The wave of new smartphone launches will continue in October, with Huawei Mate 90 leading the lineup, and Honor and OnePlus unveiling their new offerings one after another.
In September this year, Leitech ushered in an unprecedented "busy month". At the beginning of the month, IFA2026 held in Berlin ignited the AI home appliance hard technology feast, followed by a dense wave of new phones in the mobile phone industry: first, iPhone 18 Pro/18 Pro Max and iPhone Duo were released as scheduled, then new flagships from Android manufacturers came one after another, including vivo X500 series, OPPO Find X10 series, Xiaomi 18 series and Honor Magic 9 series.
Why are Android phones released in clusters? There are two reasons: One is to "gang up on Apple" and compete head-to-head with the iPhone 18 series; the other is that Qualcomm's flagship chip, the 6th Generation Snapdragon 8 Ultra Extreme Edition, has arrived, and Leitech has reported in detail after participating in the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit held in Hawaii.
But this does not mean that the new phones in October have lost their highlights. Leitech (ID: leitech) found that different from the clustered flagship phones, most of the new phones to be released in October are not all-round devices, most of them have clear strengths and weaknesses, and the most direct benefit for users is "easy to choose".
Huawei Mate 90: The Strongest Competitor of iPhone 18
As the only enterprise in the domestic high-end market that can compete head-to-head with Apple, Huawei's mobile phones are fully benchmarked against iPhones in terms of quality, experience and price.
@Digital Chat Station speculates that the starting price of the Mate 90 series is no less than 5499 yuan. Referring to the recent increase in the starting price of the Mate 80 series to 5499 yuan, Leitech (ID: Leitech) predicts that the starting price of the Mate 90 series will be 5999 yuan, which greatly narrows the price gap with Android flagships.
According to the information revealed by this blogger, the back of Mate 90/90 Pro/90 Pro Max all adopts the Star Ring design, the back of Mate 90 RS adopts an octagonal design, and the high-end version adopts a three-hole punch design on the front to support 3D face unlock.
(Image source: Screenshot from Weibo)
In terms of imaging, the main camera of the Mate 90 series provides two versions of SC575XS and SC595XS, both of which are 50-megapixel sensors from SmartSens, supporting the new generation of LOFIC technology, with CMOS sizes of 1/1.56 inch and 1/1.28 inch respectively. The telephoto end of Mate 90 Pro Max is the first to carry SmartSens SCC85XS, which is the first domestic 200-megapixel high dynamic sensor with a large 1/1.28-inch base.
In the past two years, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have been competing for 200-megapixel cameras. The telephoto lens of the high-end version of Huawei Mate 90 not only supports 200 megapixels, but also has a large 1/1.28-inch base exceeding the industry average, which has a higher upper limit in environments with poor lighting conditions. It is a pity that the whole series may not have dual telephoto lenses.
In addition, Mate 90 Pro adopts a dual-layer OLED screen with a peak brightness of over 10000nits. The Pro Max version and RS version are expected to be equipped with top-tier new screens with higher brightness; this series of batteries provides two specifications of 6600mAh and 6800mAh, supporting a maximum of 100W fast charging.
The SoC is the most complex part of the Mate 90 series configuration. Leitech has integrated the data revealed by @Digital Chat Station and many other bloggers, as follows:
- Mate 90: Kirin 9030;
- Mate 90 Pro: Kirin 9035;
- Mate 90 Pro Max: Kirin 9050;
- Mate 90 Pro Max Collector's Edition: Kirin 9050 Pro;
- Mate 90 RS: Kirin 9050 Pro.
(Mate 80 Pro Max; Image source: Leitech shooting)
It should be noted that the storage combination of Mate 90 Pro Max and the Collector's Edition is different, not just a simple chip upgrade.
The previously released Mate XT 2 has been launched with Kirin 9050 Pro, but the foldable phone is limited by heat dissipation and cannot fully release the performance of this chip. After the Mate 90 series is launched, we will be able to see the full strength of Kirin 9050 Pro and Huawei τ Law.
