Huawei Mate 10 Pro review: Plans | Pricing | Specs

The Mate 10 Pro takes the formula for the Mate 10 and makes it just that little bit bigger and better.

Huawei has very much trodden its own path in the Android world, eschewing the standard Qualcomm path for its own Kirin silicon with generally solid results. While the larger part of its device story in Australia has revolved around more affordable handsets for budget and prepaid buyers, it has also launched its premium P and Mate series to take on the established players.

The Huawei Mate 10 Pro was the effective last "premium" handset to launch in Australia in 2017, and Huawei promised big things for its premium productivity phablet.

Design

• Professional-looking design
• A very large phone to hold

• Read more on the Huawei Mate 10 Pro design

  
  While the Huawei Mate 10 Pro and Mate 10 belong rather obviously to the same product family, there's a very easy way to tell the two phones apart in Australia.

  That's because the Mate 10 in Australia will only be sold in the black finish, while all Mate 10 Pros will ship in the dark metallic blue hue. I'm something of a sucker for metallic blue phones, and obviously, your tastes may vary.

  The rear of the phone is glass-backed, and this does mean that it can rather rapidly become smudged with fingerprints unless you use the supplied clear plastic case.

  You do technically have a choice if the blue tone doesn't suit because Huawei sold a limited quantity of the Porsche Design Mate 10 handsets in Australia. They're essentially Mate 10 Pros with more RAM and onboard storage alongside a fancy Porsche Design. Then again, you're also paying an $800 premium for that privilege, so choose wisely.

  The Huawei Mate 10 Pro measures in at 154.2x74.5x7.9mm so it's naturally a large handset in your hand. Bezels are minimal with Huawei branding at the base and the front facing camera at the top, around a 6-inch 1080x2160 display with rather eye-popping vibrancy as the default setting.

  

  Buy the Huawei Mate 10 Pro from Amazon AU

  Slick performance and an impressively smart camera make the Huawei Mate 10 Pro a premium handset well worth its price tag.

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  Then again, the Google Pixel 2 XL excluded, that's rather the norm for most Android phones these days. While the Mate 10 features a front-facing fingerprint scanner, the Mate 10 Pro hides it around the back beneath the dual camera lenses in a space that's essentially identical to that found on the Pixel 2 XL. I've been reviewing both simultaneously, and my muscle memory can find that fingerprint sensor without fail every time. It's fast, too, which is a very welcome touch.

  The Mate 10 Pro is Huawei's first take on a water-resistant handset, which is a welcome inclusion for a company that has historically not offered that feature, but there's a significant tradeoff at play here. The regular Mate 10 has no water resistance, but it does offer a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, as well as the ability to use microSD cards for added storage. The Mate 10 Pro has neither of those features, and it's not hard to surmise that the added water resistance is the reason why.

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Camera

• Leica lenses plus AI can lead to impressive photos
• Beauty mode can go a little too far

• Read more on the Huawei Mate 10 Pro camera

  

  Huawei has had a strong presence in the premium camera space thanks to its tie-up with established camera brand Leica.

  For the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, it's taken the formula it applied to the Huawei P10 Plus and improved it just a little, with dual rear sensors clocking in at 12MP RGB and 20MP monochrome, both at f/1.6 compared to the P10 Plus' f/1.8. Like the P10 Plus, they're Leica Summilux lenses. On the front, you'll find an 8MP RGB sensor for selfies that can also (like Google's Pixel 2 phones) manage its own portrait mode through software alone.

  Like the Pixel 2, the effect can work well, or it can be a little obviously artificial. Here's a sample selfie with and without the portrait bokeh effect in play:

  

  There's also an inbuilt beauty mode, which can polish out minor imperfections, or turn you into a plastic surgeon's nightmare if you take it too far.

  Huawei pitches the Mate 10 Pro as a premium camera, and the folks at DxOMark seemed to agree at the time, placing it firmly in the top performing camera phones of 2017. Here's how the Huawei Mate 10 Pro compared against other premium flagships of its era according to its scoring benchmarks:

  Handset	DxOMark Score
  Google Pixel 2	98
  Apple iPhone X	97
  Huawei Mate 10 Pro	97
  Apple iPhone 8 Plus	94
  Samsung Galaxy Note 8	94
  Apple iPhone 8	92

  While the underlying camera hardware on the Huawei Mate 10 Pro is impressive, it's in the software that Huawei claims it can make a difference to the user experience. The Mate 10 Pro features a neural processor that Huawei specifically uses to identify scenes and automatically apply the best possible photographic settings.

