Huawei South Africa will be selling the Porsche Design Mate RS locally, exclusively with MTN as of today, 9 May. The company says after the “overwhelming success” of the Mate 10 Pro PD version, it decided to bring its new flagship phone to the local market. The price point for the premium flagship device is R26 459 on prepaid. Yes, that’s not a typo. 

Obviously aimed at true Porsche fans for that price (who probably also bought the Mate 10 Pro PD), making it one of the most expensive handsets available in South Africa. It comes in a few hundred Rands cheaper than the Mate 10 PD at R27 000, when it launched here.

The 6-inch handset with 2K display powered by a Kirin 970 processor features an in-screen fingerprint reader on the main display, and another one at the back. It has a Leica triple lens camera setup like the Mate 20 Pro, with a 40MP main sensor with built-in AI like we saw with the Mate 10 Pro; and a 24MP selfie-cam. The only version available in SA is the 256GB (with 6GB of RAM) black unit. 

The Mate RS is the first Huawei device that has wireless charging. A bit late compared to competitors, but the company said it waited for the right moment to bring it out due to its 10-watt “Wireless Quick Charge” capabilities – a claimed 58% in 30 minutes – making it the fastest wireless charging currently available. The dual speakers have Dolby Atmos sound and the handset is splash-, water- and dust-resistant.

Huawei put all its best features on the Porsche Design Mate RS, targeting a very specific customer. Oh and with that price point, customers get one free screen repair for accidental damage.