Huawei Mate 50 series launch "confirmation" emerges alongside leaks pointing to vanilla and Pro model screen designs

Huawei has not released a Mate-series mobile flagship since October 2020; however, tech Weibo contributors are still fairly confident that the 40 series is not to be their swansong. One of these leakers, The Factory Manager's Classmate, has re-ignited claims that the 50 line is indeed on the way - it's just that it won't be here until September 2022 now.

The tipster, basing this claim on the contents of a slide spotted during Huawei's HarmonyOS 3 launch, asserts that successors to the 40, 40 Pro and 40 RS will be introduced during that month, with no mention of the larger 50 X now rumored to join them at this juncture.

That alleged variant might have an extra-large screen; however, it is also absent from the latest "Mate 50" tip from Digital Chat Station. The famous leaker has posted a photo of what is depicted as a screen protector for the 50 (or the "HW Mate 50", at least), next to one for a 50 Pro.

The former is fairly unremarkable, presenting with a fairly standard-issue central punch-hole-compatible cut-out and aspect-ratio - however, the latter draws the eye as it seems to have reverted to rocking a shallow divot along its top edge.

Yes, rumors of a Mate 50 Pro complete with big old notch are back again, and are not helped by the Classmate's other recent addition to Huawei leaks: a live image of a heretofore-unseen device that does look much like the 40 Pro, albeit with a perhaps even more profound curve to its front panel, upon which a much wider notch can also be made out. 

In fact, the waterfall effect is undeniably strong with this putative 50 Pro, in a way that also makes the phablet look thicker than ever before. Accordingly, Huawei might hype it as almost Mi Mix Alpha-style device with matching use-cases on its alleged September debut - which, as it also now has the Mate Xs 2 for those purposes, might prove a love-it-or-hate-it moment for many phablet fans.