Following up our review of the Mate 10 here, we now have the bigger brother in our HQ – the Huawei Mate 10 Pro for a review.
| SPECS | Huawei Mate 10 Pro |
| Display | [1080×2160] 6.0″ AMOLED, ~402ppi |
| Size (l x w x h) | 149.5 x 70.6 x 8.4mm , 178g |
| Design | Metal frame, Corning Gorilla Glass |
| Colors | Midnight Blue, Titanium Gray, Mocha Brown, Pink Gold |
| Chipset | HiSilicon Kirin 970 |
| Processor | Octa-core (4×2.4 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A53) |
| Graphics | Mali-G72 MP12 |
| Rear Camera | Dual: 20 MP +12 MP, f/1.6, OIS, 2x lossless zoom, Leica optics, phase detection & laser autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flashVideo Recording: Up to 4K@30 |
| Front Camera | 8 MP, f/2.0Video Recording: Up to 1080p@30 |
| Memory | 4GB RAM / 64GB internal, 6GB RAM / 128GB internal |
| Connectivity | GSM/HSPA/LTE-A Cat. 18, WiFi ac, dual-band, DLNA, Bt 4.2, A2DP, aptX HD, LE, A-GPS, GLONASS, FM Radio, USB 3.1 Type-C 1.0, OTG |
| OS | Android 8.0 |
| Software | EMUI 8.0 |
| Battery | Non-removable 4000mAh Li-Po battery |
| Official Price | PhP 38,990 |
| Availability date | December 2017 |
| Where to buy | Huawei Experience Stores and Authorized Retailers |
Design
At the core, it is still the same as the Mate 10 but with an 18:9 display and with the 3.5mm audio jack now missing. Also, the overall volume is made less by being thinner and less wide than the Mate 10. The colors the Pro are available at are mostly different except for Pink Gold.
Display
The move to an 18:9 display was three steps forward but three steps back. After ditching the QHD display, Huawei went for an FHD+ display that surely raises some brows considering that this is the Pro version. But wait – it is AMOLED now. It is larger by a tenth of an inch and still is HDR10-compliant for currently limited support. Visually, it does look less sharp than the Mate 10’s more pixel-packed display. Colors are vibrant with a two-option setting for Normal or Vivid output. Normal turns the color temperature towards the warmer side and flattens out the colors too. I somehow wish that Huawei added some options to tune the display and Always-On Display, maybe? And as a little follow-up, the resolution can be adjusted.. automatically.
User Experience
Backing up its name, the Mate 10 Pro does feel amazing on the hands once you get used to its width and slippery back. EMUI also got a bit of a boost with gold-laced icons, further promoting the Pro post-text. Other than that, it still offers the same experience as the Mate 10 did down to the camera app.
Camera
Still sporting the same co-engineered Leica lenses, the Pro version performs similarly to its smaller and cheaper brother. Selfies produced are unsurprisingly similar too, and the same traits can be seen with the video recording. Image stabilization is still only present up ’til 1080p at 30 FPS.
Video Sample
Performance
Sporting the same Kirin 970 with an independent NPU, the Pro version can work slightly faster than the base model because of its smaller display. Also, the 6GB RAM variant contributes to overall multitasking capabilities.
| Benchmark | Huawei Mate 10 Pro |
| AnTuTu | 180944 |
| GeekBench | SC: 1956 MC: 6703 |
| Androbench | Seq. Read: 742.21MB/s Seq. Write: 203.29MB/s Rand. Read: 148.7MB/s Rand. Write: 14.1MB/s |
| PCMark Work 2.0 | 6748 |
Battery
The pack – a 4000mAh Li-Po battery lasts a bit longer than the Mate 10’s after a day of training the NPU. Other than hardware and software optimization, this becomes a really hard metric to measure since there’s a unique hardware that works on its own.
| Battery | OnePlus 5T |
| Battery | 3300mAh Li-Po |
| ManilaShaker Battery Rating | 34h 22m |
| Charging Time (0-100%) | 1h 28m |
Audio
Featuring the same stereo setup with a Stereo+ option, the Mate 10 Pro’s speakers are equally amazing as the base model’s without any discernible improvement or impairment. And since this does not have a built-in 3.5mm audio jack, users will be forced to use the included adapter to use the interface. It still offers the same depth in all aspects – clarity, tunability and presets, which are all top notch for the price it is offered for.
Audio Sample
Verdict
Being a bit more expensive than the Mate 10, the Pro variant offers a few additions and discards a few too. It still sports an amazing chipset, an amazing camera, and a modified EMUI 8.0. I’d only recommend the Mate 10 Pro over the base model if you prefer a better display in exchange for the lack of a dedicated audio jack. Still, with these changes, the Mate 10 Pro is still on our Top 5.
