It’s easy to forget how much of a gamble the Huawei Mate 9 actually was back in late 2016. At the time, Huawei was still clawing its way into the premium segment, trying to prove they weren't just a budget alternative to Samsung or Apple. They needed a win. A big one.
Honestly, the Mate 9 delivered.
It wasn't just a phone; it was a statement. With that massive 5.9-inch screen and the then-brand-new Kirin 960 chipset, it felt like holding a small computer. But the real magic wasn't just in the raw specs. It was in the partnership with Leica. People scoffed at the "co-engineered" branding initially, thinking it was just a marketing gimmick. It wasn't. That second-generation dual-camera system changed how we thought about mobile photography, especially when it came to that moody, high-contrast monochrome sensor.
The Kirin 960 and the "Stay Fast" Promise
Most Android phones from that era started stuttering after six months. You know the feeling. The lag creeps in, apps take three seconds to open, and you're constantly clearing your cache like it’s a religious ritual. Huawei claimed the Huawei Mate 9 would stay fast for 18 months or more thanks to a machine-learning algorithm.
Did it work? Surprisingly, yeah.
💡 You might also like: Why an LG Wide Screen Monitor is Actually Worth the Desk Space
The Kirin 960 used a combination of Cortex-A73 and A53 cores that, at the time, absolutely smoked the competition in multi-core benchmarks. It was one of the first chips to utilize the Mali-G71 MP8 GPU. If you were a gamer back then, this was the gold standard. You could play 3D games without the phone turning into a literal brick of molten lava in your hand.
The storage was fast too. Using UFS 2.1 meant that read/write speeds kept the EMUI 5.0 interface feeling snappy. While EMUI was always a bit of a "love it or hate it" skin—mostly because it borrowed heavily from iOS aesthetics—the version on the Mate 9 was the first one that felt truly polished for a global audience. They cut down the number of taps it took to reach 90% of the core features. Efficiency was the name of the game.
Battery Life That Actually Lasted
We have to talk about the 4,000mAh battery.
In a world where the Galaxy Note 7 was... well, having some "thermal issues," Huawei stepped up with SuperCharge. It was 22.5W charging, which sounds slow by 2026 standards, but in 2016? It was lightning. You could get a full day's use out of a 20-minute charge.
The density of that battery was impressive for the time. Even with heavy GPS usage and constant brightness, most users found it impossible to kill the Mate 9 before bedtime. It sort of spoiled us. Once you’ve had a phone that legitimately lasts two days on a single charge, going back to anything less feels like a massive downgrade.
That Leica Dual Camera Setup
Huawei and Leica’s second outing was a 20MP monochrome sensor paired with a 12MP RGB sensor.
The science behind it was clever. The monochrome sensor captured all the light and detail—since it didn't have to worry about color filters—and then the RGB sensor "painted" the color back in. The result was images with incredible dynamic range.
- The 2x Hybrid Zoom was actually usable.
- The "Aperture Mode" let you fake a f/0.95 bokeh effect that looked remarkably natural for the time.
- 4K video made its debut here for Huawei, even if the stabilization was a bit shaky compared to what we have now.
But the monochrome photos? They were legendary. There’s a specific "Leica look" that is hard to describe—it’s a mix of deep blacks and subtle gray gradients. It made everyday street photography look like high-art gallery pieces. Even today, if you look back at old Flickr groups dedicated to the Huawei Mate 9, those black-and-white shots still hold up. They have a soul that modern, over-processed AI photos sometimes lack.
The Design Philosophy: Big but Manageable
The Mate 9 was a huge phone. No way around it.
Yet, because the side bezels were so thin, it didn't feel like holding a tablet. It had this slightly curved metal back that nestled into your palm. It felt premium. It felt expensive. At a time when many phones were moving toward glass backs that shattered if you looked at them wrong, the matte metal finish of the Mate 9 was refreshing. It was durable. It felt like a tool, not a fragile piece of jewelry.
I remember the "Mocha Gold" colorway. It sounds hideous on paper, right? But in person, it was this sophisticated, coffee-brown metallic hue that stood out in a sea of boring silver and black slabs. It was a bold choice.
What People Got Wrong About the Mate 9
A lot of reviewers at the time complained about the 1080p resolution on such a large screen. They wanted Quad HD. They wanted more pixels!
In reality, the 1080p IPS panel was a genius move.
First off, it saved a massive amount of battery life. Driving all those extra pixels on a QHD screen is a power hog. Second, the panel Huawei used was exceptionally bright and color-accurate. Unless you were holding the phone two inches from your eyeballs, you couldn't see the pixels anyway. It was a practical choice that prioritized longevity over spec-sheet bragging rights.
Another misconception was that the "Porsche Design" version was just a regular Mate 9 with a fancy logo. That wasn't true at all. The Porsche Design model actually featured a smaller, curved 5.5-inch AMOLED QHD screen and front-facing fingerprint sensor. It was a completely different chassis. It was also incredibly expensive, which made the standard Huawei Mate 9 look like a bargain by comparison.
The Software Legacy
EMUI 5.0 was built on Android 7.0 Nougat. It introduced the "App Drawer" option, which was a huge deal because previous Huawei phones forced all your apps onto the home screens like an iPhone.
Huawei also integrated a lot of weird, "knuckle-based" gestures. Remember those? You could knock on the screen with your knuckle to take a screenshot or draw an 'S' to take a scrolling screenshot. Kinda quirky? Definitely. Useful? Actually, once you got the hang of it, you’d miss it on other phones.
Why This Phone Still Matters Today
The Huawei Mate 9 was the pivot point. It was the moment Huawei proved they could handle the high-end market better than almost anyone else. It set the stage for the P20 Pro and the Mate 20 Pro, which eventually dominated the conversation around mobile photography.
It also represented a time before the trade bans and the loss of Google Mobile Services. It was the peak of "Global Huawei." You had the Play Store, YouTube, and Gmail, all running on some of the best hardware in the world. For many, it remains the "Golden Age" of Android hardware competition.
If you’re looking at a Mate 9 in 2026, you're looking at a relic, sure. The software is dated, and the 4G speeds won't keep up with modern 5G networks. But as a piece of engineering? It’s a testament to what happens when a company decides to over-engineer every single component just to prove a point.
Actionable Insights for Tech Enthusiasts
If you happen to find one of these in a drawer or are considering picking up a vintage model for a collection, here is what you need to know:
- Check the Battery: Since these are nearly a decade old, the lithium-ion cells are likely degraded. Replacing the battery is surprisingly easy on this model because of the modular internal layout.
- Update the Firmware: Ensure you're on the latest available EMUI build (usually EMUI 9.1 in most regions). It brings significant security patches and better file system management (EROFS).
- Use the Monochrome Sensor: If you use the phone as a secondary camera, stick to the "More" -> "Monochrome" mode. It still produces better B&W images than most mid-range phones sold today.
- Performance Tweaks: Go into Developer Options and set all animation scales to 0.5x. It makes the Kirin 960 feel modern and snappy even with today's heavier app requirements.
- Storage Management: The Mate 9 supports microSD cards. If you're using it for media, grab a high-speed Class 10 card to expand that base 64GB, which fills up fast by modern standards.