Huawei announces gigantic 'phone': the Ascend Mate

Huawei announces gigantic 'phone': the Ascend Mate
It's big. It's REALLY big.

Huawei has popped out another new Android phone...but this one borders on the ridiculous.

The Ascend Mate is a 'phone' in the loosest sense of the word, given it packs a 6.1-inch HD screen, which takes up a good 73 per cent of the front of the phone to give a more edge-to-edge display.

It comes with a stonking 4050mAh battery to fire all those pixels, and apes Nokia with Magic Touch, allowing you to use the phone through gloves. And continuing with a very familiar set of features: there are pop up windows that float over your current app, so calculations and notes are possible in a similar manner to the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.

Power control is handled by something cleverly named 'Quick Power Control', which Huawei claims can cut 10 per cent of power through smart connection management.

Who needs a camera?

Running Android 4.1 on top of Huawei's Hi-Silicon 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, the phone is packing some serious heat to allow you to swoosh and swipe to your heart's content.

We would say it's odd that it only has an 8MP camera, but in reality given it's more of a tablet than a phone, we can't see this replacing a compact camera for many.

The battery will apparently happily last two days on a single charge thanks to some clever power management that keeps your signal going only when necessary, while increasing your signal strength by up to 30%.

There's no Ascend Mate price as yet, but we do have a release date: the Ascend Mate will land globally in March.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grew with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.

Latest in Huawei Phones
Holding the Huawei Mate XT in-hand
I thought the tri-folding Huawei Mate XT was a gimmick, but then I held it
The Huawei Mate X6 on a pink background
The Huawei Mate X6 looks like a huge step forward for foldable phone photography, and I’m annoyed that I probably won’t be able to get one
The Huawei Mate XT and PS5 Pro side-by-side
Huawei's tri-fold phone is so expensive you could buy four PS5 Pros for the same price
Huawei Mate XT
Huawei posts the first official image of the tri-fold Mate XT, and reveals storage options
Samsung's tri-folding display technology unveiled at the SID Display Week 2021 online event
Huawei finally confirms the name of its tri-fold smartphone in new teaser video
Samsung's tri-folding display technology unveiled at the SID Display Week 2021 online event
Huawei sets the date for its tri-foldable phone launch, with a 10-inch display and high price rumored
Latest in News
Disney Plus logo with popcorn
You can finally tell Disney+ to stop bugging you about that terrible Marvel show you regret starting
Girl wearing Meta Quest 3 headset interacting with a jungle playset
Latest Meta Quest 3 software beta teases a major design overhaul and VR screen sharing – and I need these updates now
Microsoft
"Another pair of eyes" - Microsoft launches all-new Security Copilot Agents to give security teams the upper hand
Hatch Restore 3 in Putty
You can finally start your day with The Office theme song, and I couldn't be more excited
Cassian Andor looking nervously over his shoulder in Andor season 2
New Andor season 2 trailer has got Star Wars fans asking the same question – and it includes an ominous call back to Rogue One's official teaser
Ncuti Gatwa as The Fifteenth Doctor in Doctor Who
Disney+ drops new trailer for Doctor Who season 2 that promises an epic adventure across time and space