Huawei Mate 9 Lite goes official with 5.5-inch FHD display, dual camera setup, Marshmallow

Huawei announced no less than three Mate 9 variations in less than two weeks, so the fact that it's just silently released another one won't surprise anyone. After announcing the regular Mate 9 flagship and the premium Porsche Design Mate 9, the handset maker unveiled the Mate 9 Pro model in China.

Today, a new, “lighter” version of the Mate 9 makes its debut on the market, the Mate 9 Lite. The smartphone has already been listed on the company's website, but no details about availability or pricing options have been disclosed yet.

It's good that we have info on its specs though. According to the listing, the Mate 9 Lite is a mid-range smartphone that will ship with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and EMUI 4.1. That's pretty sad considering the other three models run Android 7.0 Nougat right out of the box.

Also, the Mate 9 Lite comes with a 5.5-inch display that supports full HD (1080p) resolution. On the inside, instead of the powerful Kirin 960 chipset, Huwei added a 2.1GHz octa-core Kirin 655 processor, which is complemented by 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

Huawei also states that the a slightly bumped version of Mate 9 Lite with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage will be launched on the market.

The Mate 9 Lite retains the dual-camera setup (no Leica though), but in a slightly downgrade form: 12MP + 2MP camera. In the front, there's a secondary 8-megapixel selfie shooter.

The smartphone is powered by a 3,340 mAh battery and packs a fingerprint sensor on the back side, below the dual-camera setup. Huawei Mate 9 Lite will be available in three color variations: Gold, Grey and Silver.