  The AI can (in theory) identify the differences between cats and dogs and alter parameters on the fly for the best results, with a tiny image of its selected mode appearing when it identifies a subject. It's not quite 100% accurate, although there is scope for it to learn over time.

  It's a similar approach again to how the Google Pixel 2 handles its camera work, but where that phone uses software, Huawei is explicitly using hardware to handle the heavy lifting. If you're a photo novice it can work very well, especially in low light. Here's how the Huawei Mate 10 Pro automatically interpreted a low light shot of the Sydney Harbour Bridge:

  

  Here's how the Pixel 2 XL took that shot:

  

  And the iPhone X's interpretation of the scene:

  

  If you're not a fan of the camera automatically deciding on settings for you, pro tweaking is only a swipe away.

  Overall, the Mate 10 Pro lives up to the expectations I'd have of a premium Huawei phone in 2017, with fast capture and focus, and pleasing photographic results. Here are some sample shots:

  

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Performance

• Good application performance
• Few apps take full advantage of the NPU

• Read more on the Huawei Mate 10 Pro performance

  While the majority of premium Android handsets in 2017 have opted to use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 SoC, Huawei went its own way with its Kirin family of processors. The Huawei Mate 10 Pro (and Mate 10) are the first handsets to run on the new Kirin 970 SoC, which as mentioned previously, includes a neural processor for handling AI tasks. By Huawei's claims, the neural processor can aid performance by up to 50%, but there is something of a catch here.

  Applications have to be coded to actively support the neural processor, and at launch, they're explicitly few and far between.

  Huawei points to Microsoft's Translate app as being neurally aware, and it certainly seems slick, but in my testing, it didn't appear that much faster than using Google Translate. Rather like Huawei's claim of software that auto-optimises Android responsiveness over time, the neural processor in the Mate 10 Pro is a very hard critter to quantify. On a performance level, the same is true of the fact that the Mate 10 Pro is the first Category 18 phone to hit Australia. It's great to be ready for the future, but nobody in Australia is offering Cat 18 speeds yet.

  Thankfully, the actual app performance of the Mate 10 Pro is substantially nippy anyway, right up there with the best of the Android cohort in day-to-day usage as well as benchmark results. Here's how it compares against contemporary phones of its time using Geekbench 4's CPU test:

  Handset	Geekbench 4 CPU Single Core (higher is better)	Geekbench 4 CPU Multi Core (higher is better)
  Apple iPhone X	4185	10319
  Apple iPhone 8	4270	10272
  Apple iPhone 8 Plus	4113	10221
  Huawei Mate 10 Pro	1888	6787
  Samsung Galaxy S8+	2020	6690
  Samsung Galaxy S8	1989	6628
  Huawei P10 Plus	1863	6544
  Nokia 8	1932	6529
  OnePlus 5	1976	6506
  Samsung Galaxy Note 8	2024	6490
  HTC U11	1919	6362
  Sony Xperia XZ Premium	1908	6324
  Google Pixel 2 XL	1914	6254

  Clearly, it rests on using multi-core performance to make it as quick as it is. Here's where it stands using 3DMark's Ice Storm Unlimited test:

  Handset	3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited Result
  Apple iPhone 8	64461
  Apple iPhone X	61256
  Apple iPhone 8 Plus	59205
  HTC U11	40239
  Sony Xperia XZ Premium	40086
  Google Pixel 2 XL	39551
  OnePlus 5	39497
  Samsung Galaxy Note 8	32277
  Huawei Mate 10 Pro	30765

  The Huawei Mate 10 Pro comes with Android 8.0 ("Oreo") out of the box, which means you get the latest Android features, but it's also running Huawei's often inconsistent EMUI overlay on top. EMUI is very much an acquired taste, whether you're trying to work out where specific settings are or trying to get the more gimmicky features, such as knocking on the screen to get a screenshot taken.

  I'm not so certain that anyone should be punching their phone screens to start with, but leaving that aside, it's just not consistent enough beyond its gimmick status to be worth bothering with. For every screenshot I captured, there were at least five random screen selections or highlights that engaged instead. EMUI is clearly something Huawei is committed to continuing with, but it's often either unresponsive in application or confusing if you're used to a more regular Android approach, albeit not quite as nuclear a rewrite of Android as, say, Oppo's ColorOS.

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Battery life

• 4,000mAh battery
• But battery life that's worse than smaller competitor handsets

• Read more on the Huawei Mate 10 Pro battery life

  

  Battery life in large screened phones has been a contentious issue ever since the first wisps of smoke started emerging from Samsung's ill-fated Galaxy Note 7, with many manufacturers opting for smaller batteries and pinning their hopes on improved processor performance to carry the power story. Not so Huawei.

