Huawei Mate 20

Great performance ; Fully featured camera ; Tidy notched design

EMUI is a bit ugly ; Facial recognition isn’t secure ; Too many gimmicky camera modes

The Huawei Mate 20 offers lightning-fast performance and a comprehensive list of features, with a clever bill of compromises to help meet its £500 price tag. It’s a genuine OnePlus 6T rival.

Excellent battery life ; Incredible power for the price ; Versatile stills and video camera

Full HD+ screen resolution is low ; IPS screen inferior to flagship AMOLEDs ; No IP68 water and dust resistance

The Huawei Mate 20 distills much of what makes the Mate 20 Pro an excellent phone into something that’s different, though not necessarily inferior. It costs less, offers more screen and has a headphone jack. If you crave the cutting-edge bells and...

Triple rear camera arrangement arguably best capabilities on the market ; Huge battery capacity with fast-charge and Qi wireless charging ; Heaps of power on tap for a solid flagship experience

Square camera arrangement doesn't look great ; EMUI software still divides opinion ; Some AI camera features are overzealous or flawed ; We find it too wide in the hand

The standard Mate delivers a strong innings, but the Pro model outshines it in every department. When it comes to future-facing features the Pro is the way to go.

Flagship-grade performance ; Latest version of Android ; Capable, flexible cameras ; Actually has a headphone jack

Outshone by the Mate 20 Pro in almost every way ; Proprietary expandable memory format frustrating ; Limiting choice between models is anti-customer

The Mate 20 does a lot of what makes the Pro so great – but not enough. Unless you’re unlucky enough to live somewhere Huawei has deemed the Mate 20 Pro to be off-limits, this isn’t the version to buy.