Chinese phone manufacturer Huawei debuted three new products at a launch event yesterday. The Mate 20 is a slick flagship phone that checks all the existing boxes and then some. Then there’s the Mate 20 Pro, a slightly bigger and even more powerful version of the base phone.
And finally, the Mate 20 X, gaming focused phone which Huawei ridiculously positioned as a superior competitor to Nintendo’s Switch. They even showed side-by-side comparisons on stage to prove it.
When Richard Yu. the Huawei executive in charge of its smartphone, PC, and tablet business showed a slide comparing the two, people in the audience laughed. Yu also chuckled.
Huawei says their new tablet is a “better portable game machine” than Switch pic.twitter.com/OoxQ7pUVip
— AllGamesDelta (@AllGamesDelta_) October 16, 2018
He hyped the Mate 20 X on stage not just for its apparent superior cooling technology (gaming makes smartphones get notoriously hot) but also for all the ways it’s apparently better than the Switch.
For instance, he pointed out that the Mate 20 X has a 18cm screen as opposed to the Switch’s 15cm one. The Mate 20 X is 1080p whereas the Switch is only 720p in handheld mode. According to Yu, the Mate 20 X’s battery life is also twice that of the Switch’s. But that’s not all!
What really makes the Mate 20 X a Switch-killer is apparently it’s gamepad add-on which includes an analogue stick and d-pad and attaches onto the left side of the phone.
Look familiar?
Yea, it’s basically a glorified version of the 3DS’s circle pad pro attachment. Yu was generous not to mention that Switch still only has access to one app, Hulu, and you can’t even make calls on it.
Of course, there are two differences between the devices that matter more than anything else: the Mate 20 X costs about $US1,000 ($1,401) (the Switch sells for $469) and doesn’t play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Super Mario Odyssey.
As far as its competition among other gaming smartphones, however, it’s harder to say. Razer recently launched the Razer Phone 2 which includes its own vapour cooling chamber and comes in at $US800 ($1,121). Razer’s also selling a separate controller attachment for the device, but it’s basically an Xbox controller with a spot to mount the phone than a Joy-Con-lite.
And then there’s Asus’ ROG Phone, which is the most ridiculous looking of them all. It comes in with 8GB of RAM and a price tag of approximately $US1,160 ($1,625).
It’s controller attachments are the most like the Switch’s though, just smaller and boxier than the Joy-Con. Asus pitched it as the best phone to play PUBG on, and they may be right, even if it does cost as much as a very nice PC gaming rig.
As easy as it is to laugh at all of these smartphone manufacturers trying to ape the Switch’s success, however, it doesn’t seem entirely foolish. With Google, Microsoft, and other companies all pushing forward into the brave new world of video gaming streaming, smartphone gaming feels poised for an evolution.
An expensive smartphone with all the bells and whistles might seem like overkill for Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition or even Fortnite, but being able to stream Forza Horizon 4 or the next Halo game to it in the future makes it a lot more tempting.
Comments
34 responses to “Huawei Boasts Their New Phone Is Better Than The Switch”
EDIT: I was wrong and I apologise.
What are you talking about? You can get Huawei at JB!
There is a ban on Huawei, but I thought it was just on 5G stuff, not Huawei overall. For mobiles, that kind of takes them out of the market in the future, but that shouldnt mean they cant do 4G versions for the local market. Especially for hybrid products like this where 4G is going to be fine for most people.
There’s a difference between retail and bidding for Government Infrastructure.
Nah, they just can’t bid on gov contracts due to them being in bed with the chinese communist party/army or something.
Only Huawei’s networking equipment is banned. Their phones are totally available at your preferred local phone retailer.
Current phones are. Future phones will be iffy.
The only ban was stopping Huawei from supplying equipment for Australias 5g network. Has absolutely nothing to do with its products. I’ve been using Huawei phones for the last few year (mate 9 and mate 10). Incredible phones
The ban is new, it doesn’t affect their old phones but will affect future ones.
