Vital stats Huawei Mate 50 Pro

SAVE IT FOR DILATER

Huawei Mate 50 Pro

from €1299 / consumer.huawei.com

Looking for a phone with top-class camera skills? Don’t open your wallet until you’ve looked at this multi-aperture marvel…

● Let it wide There aren’t many phones out there these days that have truly unique features, but Huawei’s Mate 50 Pro is one of them. Its 50MP main camera sensor has a 10-stop physically adjustable aperture, going from f1.4 to f4, so you can switch from extreme bokeh to pin-sharp backgrounds. It’s paired with a 64MP periscope lens good for 3.5x optical zoom, a 13MP ultrawide that’ll double as a macro snapper, a proximity light sensor and laser autofocus.

● Love fuel Round the front there’s a 6.74in 2616x1212 OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate, the power coming from a 4G variant of Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 CPU. It’s teamed with 8GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage, plus a 4700mAh battery with 66W wired charging and 50W wireless for rapid top-ups. It’ll do reverse wireless charging to refuel other gadgets, while Huawei has also added a new low-battery emergency mode that kicks in at 1% and should deliver enough juice for 3hrs of standby or a 12-minute call.

● App the junction The Mate 50 Pro will be the first Huawei phone released in Europe with EMUI 13. This is based on the open-source version of Android, which means no official access to the Play Store – yes, sorry, still that – but you do get extensive theme customisations and a new notification centre layout. There’s also widget stacking and smart folders to make better use of home-screen space. For apps it has Huawei’s AppGallery, which means you’ll have to rely on some alternative versions for things like maps, but you’re sorted for the likes of TikTok, JustEat and, er, Lidl Plus. Phew.

The Mate 50 Pro’s screen is covered with something called Kunlun Glass, which Huawei reckons is up to 10x more durable than regular glass.

MORE NEW ANDROIDS

● Google Pixel 7

It’s unusual for phone screens to get smaller, but the Pixel 7’s 6.3in OLED makes it more compact than its predecessor. The bigger, more capable Pro version is reviewed on p56. from £599 / store.google.com

● Infinix Zero Ultra

More interested in how quickly your phone can charge than how its camera works? The Infinix Zero Ultra can refill its 4500mAh battery in a mere 12 minutes. £tba / infinixmobility.com

● Asus ROG Phone 6D

Asus only launched the ROG Phone 6 earlier this year, but this version is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ processor rather than a Snapdragon chip. £799 / rog.asus.com

LOW-BATTERY MODE KICKS IN AT 1% SO YOU CAN MAKE A 12-MINUTE CALL

Down the hi-fi way FOCAL BATHYS

Focal normally makes the kind of headphones that are designed to be paired with your favourite designer armchair and an expensive single malt – but if you want to bring a bit of that vibe to your daily commute, these are the company’s first wireless noise-cancelling cans. Lighter and more compact than their plug-in brethren but no less luxurious, the have 40mm drivers enclosed in magnesium, aluminium and leather, with an equally plush carrying case for keeping them safe. They promise 30hrs of listening over Bluetooth 5.1, with SBC, AAC and aptX Adaptive support, or you can plug them in over USB-C to unlock the hi-res DAC mode at 24-bit/192kHz quality. Just add whisky. £699 / focal.com

Little head booster PICO 4

Wearing a VR headset can feel a bit like strapping a shoebox to your face. But with smaller, lighter pancake optics inside and its 5300mAh battery built into the strap, the all-in-one Pico 4 shouldn’t be so unwieldy. Despite its compact size you still get a better-than-4K display with 90Hz refresh rate, four motion-tracking cameras and up to 256GB of storage, all powered by a Snapdragon XR2 chipset and Adreno 650 graphics. The headset comes with a pair of controllers, but it also supports extra motion trackers that you can strap to your legs for use with VR-enhanced workout apps – because in this reality you still eat too many biscuits. from £379 / picoxr.com