SpecEagle
SpecEagle review · Huawei

Huawei Mate 50 review: Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 4G with Ultra Aperture XMAGE camera.

SpecEagle Editorial·Sep 2022·$899
Overall
80/100
Class rank
#105 of 210
Tier
Flagship
Buy?
At the right price
The verdict, up front

Why the Mate 50 mattered

The Mate 50 introduced two firsts in the smartphone market: a true variable-aperture main camera (f/1.4 to f/4.0) for depth-of-field control, and consumer satellite messaging via China's BeiDou — features that took rivals years to copy.

01Display

86/100

86/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2022.

TypeOLED, 90Hz, 1500 nits peak
Size6.7 inches
Resolution1212 x 2616 px

02Camera

88/100

At 88/100 this is one of the strongest camera showings among flagship phones of 2022 — 9 points above the cohort average.

Main50 MP with variable f/1.4-f/4.0 aperture
Ultrawide13 MP, f/2.2
Periscope12 MP, f/3.4, 5x optical
Selfie13 MP + IR

03Performance

80/100

80/100 trails the 85-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2022.

ChipsetSnapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 4G (4nm TSMC)
CPU1x X2 @ 3.2 + 3x A710 + 4x A510
GPUAdreno 730

04Battery

80/100

80/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2022.

Capacity4460 mAh
Wired66W
Wireless50W

05Build

80/100

80/100 trails the 82-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2022.

What works
  • First phone with variable-aperture main camera
  • Satellite SMS via BeiDou
  • IP68 sealing
What doesn't
  • No 5G under continued sanctions
  • No Google services
  • 202 g is heavier than most rivals
Cross-shop it against
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro
$649 · score 89/100

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 210-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .