huawei AppGallery, presenting it as one of the three big app-stores, alongside the Play Store and Apple Store. This is obviously Huawei's strategy to overcome the exclusion from Google's world, and an obviously correct and necessary strategy. There is a lot of focus on AppGallery to grow fast, among other things by facilitating developers. In early March, Huawei in Norway will hold a press conference to talk about the efforts and development of AppGallery.

On the other hand, Richard Yu also emphasized the good cooperation Huawei has had with Google over the last 10 years, and obviously wants this cooperation to resume. Who knows what happens after the election during the fall 2020...

Read more about AppGallery at Huawei

Laptop

Three laptop models were presented at today's launch. The top model Huawei MateBook X Pro is an update to the FullView model that was launched in 2018 and comes in two versions. The Ultra FullView screen is a 13.9 inch LTPS panel that supports up to 3K resolution (3000x2000). Matbook X Pro comes in two versions, with prices of 17,999, - and 19,999, - respectively.

At the opposite end of the scale, the two moderately priced MateBook D14 and MateBook D15 were launched. Integrated fingerprint reader in the power button is a fitting solution that is noticed.

Read more about Matebook X Pro at Huawei

Read more about the MateBook D14 at Huawei

Read more about the MateBook D15 at Huawei

Update 27.02.2020

The day after this article was published, Huawei's Keynote was posted on Youtube. We post it here, and give particularly interested opportunity to see it.