With the general price increase of flagship phones, the premium of Huawei mobile phones is no longer prominent, and even Leitech has seen the shadow of cost-effectiveness, which is expected to achieve a higher share in the high-end market.
On September 29, Huawei announced that the Mate 90 series launch conference will be held at 10:00 on October 1. The on-duty editorial team of Leitech during the National Day holiday will keep following up. This new generation of phones is expected to go on sale officially at 12:08 on the same day. Users who intend to buy can set their alarms in advance.
OnePlus 16: A Balanced Choice for Daily Use and Gaming
On September 21, OnePlus 16 opened reservations, and most of the core configurations of the phone were announced during the warm-up process.
This phone is equipped with the 6th Generation Snapdragon 8 Ultra Extreme Edition and a new generation of WindChaser game kernel, plus three self-developed e-sports chips, including the e-sports network chip G3, the Lingxi touch chip T3, and the super display chip P4, which respectively target the three key gaming experience points of signal, touch responsiveness, and picture smoothness.
According to OnePlus, OnePlus 16 supports global 165Hz high refresh rate and the native 185FPS ultra-high frame mode for mainstream mobile games such as *Peacekeeper Elite*, *Area Breakout*, *CrossFire*, *Naruto* and so on.
In other aspects, OnePlus 16 is expected to be equipped with a 9000mAh battery, supporting 100W fast charging and 50W wireless charging. The main camera is a 200-megapixel, F1.6 aperture, 1/1.4-inch CMOS sensor, plus a 50-megapixel ultra-wide-angle and a 50-megapixel, 1/1.95-inch CMOS periscope telephoto. The periscope telephoto of this phone is IMX882, supporting 3x optical zoom and 6x lossless zoom.
(Image source: OnePlus)
Like the previous generations of products, the OnePlus digital series still takes performance as the core and takes into account daily use. The product appearance design is similar to that of conventional flagships, and the imaging capability far exceeds the "basic scanning" standard, which is more than enough for daily shooting.
The OnePlus 16 is scheduled for October 12, and the main configurations are basically public. The only thing to look forward to is the price. Referring to the current price of 5099 yuan for the 12GB+256GB version of OnePlus 15 on the official website, Leitech speculates that the price of the same storage specification version of OnePlus 16 is around 5500 yuan. It should be noted that there are news that OnePlus 16 will launch an 8GB+256GB version with a price lower than 5000 yuan.
RedMagic 12 Pro+: Slimmer and More Extreme
As the remaining mainstream gaming phone manufacturer, RedMagic, although not as famous as Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo, still attracts the attention of countless consumers. A few days ago, RedMagic officially announced that its new phone RedMagic 12 Pro+ is scheduled for October 15.
Judging from the released data, the biggest highlight of RedMagic 12 Pro+ is still performance. The 6th Generation Snapdragon 8 Ultra Extreme Edition lays the foundation for performance, and the combination of air cooling and liquid cooling increases the performance upper limit of this model by improving the heat dissipation capacity.
In addition to performance, the under-display camera and hand feel of RedMagic 12 Pro+ have also been upgraded. @Digital Chat Station revealed after experiencing the engineering machine that the display effect of the under-display camera area of this phone is far better than that of iPhone Duo. Jiang Chao, product manager of RedMagic gaming phones, said that the new phone has a larger battery, more powerful heat dissipation, but is lighter and thinner, the frame is compressed to 0.96mm, the R-angle curvature is re-adjusted, and with the full-flat design, the grip is very comfortable.
(Image source: RedMagic)
Once upon a time, gaming phone manufacturers such as BlackShark, Lenovo Legion, ROG Phone launched a fierce competition in the industry, but the needs of most consumers for mobile phones are not only gaming. In addition, the flagship SoC performance of manufacturers such as Qualcomm and MediaTek is getting stronger and stronger, and the gap between the gaming experience of ordinary mobile phones and gaming phones has narrowed, leading to the gradual decline of gaming phones.
