The Huawei Mate 90 series is a line of flagship smartphones manufactured by Huawei, unveiled at an autumn launch event in Shanghai on October 1, 2026. The series comprises five models: the Mate 90, Mate 90 Pro, Mate 90 Pro Max, Mate 90 Pro Max Collector's Edition, and Mate 90 RS Ultimate Design. Across 14 memory and storage configurations, prices range from CNY 5,999 (about US$890) for the base Mate 90 to CNY 18,999 (about US$2,830) for the top-specification Mate 90 RS Ultimate Design; Huawei has not announced a launch outside China.
As with earlier Mate series phones, the launch emphasised Huawei's in-house Kirin chips, developed by its HiSilicon subsidiary amid continued United States restrictions on advanced semiconductor exports to the company. Huawei consumer business chief Richard Yu said the top-tier chip's "LogicFolding" architecture, which restructures chip wiring vertically to allow denser processing and shorter signal paths, was developed specifically in response to restricted access to advanced manufacturing technology. Yu also said rising memory component prices had added more than US$200 to the cost of each handset, and that Huawei's margins were under pressure as a result.
Specifications
Chipset
The base Mate 90 uses the Kirin 9030, which Huawei says delivers 27% higher overall performance than the Mate 80. The Mate 90 Pro uses the Kirin 9035, a chip the company says is tuned to balance performance and power consumption, with battery life improved by 18% over the Mate 80 Pro. The Mate 90 Pro Max, Pro Max Collector's Edition and RS Ultimate Design use the Kirin 9050 Pro, which Huawei says is 31% faster overall than the previous generation and doubles on-device AI computing performance; the chip uses the LogicFolding architecture with an inter-die bandwidth of 125 terabytes per second. GSMArena reported that the Mate 90 Pro Max's base 12 GB RAM configuration instead uses the standard Kirin 9050, reserving the 9050 Pro for higher-memory configurations and the RS Ultimate Design. Huawei's performance figures are drawn from its own testing; as of October 2026, independent reviewers had not published benchmark results confirming them.
Display
The base Mate 90 has a 6.75-inch flat OLED display at a resolution of 1280×2832 pixels and a 120Hz refresh rate. The Mate 90 Pro and higher models use a second-generation "Linglong" display with peak brightness of up to 12,000 nits at 1% average picture level (APL); the Mate 90 Pro Max and RS Ultimate Design further support BT.2020 colour reproduction. The Mate 90 Pro Max has a 6.9-inch OLED panel.
Camera
All models use a third-generation "Red Maple" colour camera system with infrared optical coatings, which Huawei says improves colour accuracy by 37% and skin-tone reproduction in portraits by 62% over the previous generation. The base Mate 90 has a triple rear camera consisting of 50MP, 40MP and 50MP sensors, with a 13MP front camera. The Mate 90 Pro Max has a 1-inch modular main camera rated at 18 stops of dynamic range, alongside a 200MP telephoto camera with image stabilisation rated at CIPA 7.5 and optimisation for clarity at 20x zoom.
Battery and charging
The base Mate 90 has a 6,600mAh battery with 66W wired and 50W wireless charging. The Mate 90 Pro Max has a 6,800mAh battery with 100W wired and 50W wireless charging.
Build and durability
The entire lineup uses third-generation "Xuanwu" strengthened Kunlun Glass, which Huawei says improves drop resistance by 20 times over the previous generation; the Mate 90 Pro and higher models additionally use optical Kunlun Glass for the camera cover. All five models, including the base Mate 90, carry a combined IP68/IP69 rating, meaning they are dust-tight, water-resistant to a depth of 6 metres for 30 minutes, and rated to withstand high-temperature, high-pressure water jets. The base Mate 90 weighs 217 g and is available in Black, White, Green and Pink.
Connectivity and software
The series uses a combined Wi-Fi and cellular antenna design, which Huawei says increases signal strength by 2dB. All models ship with HarmonyOS 7, which Huawei says supports more than 450,000 apps and services.
