Huawei Mate 9 to sport 4X optical zoom, cost up to $1300

posted by Daniel P. / Oct 24, 2016, 2:36 AM

Huawei Mate 9 to sport 4X optical zoom, cost up to $1300

If you thought you knew everything about the upcoming Huawei Mate 9 monster of a phone, a famed leakster just proved you wrong. While we've been hearing for weeks now about the eventual breathtaking specs of Huawei's giant handset, Evan Blass of @evleaks fame just put a swirl on top of the icing, claiming that 1) the phone will sport 4x optical zoom, and 2) the top of the line model of it will cost $1300.

That's for the Mate 9 Pro version with the alleged 5.9" curved Quad HD display, 256 GB storage and Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box, but still. Recent Huawei pricing meets the Apple and Samsung's one, and raises them a Benjamin or two. Apparently, the alleged 4x optical zoom will be a big selling point, or so Huawei hopes.

After branding the P9 with Leica, the company recently entered a partnership with the renowned German optics enterprise for mobile cameras, and we might see the first fruits of this collaboration in none other than the Mate 9/Pro. Given that the phablet is expected to sport a dual camera config, with the "Leica" stamp between the two lenses, we'd wager to guess that the eventual 4x zoom might be achieved in a similar fashion to the one on the iPhone 7 Plus - using a "telephoto" lens that is situated higher than the wide-angle main one to zoom in.

The setup looks similar to the one on the P9, and even Leica's "Summarit-H 1:2.2/27 ASPH" lens description is featured prominently on the side. What else will be in there to justify that pricing, remains to be seen.

Snap (no pun intended): Mate 9/Pro feature 4x optical zoom. But pricing on a spec'ed out Pro is enough to give you a heart attack: $1300.
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) 23 октомври 2016 г.

Related phones

View Full specs

PhoneArena Rating:

8.0

Read Full Review

User Rating:

9.8

Based on 4 Reviews

Display 5.9" 1080 x 1920 pixels

Camera 12 MP / 8 MP front

Processor HiSilicon Kirin, Octa-core, 2400 MHz

Storage 64 GB + microSDXC

Battery 4000 mAh

FEATURED VIDEO

Options

31 Comments

1. redmd

Posts: 1948; Member since: Oct 26, 2011

Not anymore a bang-for-buck brand.

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 2:47 AM 0

2. Ezio2710

Posts: 548; Member since: Aug 22, 2015

lol......no one gonna buy 1300$ chinese mobile

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 2:47 AM 3

18. NicAngel unregistered

I will

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 5:50 AM 2

19. Airforce

Posts: 70; Member since: Jul 24, 2012

No its just too MUCH for a phone , even Apple are smart enough not to make their phones cross the $1000 mark so who the f**** is HUAEWI that is bringing such prices.

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 6:40 AM 4

22. aikoo

Posts: 129; Member since: Feb 27, 2016

1. Lol, who said this phone was coming to the U.S? 2. In others countries, the iPhone 7+ does cost over $1000.

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 6:55 AM 6

23. coldspring22

Posts: 349; Member since: Feb 28, 2015

Giving too much credit to Apple! Base Iphone 7 in China cost $959, and iphone 7 plus 128GB cost $1079. This is per ZDNET article "iphone 7 pricetag may hinder China sales". And according to latest sales data of iphone 7, it certain seem to have slowed down iphone sales in China!

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 8:06 AM 1

25. BlackhawkFlys

Posts: 930; Member since: May 07, 2014

Evan Blass slips

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 11:15 AM 0

3. deewinc

Posts: 455; Member since: Feb 21, 2013

If it comes equipped with a photo printer that should be okay

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 2:49 AM 1

4. Jason2k13

Posts: 1471; Member since: Mar 28, 2013

The front is a galaxy S6 edge, with the Samsung Logo replaced with Huawei.

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 3:03 AM 0

5. mazallah

Posts: 22; Member since: Jul 29, 2016

4x Optical Zoom is great but 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of all the smartphone users in the world will probably not use the feature. 1300 dollar's is probaby because Leica takes heavy royalties. They aren't a small company and they are one of the top 3 in the world in their business.

