iPhone Air, Galaxy S25 Edge competitor to flex 30x zoom, 6,000+ mAh battery and a 7-inch screen

When the Huawei Mate 80 series drops in November, it's expected that a device called Huawei Mate 70 Air will join it.

We've already shown you what it allegedly looks like, and the leaked image does resemble a thin chassis indeed. However, there's a massive circular camera island on its rear.

So, a slim phone with a telephoto?

So far, nothing is confirmed by Huawei about the possibility of a dedicated telephoto on this handset, but given the sheer size of that camera island, this could very well be the case.

The iPhone Air has a single camera on its back, while the Galaxy S25 Edge doubles that with a dedicated ultra-wide snapper. So, the Huawei Mate 70 Air could be the first ultraslim phone with a dedicated telephoto camera – but we'll learn all about it soon. November is almost here.

There are claims that the Mate 70 Air could offer 30x hybrid zoom. Hybrid zoom uses software to blend data from multiple lenses, combining optical and digital zoom to deliver clearer long-distance shots with higher magnification and less image quality loss. That's another hint the phone might have a standalone telephoto on its back.

For reference, the Galaxy S25 Edge and the iPhone Air rely on digital zoom. Apple presented the Air model and its single 48MP Fusion camera as equal to four cameras, but in practice, things are very different:



Now, the Mate 70 Air could indeed deliver 30x zoom, but what would those shots look like? The Pixel 10 Pro's 100x Pro Res feature – as cool as it is – sometimes struggles…

But how thin is that thing going to be?

Apparently, not extremely thin. Again, nothing is confirmed, but reports claim a thickness of over 6 mm, but under 7 mm. For reference, both the Galaxy S25 Edge and the iPhone Air are under 6 mm. The third current-day super-thin phone, the Motorola Edge 70, is in the middle with 6 mm thickness.

Previous reports say the Mate 70 Air could come with a massive 7-inch display, which is in petite tablet territory.

What's more, the phone could be equipped with a battery that exceeds 6,000 mAh of capacity. Battery life is among the things wasp-waisted devices struggle with the most, but if the display is indeed a 7-inch one and if Huawei goes for a silicon-carbon cell, this could very well be the case.

All in all, the Mate 70 Air looks like an interesting device. It's sad we won't get it in the West, but the US still hasn't forgiven Huawei.