Jiang Chao said on Weibo that the industry is becoming more and more homogeneous, "Like iPhone has become the most labor-saving path". RedMagic never came here to follow the trend. From the first day, it was born for real players. Leitech believes that the mobile phone industry needs manufacturers like RedMagic that break the rules and stick to themselves, to bring a different touch to the market. If all mobile phones have the same design, similar functions and configurations, the whole industry will no longer have freshness and fun.
Finally, let's talk about the price of this phone. The current starting price of RedMagic 11 Pro+ on the official website is 6199 yuan. Leitech predicts that the starting price of RedMagic 12 Pro+ will be between 6599 yuan and 6999 yuan.
Honor WIN2: The Only Model with 2nm Chip and 10000mAh+ Battery This Year
On September 21, @Digital Chat Station released the network access information of the Honor WIN2 series. This series has three models: BRM-AN00, BRT-AN00, and BRS-AN00. Among them, BRM supports 100W fast charging, and BRT and BRS support 90W fast charging. Leitech speculates that these three models are Honor WIN2 Pro, WIN2, and WIN RT2 respectively.
Combined with several other revelations from this blogger, the Honor WIN2 series focuses on 2K screen + 2nm flagship platform + cooling fan + 10000mAh+ large battery. WIN2 Pro and WIN2 are equipped with the 6th Generation Snapdragon 8 Ultra Extreme Edition and the 6th Generation Snapdragon 8 Extreme Edition respectively, which is most likely the only flagship model with 2nm flagship chip and 10000mAh+ battery this year.
(Image source: Screenshot from Weibo)
Honor WIN RT2 may be equipped with the 5th Generation Snapdragon 8 Extreme Edition, a 6.83-inch + 185Hz ultra-high refresh rate screen, a metal middle frame, 3D ultrasonic fingerprint, and a battery capacity of no less than 10000mAh.
In general, the Honor WIN2 series continues the idea of focusing on performance, enhancing performance release through the enhanced version of Qualcomm flagship platform + cooling fan, and the 10000mAh+ large battery will not run out of power even during long hours of gaming sessions.
The Honor WIN2 series has not been scheduled for release, and the official has not started warm-up, so there is not much information exposed about other configurations, and it is expected to be released in mid-to-late October. As for the price, referring to the launch price and current selling price of the Honor WIN series, Leitech predicts that the starting price of Honor WIN RT2 is around 3799 yuan, and the starting price of Honor WIN2 is around 4999 yuan.
In Leitech's view, for consumers who pursue performance and smoothness and do not have high requirements for imaging, the Honor WIN2 series with relatively affordable prices is worth considering.
In addition, the Honor WIN tablet may be released together with the WIN2 series. The 5th Generation Snapdragon 8 Extreme Edition plus the small screen design also meets the needs of gamers. The only drawback is that the 5G version has been cut.
Rejecting Homogenization, New Phones in October Have Their Own Highlights
Flagship phones have balanced configurations in all aspects to eliminate shortcomings, and there is no obvious differentiation between OPPO Find X10 series, vivo X500 series and Xiaomi 18 series. The new phones released in October, except for the Huawei Mate 90 series, do not pursue no shortcomings, but can highlight the uniqueness of the products.
OnePlus 16 takes into account performance and gaming. With a global 165Hz refresh rate and a frame rate of up to 185FPS for some games, its main camera and telephoto camera are remarkable; the Honor WIN2 series focuses on large battery + high performance + cooling fan, and the high-end version is equipped with a 2K screen, which provides a better experience for gaming and video watching; RedMagic 12 Pro+ pursues extreme gaming performance, brings liquid cooling + air cooling to the phone, and also has the under-display camera and full-flat design which are rare in the industry.
As for the Mate 90 series, Kirin chips and HarmonyOS are Huawei's exclusive core competitiveness. Moreover, under the influence of the price increase trend, the cost-effectiveness of the Mate 90 series has risen sharply, and models such as OnePlus 16, Honor WIN2, and RedMagic 12 Pro+ that do not pursue