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 3:13 AM 1

10. wargreymon

Posts: 764; Member since: Nov 05, 2013

People who know digital zoom is worthless don't use it. But I see a lot of people zoom in because they want to focus on something. Optical/lossless zoom I would totally use.

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 3:44 AM 1

20. Nathan_ingx

Posts: 4769; Member since: Mar 07, 2012

For that much money, you'd get a decent DSLR if you're really into zooming in and out of a frame. Cameras in phones are meant for quick shots. Yes, having a optical zoom feature is great but not on a cellphone that costs this much.

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 6:44 AM 2

27. ibend

Posts: 6747; Member since: Sep 30, 2014

or you can get a flagship + a rebel with that much money, lol...

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 11:54 AM 0

17. w1000i

Posts: 251; Member since: Jul 22, 2015

When you zoom is better than taking photo from short distance, a zoomed photo has nice depth

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 5:46 AM 0

6. B3st2

Posts: 13; Member since: Oct 24, 2016

1300$ no wayyyyyy!! Nobody is going to pay premium for Huawei !! even if it had 15x zoom LOL

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 3:15 AM 3

29. bossman

Posts: 264; Member since: Jan 27, 2016

I would buy it if it had 15x zoom

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 3:42 PM 1

7. dazed1

Posts: 808; Member since: Jul 28, 2015

LOL even a phone with Kirin 960 does not worth more then 550$, period.

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 3:32 AM 1

8. Plasticsh1t

Posts: 3109; Member since: Sep 01, 2014

If it can wash the dishes and do the laundry maybe I'll consider getting it otherwise not worth it.

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 3:37 AM 2

9. straightfromhell

Posts: 15; Member since: Oct 24, 2016

So expensive. I would rather food instead of

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 3:37 AM 2

11. scarface21173

Posts: 702; Member since: Aug 17, 2014

Wait for the reviews, if its the best phone on the planet. Then yeah its worth it.

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 3:48 AM 0

13. dazed1

Posts: 808; Member since: Jul 28, 2015

Nope!

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 4:25 AM 2

12. Boybawang

Posts: 205; Member since: Jun 02, 2013

The LG G5 wide angle second camera is more usable than optical zoom.

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 4:15 AM 3

26. BlackhawkFlys

Posts: 930; Member since: May 07, 2014

P9s monochrome camera is also more usable.. I hope don't go the Apple's way

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 11:19 AM 0

14. BradyCrack

Posts: 835; Member since: Dec 29, 2015

4 times optical zoom is amazing! What beautiful phone!

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 5:17 AM 1

15. jayvie

Posts: 20; Member since: May 17, 2016

4x optical zoom, beautiful! But, with 4x the regular price, no way!

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 5:34 AM 4

16. rsiders

Posts: 2015; Member since: Nov 17, 2011

And then it hits you that you can get a nice DSLR/mirrorless camera and an actual zoom lens for less and keep the phone you have which most likely already has a great camera on it.

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 5:37 AM 0

24. Furbal unregistered

my fz1000 was ~$540. Photo quality is damn good and you can literally zoom to the moon with it

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 11:07 AM 1

21. Martin_Cooper

Posts: 1774; Member since: Jul 30, 2013

800$ top of the top phone, you save the 500$ and buy an amazing tiny pocket camera with 4-8X zoom amazing lens, bigger than phone sensor and have it in your car at all times in case you need it. This is beyond stupid and I highly doubt Huawei would ever do that. Most probably the 1300$ version if it exists will have some ridiculous material that its made from.

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 6:53 AM 0

28. rsiders

Posts: 2015; Member since: Nov 17, 2011

There's just no way that price is accurate.

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 12:17 PM 1

30. kotan24

Posts: 320; Member since: Oct 29, 2012

For that price I expect the fastest most efficient processor in the industry (apple's A10), the best screen (note 7) the best camera (better than the note 7) the best speakers (stereo ones at least like the ones on the htc m7) water resistant yet the best design one (note 7) a big ass battery (at least 4500 mAh) dual boot os android and ios! Don't have what I ask in return for my $1300 then gtfo!

posted on Oct 24, 2016, 5:29 PM 0

view all comments