Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS Hands-on: Premium Phone for a Price

Huawei likes to keep itself in esteemed company. Not only has it a partnership with luxury lens maker Leica but it also likes to dabble in the high-end with its phone’s chassis too, thanks to a link-up with car maker Porsche.

Huawei and Porsche have teamed up in the past on special versions of the former’s smartphones, and the new Mate 20 Pro is no exception. Think of the newly unveiled Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS — yes, that’s a mouthful — as a limited-editing phone primed in leather with some go-faster stripes and a commanding look.

Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS vs. Mate 20 Pro

Design: Overflowing with opulence

The look of the Porsche version of Huawei’s smartphone range has never been understated and the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 edition does nothing to change that. There’s a go-faster stripe down the back of the device, which complements the new square camera array. The cameras are actually built into the chassis of this device, so they don’t protrude like they do on the back of the Mate 20 Pro or Mate 20.

You’ll spot a Porsche logo on the back, and the phone’s trim is leather with glass down the middle. That’s not any leather, but rather, handcrafted semi-aniline top grain leather, which gives this Mate 20 Pro variant a softer feel and much more grip in the hand. The glass on the back of the phone immediately suffered from smudges as soon as we touched it, though.

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If you buy the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS, you sure better like Porsche, as it’s not just the chassis that has been reconfigured with Porsche in mind. Fire up the phone through its in-screen fingerprint scanner, and you see the Porsche logo. A number of backgrounds are also available to make it feel like you are using a Porsche inside and out.

Other changes: A lot like the Mate 20 Pro

Nearly everything else about the Mate 20 RS matches what you’ll find in the Mate 20 Pro, from the specs on the triple rear cameras to the Kirin 980 that powers the phone. That last feature figures to give this phone plenty of processing oomph, with the Mate 20 boasting more than a 40 percent improvement in computational power over last year’s Mate 10.

The Porsche designed version of the Mate 20 does diverge from the Mate 20 Pro in one key area — it offers more memory and storage. The Mate 20 RS ships with 8GB of RAM compared to 6GB on the base configuration of the Mate 20 Pro. (You can opt for a configuration with 8GB of memory if you prefer.) And while the Mate 20 Pro comes in 128GB and 256GB capacities, the Mate 20 RS boosts that to 256GB and 512GB.

Price and Availability

The Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS arrives in November and it will sell for €1,695 (256GB) and €2,095 (512GB). Although it’s not clear which countries will get the handset, you will only get the Black handset if you live outside of China. There is a special red color version for the Chinese market.

Outlook

The Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS offers all the features of the Mate 20 Pro, but with a luxury makeover. This is the sort of device for people who like to put their phone on a table in a crowded restaurant just to show off what they have. The design flourishes are neat, the look is premium and the price is expensive. But if you are thinking of buying Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS, then the price of the handset will be the last thing on your mind.

Image Credits: Tom's Guide

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