HUAWEI MatePad 12 X (2026) Review
Huawei has just announced its latest flagship, the Mate 9. Despite the similar design with its predecessor, it’s got some great upgrades. Let’s check them out in this comparison.
| Huawei Mate 9 | Huawei Mate 8 |
|---|---|
| 5.9-inch IPS LCD @ 1080 x 1920 pixels, 373ppi | 6-inch IPS-NEO LCD @ 1080 x 1920 pixels, 368ppi |
| TBC | Corning Gorilla Glass 4 |
| HiSilicon Kirin 960 | HiSilicon Kirin 950 |
| Quad-core 2.4 GHz Cortex-A73 + Quad-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A53 | Quad-core 2.3 GHz Cortex-A72 + Quad-core 1.8 GHz Cortex A53 |
| Mali-G71 MP8 | Mali-T880 MP4 |
| 4GB RAM | 4GB RAM |
| 64GB | 64GB |
| Expandable via microSD, up to 256GB (uses SIM 2 slot) | Expandable via microSD up to 128 GB (uses SIM 2 slot) |
| Dual 20 MP + 12 MP f/2.2 Laser + PDAF rear camera w/ OIS, Leica optics , dual-tone LED flash | 16MP f/2.0 PDAF rear camera w/ OIS, dual tone LED flash |
| 8MP f/1.9 front-facing camera | 8MP f/2.4 front-facing camera |
| Dual SIM (region dependent) | Dual SIM (PH variant) |
| 4G LTE Cat12 | 4G LTE Cat6 |
| Wi-Fi 802.11ac, dual-band | Wi-Fi 802.11ac, dual-band |
| Bluetooth 4.2 | Bluetooth 4.2 |
| GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO | GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS |
| NFC | NFC |
| IR Blaster | - |
| TBC | FM Radio |
| USB Type-C 1.0 | MicroUSB v.2.0, OTG |
| Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, barometer, compass | Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, barometer, compass |
| Fingerprint scanner | Fingerprint scanner |
| 4000mAh non-removable Li-Po battery w/ fast-charging | 4000mAh non-removable Li-Po battery w/ fast-charging |
| Android 7.0 Nougat | Android 6.0 Marshmallow |
| Emotion UI 5.0 | Emotion UI 4.0 |
| 156.9 x 78.9 x 7.9 mm | 157.1 x 80.6 x 7.9mm |
| 190 g | 185g |
Huawei Mate 9:
Huawei Mate 8:
Looks like Huawei has outdone themselves with the new Mate 9 handset. While it’s almost physically identical, even the display is of the same resolution, the Chinese tech giant made the phone better in its other major aspects.
It’s running a home-baked Kirin 960 octa-core chipset with a Mali-G71 MP8 GPU. The boost mainly goes to the GPU with triple the performance from Mate 8. It’s optimized for the Vulkan platform too. Of course, Leica optics are to be expected from their partnership. Like the P9, there are two sensors onboard — an RGB and a monochrome. It can record 4K videos now too. While the battery is still at 4,000mAh, Huawei introduced SuperCharge, which is their fast-charging feature that can fuel up to 60% in just 30 minutes through the new USB Type-C port. Lastly, Android 7.0 Nougat with EMUI 5.0 on top is loaded out of the box.
This doesn’t necessarily leave the Mate 8 in the dust as it will become cheaper when the Mate 9 gets released, at least locally. Huawei even offered a trade-in promo recently. The Mate 8 will still get the EMUI 5.0, so it’ll be on par with Mate 9 in terms of UI.
While we wait for Mate 9, read our review of the Huawei Mate 8 here.
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