Huawei Mate 9 and Mate S2 to get Leica rear camera duo

posted by Ben R.

Sep 05, 2016, 5:53 AM

Huawei Mate 9 and Mate S2 to get Leica rear camera duo

In pursuit of the upcoming Huawei Mate 9, a new tidbit has shed some light on the device's rear man camera, or cameras. Previously touted to include two sensors at the rear, the latest info adds that it'll be another joint effort with optics firm Leica.

As you might recall, Huawei hooked up with Leica to produce the duo of rear shooters for its flagship P9. The Chinese firm made much fanfare of the collaborative effort in the run-up to the launch, as one might expect. Whilst the Leica branding is proudly etched into the devices outer layers, though, we didn't find much to write home about in our review. It's not that the cameras are particularly bad, but they simply don't stand out as we one might expect given the hype.

Nevertheless, it appears that the two firms will once again work in tandem for Huawei's Mate 9. According to GizmoChina, which references a Weibo source, Leica will help build the cameras bundled with OIS, (laser) autofocus and analog zoom. The report also mentions that the cameras of the oft-rumored Mate S2 could also be in for the Leica treatment.

From what we've heard before now, the device will also get a Kirin 960 SoC and up to 6 GB of RAM. We've heard a lot about future devices upping the ante in the RAM department, including Xiaomi's unannounced Mi Note 2 and a China-only version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. If true, they would follow the likes of the Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe with such hefty reserves.

The device is expected to run on the EMUI 5 based on Android 7.0 Nougat. There's no announcement date to circle in the diary as yet, though a Huawei exec did recently reveal that both the Mate 9 and Mate S2 will be unveiled later this year.

Would you be interested in a Mate 9 with Leica optics and 6 GB RAM? Let us know in the comments.