Singapore to be the only Southeast Asian country to get the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS
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Mate 20 RS
Note: This article was first published on 16th October 2018 and is now updated with price and availability details.
Huawei has once again partnered with Porsche Design for a special edition of the Mate 20 called the Mate 20 RS. And yes, as the titled says, Singapore will be the only country in Asia Pacific, outside of China to get the Mate 20 RS. This limited premium phone will be available at a recommended retail price of S$2,298 and will only go on sale from 1st December 2018 at Huawei Concept Stores and official online store.
Hardware-wise, the Mate 20 RS will follow the same specifications as the Mate 20 Pro except for an increase in both storage and memory to 8GB and 256GB respectively, compared to 6GB and 128GB on the regular Mate 20 Pro.
Here are its key specs:
- 6.39-inch 3D Curved OLED HDR display, 3,120 x 1,440-pixels, 19:5.9 Aspect Ratio
- Kirin 980 SoC
- 8GB RAM, 256GB Storage
- 40MP + 20MP + 8MP rear cameras, 24MP front camera
- In-screen fingerprint sensor, 3D face unlock
- Dual stereo with Invisible speaker
- Android 9.0 with EMUI 9.0
- 4,200mAh battery with 40W SuperCharge and 15W Wireless Quick Charge
- IP68 dust and water resistance
Unlike the past Mates, the Mate 20 Pro is already an all-screen, all-glass device, so what else can Porsche Design do to give it that premium, special edition sparkle so it can justify the price hike it commands?
Leather.
Specifically, two strips of genuine, handcrafted leather at the back of the phone that sandwiches the camera block in the middle, which is still glass in order to retain the wireless charging features of the phone. If you look closely at the glass middle, there are also some fine racing stripes the go through the center of the phone. It also has an exclusive Porsche Design UI theme/wallpaper.
Porsche Design calls this racing car symmetry, but there are two things to take note of.
Firstly, the Mate 20 RS does not have any camera bulge. The entire camera system is flushed with the back of the phone, which I can only assume to be added thickness in order to accommodate attaching the leather portions to the back.
Secondly, it does give the phone additional grip compared to all of today’s glass-backed devices. It’s also quite pleasing to the touch. That’s about it really.
There’s also a Red leather version of the Mate 20 RS, but this one is exclusive to China.
