Huawei's Mate 20 phone debuts amid cyber security concerns
927 views · Published 21 October 2018 · 4:53 · Indexed 2 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(16 Oct 2018) LEADIN: Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has debuted its new Mate 20 series of smartphones in London. The new Mate 20 device is packed with several AI-enabled camera features in a bid to keep pace with market competitors Samsung and Apple. STORYLINE: Huawei's new smartphone lets users "share" their device's battery with others. The Mate 20 boasts a larger battery in comparison to the previous device, the Mate 10, up from 4,000 mAh to 4,200. Huawei says the smartphone is also equipped with high-speed wireless charging, meaning a 70 percent charge in about 30 minutes. A new feature - called "Wireless Reverse Charging" - lets Mate 20 users "share" their phone's battery with another device. Huawei's Mate 20 smartphone is fitted with the new Kirin 980 chipset, delivering Dual NPU (neural processing unit). That means faster processing and power efficiency. It enables everything from faster download speeds to AI picture recognition. A new feature - called "AI Cinema Mode" - uses artificial intelligence to highlight the person in a video and remove all the colour around them in real-time. Huawei announced three versions of its new Mate 20 smartphone. There's the regular 6.39-inch, 2K resolution, LED display device, a slightly larger and costlier 6.53-inch Mate 20 Pro. Then there's a 7.2-inch Mate 20 X device that's geared for gaming on the go. Richard Yu, the company's CEO of Consumer Business Group, said the Mate 20 would be priced from 799 euros. The Chinese telecommunications giant is currently locked in a battle with Apple to be the world's second largest smartphone producer. According to tech research firm Gartner, for the first time ever Huawei surpassed Apple in the second quarter of 2018, claiming a 13.3 percent market share. Huawei, which has faced roadblocks in the U.S. and Australia for telecom gear sales, has turned its focus on Europe, where profits have been rising. The company has partnered with European firms to develop next-generation wireless network standards. Some governments have raised cybersecurity concerns about privately owned Huawei, with officials scrutinizing the company, which was founded in 1987 by a former military engineer, over its links to the Chinese government. Washington has long stymied Huawei's efforts to enter the U.S. market for network equipment, citing national security concerns. The company has failed to find a U.S. carrier to partner with for its smartphones, with a deal with carrier AT&T reportedly falling apart in January. More recently, Australia effectively blocked Huawei and its Chinese rival ZTE from taking part in the roll-out of the country's 5G network next year, citing the risks from companies "likely to be subject to extrajudicial directions from a foreign government." "I think what we saw today with Huawei is a presentation focused on technology leadership, on features like the mobile network experience, like the NPU - a feature of their chipset - like the tweaked camera, which are setting them up as a quality player in the market," says mobile expert, Ian Fogg. "What they probably need to do as well is top have a strong brand alongside that. It's not sufficient to be a technology leader, they need the brand as well. "And that's something where established players which have been operating in the market for much longer, like Apple and Samsung, have traction." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/8d3c644c9ada17d3bd26bb9869c3cdfa
