On Thursday, Huawei announced the availability of its most advanced smartphone in Shanghai, the Mate 8. Launched on the US Thanksgiving, the flagship will be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. The smartphone will be available in China from the first quarter of 2016.

The Huawei Mate 8 comes packed with top-end specs and features. Huawei’s latest phablet features a 6-inch Full HD display screen with a high definition 1080p resolution. After HTC One A9, the Mate 8 will be the second in the block to be shipped with the latest version of Google's Android operating system, 6.0 Marshmallow, out-of-the-box. Huawei also added its own EMUI 4.0 on top, as reported by CNET.

Made from aerospace-grade aluminum, as expected, the Mate 8 also comes with a round shaped fingerprint sensor at the back, like Huawei Nexus 6P. The fingerprint scanner is reportedly more accurate than its predecessor. The Mate 8 also sports voice controls, a power-saving firewall, a defragmenter and eRecovery, reports Android Central.

Under the hood, the device comes packed with its homegrown octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 950 processor. Based on TSMC 16 nm FinFET plus chip technology, it consists of four Cortex A72 cores clocked at 2.3GHz and four Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.8GHz.

The highlight of the chipset is that it is supported by the most powerful co-processor which ropes in speech recognition capabilities, enhances GPS navigation and ensures lower power consumption. Available in Champagne Gold, Moonlight Silver, Space Gray and Mocha Brown, the device offers 32 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB internal storage options.

Confirming the prevailing rumours, the smartphone features a new Sony camera sensor with three-axis optical image stabilisation and a gigantic 4,000 mAh battery. The 16MP main camera is accompanied by an 8MP front snapper.

The high-end phone comes with a moderate price tag. It is less expensive than the premium flagships in the market. However, the international prices are expected to be higher than the home market.

In China, depending on connectivity, the 3 GB RAM, 32 GB storage version of the smartphone will be priced at 2,999 yuan or 3, 199 yuan (AU$650 or US$470); 4 GB RAM models with 64 GB and 128 GB storage options come with a price tag of 3,699 yuan (AU$803 or US$580) and 4,399 yuan (AU$955 or US$690).

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