CES 2016 – Huawei Unleashes Mate 8 And Swarovski Smartwatches

Huawei has detailed new smartphones and smartwatches at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas as it seeks to retain its position as a a major player in the mobile landscape following a record breaking 2015/

The Shenzhen-based firm shipped 108 million smartphones last year – a 44 percent increase – becoming the first Chinese smartphone manufacturer to break the 100 million mark.

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First in line is the Mate 8 phablet, which Huawei says ‘features the world’s most advanced smartphone technology ever’.

Featuring a six inch 1080×1920 Full HD screen, and built from aluminium and curved glass, the Mate 8, which will also be known as the GX8, was first revealed back in November but only now receiving its global launch.

It’s powered by Huawei’s own Kirin 950 chipset and runs the company’s EMUI 4.0, based on Android Marshmallow 6.0. There’s also a 4000mAh high-density battery, which Huawei says can offer over two days of normal usage, and is equipped with rapid charging technology which means it can charge a day’s worth of power in just 30 minutes.

For security, the Mate 8 features a fingerprint sensor which also maintains two sets of fingerprint interface standards to improve smartphone payment experiences. As for cameras, there’s a 16 megapixel front Sony lens, paired with an 8 megapixel front camera.

Also on show was a new gold edition of the Google Nexus 6P device, which was manufactured by Huawei, and is available to buy from today.

Bling

Following the initial success of its Huawei Watch wearable, the company also revealed several new editions of the device, although perhaps not the sort you would expect.

Apparently looking to target “women who sparkle and shine”, the new editions of the Huawei Watch, revealed under the tagline ‘Huawei Watch for Lady’, have been developed with luxury brand Swarovski, resulting in the Huawei Watch Elegant and the Huawei Watch Jewel.

The former features a white and rose-gold build with a scratch-proof sapphire crystal display surrounded by cold-forged stainless steel, with the latter, (pictured left) sporting 68 Swarovski Zirconia encircling the face, making it one for those special occasions.

Both new designs will be powered by Android Wear and feature both Android and iOS compatibility, and can display alerts for calls, texts, instant messages and emails.

There’s no news yet on how much the new models, which appear to keep the same hardware as their predecessor, will cost, but Huawei has said that they will launch in the UK in March 2016.

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