We’re now officially in the second half of 2019, which means a bunch of exciting new smartphones will be released in the coming months. On the iPhone side, we have the three iPhone 11 series handsets that Apple will unveil in early or mid-September. On the Android side of the fence, we have an even bigger playing field, with the Galaxy Note 10 being the next big Android flagship to drop. But it’s in October and November when some of the hottest Androids of the season will launch, including the Pixel 4, the OnePlus 7T Pro, as well as a handset you might not be able to buy if you live in the United States. The Mate 30 Pro is on track to launch in spite of the Huawei ban, and we’ve already got leaks that tease its new design.
When the Mate 20 series was unveiled last year, the 20 Pro was a device that surpassed the Android competition by 2018 standards. It featured a 7nm chip just like the latest iPhones, as well as a bunch of features that were not available on flagships from the competition. That is, of course, if you could get your hands on one in the States.
One of the Mate 20’s signature features was the triple-lens camera on the back, placed centrally inside a square module. Here’s what it looked like:
The iPhone 11 and Pixel 4 phones will also have square camera modules on the back, although they’ll be positioned in the top left corner. Google already showed us the Pixel 4’s rear design:
Going forward, however, Huawei will not keep the same camera module design for the Mate 30 Pro, if this latest leak is accurate. Posted on Weibo (via Slashleaks), the image shows the purported rear glass panel from the Mate 30 Pro, which has a large circular opening for the camera module instead of a square one:
The glass panel also bears Huawei and Leica markings, as seen on other Huawei handsets. In all likelihood, we’re looking at the real deal.
Even though the Mate 30 series will likely not sell in the US unless the Trump administration reverses course before then, the leak indicates that Huawei is going forward with the phone’s launch regardless of the current tensions and the import ban. Trump a few days ago announced that he would lessen the sanctions, which means several US companies, Google included, might continue to do business with the Huawei after August 19th, when the current temporary license for Huawei expires. It’s unclear how things will move forward, but the Mate 30 Pro is certainly launching and it’s shaping up to easily be one of the hottest smartphones of 2019.
