Huawei Mate S wants you to touch it in a different way

Huawei Mate S wants you to touch it in a different way

The Huawei Mate S has been unveiled at IFA 2015, and this time the Chinese firm is trying to win us over with its Force Touch-toting phablet.

With a 5.5-inch full HD display it's smaller than the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Nexus 6, and it sees itself rub shoulders with the full HD iPhone 6 Plus and OnePlus 2 as well as the QHD LG G4.

It's the successor to the Huawei Ascend Mate 7, and features a punchy octa-core Kirin 935, 3GB of RAM, 32GB/64GB of internal storage, a microSD slot, NFC and a 3000mAh.

Those aren't exactly standout specs, and puts the Huawei Mate S firmly in line with the OnePlus 2, rather than the higher end handsets from LG, Samsung and Apple.

The fingerprint scanner on the rear of the Mate S has been upgraded to Fingerprint Sense 2.0, increasing recognition speed and sensitivity. That means it'll be able to recognise your digits even when wet.

Huawei Ascend Mate S

Feel the Force (Touch)

The big feature on the Huawei Mate S is the inclusion of Fore Touch Technology. This means the screen can work out just how hard you're pressing it, and then provide different results depending on your level of pressure.

Huawei has built in a few examples into its interface, including a hard press on a photo to see a zoomed in view, or a hard press in the gallery to get larger image thumbnails.

There is a catch though. The Force Touch technology only features in the 128GB model, and there's no release date or price for this particular model just yet.

Say cheese

Round the back you get a relatively average sounding 13MP camera - a surprise considering how "premium" Huawei is claiming it is - and a fingerprint scanner just below that. On the front the 8MP snapper continues the firm's love affair with the selfie.

The Huawei Mate S release date is set for September in the UK, Australia and a number of other countries, with worldwide availability coming in October.

When it comes to price the 32GB, in, grey and champagne, is €649 (around £475, $730, AU$1040). If you fancy 64GB of space then you're looking at €699 (around £510, $785, AU$1110) for a SIM free gold or pink Mate S.

John McCann
Global Managing Editor

John joined TechRadar over a decade ago as Staff Writer for Phones, and over the years has built up a vast knowledge of the tech industry. He's interviewed CEOs from some of the world's biggest tech firms, visited their HQs and has appeared on live TV and radio, including Sky News, BBC News, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, LBC and BBC Radio 4. Originally specializing in phones, tablets and wearables, John is now TechRadar's resident automotive expert, reviewing the latest and greatest EVs and PHEVs on the market. John also looks after the day-to-day running of the site.