Chinese tech giant Huawei is aiming for a strong comeback on the global stage with the launch of its new flagship Mate 80 Pro smartphone in overseas markets, along with a new smartwatch and the addition of a "wheelchair mode" to its wearable devices.
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| Mate 80 Pro |
At a launch event in Madrid, Spain, on Thursday, Huawei announced that the international version of the Mate 80 Pro will run on EMUI 15, based on Android, thanks to the company's own Kirin 9030 Pro processor, manufactured in China.
While the domestic version of the Mate 80 Pro runs Huawei's HarmonyOS operating system, the international version, priced at €1,299 ($1,533), shares the same internal system-on-a-chip (SoC), according to a report by the South China Morning Post, which was reviewed by mobialo.com.
The global launch of the Mate 80 Pro, which debuted in China in November, marks the return of Chinese tech giant Huawei to the international market with a Mate series phone, four years after the launch of the Mate 50 series in 2022.
Huawei had skipped the global release of its previous two standard Mate series until the international launch of the Nova 14 and the triple-folding Mate X7 last year.
The event in Madrid demonstrated Huawei’s renewed push into the global smartphone market, having overcome US technology sanctions and re-emerged as a leading technology company in China, the world’s largest smartphone market.
In 2025, Huawei overtook Apple to reclaim the top spot in the Chinese smartphone market, with a 16.4% market share, narrowly surpassing Apple’s 16.2%, according to data from research firm IDC in January.
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The Madrid event also saw Huawei launch the Watch GT Runner 2, a smartwatch designed for professional and amateur runners. The watch was developed in collaboration with two-time Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge and his team.
According to Huawei, the watch is the culmination of five years of research and development and features an intelligent positioning algorithm designed to ensure accuracy even in low-signal conditions.
Huawei also introduced a "wheelchair mode" for its smartwatches, catering to the approximately 80 million wheelchair users worldwide.
The company stated that this new mode will initially be available on the new Watch GT 6 series.