I can’t find any info on this, only the 5G ban. Do you have a link?
i can confirm the phones are 100% NOT banned. As proof, multiple aussie store are already selling the mate 20. It probably comes from idiots who see the title of an article and dont actually read the article. HUAWEI IS BANNED lols
There were sanctions placed on them a little while ago but they have lifted off their consumer grade products and are no longer applicable. Their infrastructure technology, however, is still banned from being utilised within Australian network. You can continue to buy new & old devices and import other products from them in Australia without worry.
Source: I work for Telstra
Fair enough. So there was a ban, it’s just now been lifted. Good to know.
Not much to brag about. Switch isn’t powerful. No Bluetooth, 720p screen.
They should aim higher
Well technically it does have bluetooth (thats how the controllers connect), it is just locked down.
No inbuilt voice chat on a paid premium subscription service in 2018. LOL
“premium service” $29 a year, boy, your definition of “premium” is way off. LOL.
Mmm, I was quite shitted off when I realised Netflix wouldn’t let me swear at people online. Waste of someone’s money.
Do they come with spy chips that nobody seems able to show us?
Yes. I mean no. I mean… Look! That dog has a puffy tail!!!
It all seems like a conspiracy theory until you work in the space.
The advice I can give is choose who you want unfettered access to your data and buy your devices and services accordingly.
I may not work directly, but close enough that I know the Chinese prefer software exploits.
Also know that spy chips are the US’s game and that for all their claims that Huawei is trying to spy on them, they were the ones who gloated about breaking in to Huawei about 3-4 years ago.
I understand that it doesn’t matter what you use, somebody is taking information to use for something, I just find it funny that the US is warning the folks its spies on to beware of spies.
I find that gaming attachment rediculous without at least buttons on the right as well.
I’ve heard a couple of mentions of Razer having a controller attachment for the Razer Phone 2, but I haven’t seen any pictures?
If “gaming phones” want to attempt to “compete” with the Switch, they should also introduce TV docks alongside controller attachments which double as separate controllers. There are some Android phone makers with “PC” docks, so it shouldn’t be too hard to work out.
Yeah, it’s really silly. There’s only a right hand attachment because it connects to a dock on the bottom of the phone, I imagine. But they’re are aping the Switch and couldn’t think of wireless attachments?
Beating the Switch in anything except their constantly rehashed “exclusives” isn’t exactly something to write home about.
Bonus points for the article pointing out the phone can’t play BotW or Mario. The only two games the Switch has going for it and one of them was fucking designed for the Wii U!
Close but no Cigar. I think Huawei almost nailed the perfect emulation device, except for forgetting to add actual buttons on its gamepad! Rofl
Claiming that the Switch has only ‘two games… going for it’ is being deliberately ignorant. I have 10, only three of which are Nintendo first party ‘rehashed exclusives’.
Nice b8 m8, I r8 it 8/8. And that’s without considering bonus points, which you generously awarded the article.
You have 10 games on your Switch? Amazing! How many of them are re-releases of 3-5+ year old games or small indie games that will run better on this phone anyway?
One re-release (which also happens to be one of the ‘rehashes’) and two indies (neither of which would run better on this phone either considering they run at a smooth 60. Performance be damned though—it’s the controls that’ll suffer).
It’s okay that you (evidently) don’t like the Switch. It’s not for you. That’s cool. I don’t particularly like the Xbox. Relentlessly belittling its existence is a bit excessive though friendo.
Check out the hate-boner on this guy!
Except the concept of adding physical controls to your smart devices has been around way before the Switch. Heck, does anyone remember the Razer Edge? Nintendo didn’t do anything new, they just pulled an Apple and took something that exists and made it desirable to consumers.
They also did it far cheaper than what most phone manufacturers were doing. How much would you expect to spend on a comparable phone/tablet + bluetooth controller + HDMI dock?
Be interesting to see exactly how much time you can game on the thing battery-wise; their sales BS will undoubtedly be near impossible to achieve irl, & then there’s the small thing of the device being used like a regular phone. With usage anything like mine, means you’d be able to get about 10 minutes of a game utilising the full specs in before the thing dies on the commute home?
How has no-one said “Yeah. Cool. I’ll give a shit when I drops for four hundy”?
These phones are ridiculously overpriced. What idiot would pay for a phone that can only play low quality games that pale in comparison to the Atari 2600. This horrible industry will end before this century is over.