Huawei has announced that it has tied up with Audi to help usher in innovation in level 4 autonomous driving. The vehicle that the tech will go into first will be the new Audi Q7. Audi and Huawei will work together to evaluate a joint development with highly automated driving functions.
Huawei’s event isn’t until next week but it seems at least one part of the company’s big day has leaked early. And it’s not exactly all good news. The Huawei Watch GT, both in name and in form, is pretty much official as its product listing has gone online. And while it has all the makings of a modern smartwatch, Huawei has made changes that might mean it will be compatible only with its own smartphones and very little else.
Basically every detail was leaked this week on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. This smartphone has a unique sort of look to it, featuring three cameras on its backside with an LED flash to make a square camera array. This device has a nearly full-body display up front, with a long notch to house its cameras and frontside speaker.
It now seems that LG is the last OEM standing when it comes to sticking to Google’s wearable platform. The electronics giant just recently announced the LG Watch W7 which, despite its use of mechanical hands, still managed to run the Android-based Wear OS. Huawei’s upcoming Watch GT is all digital but, if the latest leak is to be believed, then it will not be you typical smartwatch and, worse, won’t run Wear OS by Google as initially expected and hoped.
Without any successors, it seems that OPPO and Vivo have given up their pioneering elevating camera designs. Huawei sub-brand Honor, however, hasn’t. In fact, it has yet to fully reveal its own take on the “hiding the front camera” design. It has, however, already confirmed that the Honor Magic 2 is a “screen slider” phone. But by the end of the month, it will finally be revealing all the magic tricks in its bag.
With just a few days before Huawei makes its last big splash for year, we thought we’ve heard everything we had to hear about the Mate 20. We expect that there’ll be a Huawei Mate 20, a Huawei Mate 20 Pro, and most likely a Porsche Design variant. Then almost out of the blue, Huawei itself drops a teaser that explicitly names a certain Huawei Mate 20X. It turns out, even Huawei doesn’t want to miss out on the new gaming smartphone trend.
Huawei's big reveal is barely two weeks away but that's not stopping the continuous leaks. Most of those, however, have revolved around the more premium Huawei Mate 20 Pro. It isn't Huawei's only late 2018 flagship, of course, and the Huawei Mate 20 might have a bit more screen space to offer. Unfortunately, it seems it won't be offering at least two things that will make its more expensive sibling also more special.
Huawei may have unseated Apple as the world's second biggest smartphone maker, but it's no secret that it's sub-brand Honor played a large part in its ascent. Its blend of high-end features and easy to rich prices have sometimes even rivaled Huawei's top lines themselves. But while the new Honor 8X is no P20, its availability in Europe and, soon, other markets only means that consumers will have another notable smartphone contender to choose from.
Huawei's date with the press is getting nearer but it definitely doesn't need to worry about spending too much on marketing. Countless leaks are doing the talking for it, building up the hype for its upcoming Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro. There's pretty much nothing left to be seen or heard, except for the critically important confirmation, of course. But just to be sure all the T's have been crossed and all the I's dotted, here's yet another leak. allegedly the final teaser video, baring almost all.
Apple's Pencil-enabled 2018 iPad will hopefully start a new trend in tablets. Samsung, ironically, seems to have gone the other way and forgotten to give its newest Galaxy Tab A slates an S Pen. If you are searching for an affordable Android slate with that exact feature, you might want to look at Huawei for salvation. That's because its new MediaPad M5 Lite might exactly be what you need.
Huawei will undoubtedly put the focus of its October 16th even on the Mate 20 and especially the Mate 20 Pro. Those, however, are unlikely to be its only star. Thanks to some last minute leaks, we're getting a dose of Huawei wearables, including a much-anticipated successor to the Huawei Watch 2. And that smartwatch, allegedly codenamed "Fortuna", might promise something very few touch-enabled smartwatches can promise: week-long battery life.
The year's major tech events are over but the smartphone show is far from done. In fact, it seems that many of the major OEMs actually skipped them, preferring to have their own stage. Amusingly, they all decided to do it next month, which means it will just be as busy as IFA a few weeks back. So to help you navigate through and schedule the next two to three weeks, here’s our guide to the smartphones that will be making their debut in October.