The Huawei Mate 30 series launches with power-user specs, but without Google Mobile Services

The Huawei Mate 30 series has been made official today (September 19, 2019) in the course of a presentation given by the OEM's CEO, Richard Yu. The sucessors to the Mate 20 and 20 Pro are joined by the 30 Pro 5G , which is powered by the appropriate Kirin 990 variant. These phones look much as expected from their leaks and renders.

They feature either triple 40+8+16MP or 40+8+40MP cameras in their round housing, although the Pro variants add 3D time-of-flight sensors (TOFs) in both their rear modules and elongated notches for depth-perception. Furthermore, the 30 Pros have "professional" 32MP selfie cameras, whereas the base 30 makes do with a 24MP shooter. This phone has a 6.62-inch FHD screen, whereas the Pros step up to a 6.53-inch waterfall display with 88-degree curves over its long sides. It is still technically FHD, however.

The Mate 30s will run EMUI 10, which is based on Android 10 and no version of Harmony OS as some rumors may have indicated. Its new UI offers an Always-on Display, a new "Morandi" (which is also a OnePlus marketing term, but appears to also be Huawei for "unremittingly pastel") colorway, as well as a dark mode. However, as many in the tech world may have anticipated, there are no Google Play Services, and, thus, no apps such as Maps, Chrome or Photos.

Richard Yu addressed this issue head-on at the end of the show, saying that the Mate 30s had indeed lost access to the Mountain View company's mobile services, or GMS. Therefore, they will be replaced by the analogous HMS in these phones.

The CEO argued that, as Huawei already makes apps that replace the "normal" ones one-to-one, and are already in common use, it is in a position to offer a competitive UX incorporating them at this point. (For example, Huawei estimates that its Browser has 200 million monthly active users (MAUs).)

Strangely, Yu made no mention of the Mate 30 line's availability at this point. However, European pricing details were released here. The Mate 30 will apparently arrive in 1 8GB/128GB SKU, which will cost €799 (about US$883). The 8GB/256GB Mate 30 Pro will be €1099 (~1215), whereas an upgrade to its 5G version will add another €100 ($111). These new devices are finished in glass colored Black, Space Silver, Cosmic Purple or Emerald Green.