Huawei Mate 8 phablet reportedly debuting 5 November

Huawei’s a smartphone brand on the up and up. The company, relatively unknown in South Africa just a few months ago, now can claim sales figures of over a million devices for 2014, and we imagine 2015 will be a stronger campaign.

But the company’s not about to simply sit back and let its rivals have all the fun. Hot on the heels of Microsoft‘s, Samsung‘s and Apple‘s phablets, the Huawei Mate 8 will try to carry the burden the Mate 7 (feature image) carried for so long.

Read more: Huawei Ascend Mate 7 review: beautifully balanced

Specs would suggest that the Mate 8 is more of an evolution than revolution too, with a 6.0-inch screen and a 2560×1440 panel. That might be a lower pixel density than its rivals, but the screen should offer more real estate for multitaskers.

Possible specs:

Display: 6.0-inch, 2560×1440, 541ppi
Chipset: HiSilicon Kirin 950 octa-core | quad-core 2.0GHz ARM Cortex A53 & quad-core 2.4GHz ARM Cortex A75 | Mali-T880 GPU | 3GB or 4GB RAM
Storage: 32GB or 64GB, possible dual SIM with secondary SIM slot supporting 128GB microSD cards
Imaging: Rear: 20MP with LED flash | Front: 8MP with LED flash
Battery: 4000mAh fixed
OS: Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Killer features: Fingerprint reader, possible Force Touch screen

More interestingly, the company is sticking with its in-house HiSilicon Kirin 950 chipset, which features two quad-cores, with one running at 2.4GHz. That’s rather high for a smartphone. But it seems that Huawei’s prepared for the power drain, fitting the device with a “4000+” mAh battery, according to IBT.

Beyond that, there’ll be two versions as has become custom for Huawei‘s flagship models. The cheaper version will boast 3GB of RAM alongside 32GB of internal storage, while the more expensive model will use the 4GB/64GB formula.

It’s likely that the device will also feature a fingerprint reader and come bundled with Android Marshmallow, just like the company’s Google Nexus 6P product.

Pricing, according to IBT, should be around US$610 for the premium model, which means Huawei’s looking to undercut the likes of Apple and Samsung by quite an amount.

Nevertheless, more information will be made available at the 5 November launch.