  The Huawei Mate 10 comes with a 4,000mAh battery and the approval tick of safety from external outlet TÜV Rheinland. 4,000mAh is a lot of power to put into a smartphone, and with it, there's a fair expectation that you should get a lot of battery life.

  Battery testing is by its nature somewhat subjective because a heavy user can flatten any smartphone given the right apps within a day, while light users may get significantly more battery life than other users may expect.

  Using Geekbench 3's battery test, which delivers a consistent use for as long as it takes for the battery to exhaust, gives us a picture of the Mate 10's comparable battery performance:

  Handset	Geekbench 3 Battery Test Duration	Geekbench 3 Battery Score
  Apple iPhone 8 Plus	15:27:40	9276
  Galaxy S8+	14:55:30	8955
  Google Pixel 2 XL	14:22:30	8625
  Apple iPhone X	12:46:50	7652
  Nokia 8	12:22:10	7421
  Sony Xperia XZ Premium	12:06:40	7266
  Samsung Galaxy Note 8	12:00:50	7208
  Samsung Galaxy S8	11:47:50	7078
  HTC U11	11:42:40	7026
  Huawei Mate 10 Pro	10:50:30	6505
  Apple iPhone 8	10:30:00	DNF

  Given the massive capacity of the battery in the Mate 10 Pro, that battery life figure is a little disappointing. It's certainly feasible to get all-day battery life out of the Mate 10 Pro, and Huawei's own provided supercharger can fire it up with power in a pinch, but in a straight line comparative sense, it should have done more.

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Verdict

• Good price for a premium handset
• EMUI, lack of storage expansion and battery life woes are a problem

• Read our full Huawei Mate 10 Pro verdict

  Huawei has long gone its own way, and in the Huawei Mate 10 Pro it's delivered a fascinating and somewhat compelling, somewhat compromised vision of what a premium smartphone can be. It's far too early to call whether or not its neural processor is actually a gamechanger, so all we can do is assess it against the existing competition.

  There are some limitations inherent in the Mate 10 Pro's design. If other manufacturers can produce water-resistant phones with integrated headphone jacks and microSD card storage then it feels poor that Huawei couldn't manage likewise. EMUI isn't to everyone's taste, even if this is one of the few phones you can buy right now with Android 8.0 on board.

  Still, it's recommended if you like Huawei's general approach to photography, especially at its price point, which is also a key factor in determining its overall value. Where most large screen phones have tended towards a $1,500 price point (or thereabouts) the Huawei Mate 10 Pro delivers value at a much lower selling price.

  

  Alternatives

  Within the Huawei family, the obvious competitors would be the slightly less expensive Huawei Mate 10, available now through Vodafone and outright, or if you just want the Leica lenses, consider the P10 Plus or even the Huawei P10.

  If it's a large screen phone you're after and you want a purer Android experience, the Telstra-exclusive Pixel 2 XL could be a good match, as could Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 or HTC's U11. If you want a large screen phone with best-in-class battery life and you're happy to swap operating system camps, consider Apple's iPhone 8 Plus.

  

  Buy the Huawei Mate 10 Pro from Amazon AU

  Slick performance and an impressively smart camera make the Huawei Mate 10 Pro a premium handset well worth its price tag.

  View details

  Huawei Mate 10 Pro: What the other reviewers say

  Site	Comment	Score
  TechRadar (Mate 10)	"The Huawei Mate 10 is a big phone with an excellent camera, striking design and plenty of power under the hood."	4.5/5
  CNET	"A beautiful, big-screen bruiser."	4/5
  The Australian	"It’s where Huawei is positioning its premium phones in Australia: at a tad below the cost of the high-end competition."	8/10
  Android Authority	"Huawei is among the first to ship with Android Oreo out of the box, but software is where the Mate 10 is let down a little."	N/A
  Tom's Guide	"Huawei delivers unrivaled battery life, AI-powered dual cameras and a robust feature set in one of the year's most ambitious smartphones."	8/10
  Engadget	"There aren't enough apps using the neural-processing unit for the benefits to be clear."	N/A

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Pricing and availability

Huawei Mate 10 Pro

Huawei's Pro camera phone

The Huawei Mate 10 Pro combines top-end photography with refined business style. It's available to buy outright or on contract through Optus

Buy Now

• The Huawei Mate 10 Pro sells outright for $1,099.
• The Huawei Mate 10 Pro is also available from Optus on contract plan terms.