Huawei announced two new smartphones at an event in Munich in the form of the Mate 9 and the Porsche Design Mate 9, the latter of which will be a "strictly limited edition".

The two devices succeeded the Mate 8, which launched at the end of last year and although they share the same name, they are considerably different.

Here is how the Huawei Mate 9 compares to its more premium brother, the Porsche Design Mate 9. You can also read our separate feature on how the Mate 9 compares to the Mate 8.

Huawei Mate 9 vs Porsche Design Huawei Mate 9: Design

  • Porsche Design Mate 9 more premium, smaller and lighter
  • Standard Mate 9 comes in more colour options
  • Porsche Design has front-mounted fingerprint sensor, standard model has rear-mounted

The Huawei Mate 9 and Porsche Design Mate 9 might both be part of the Mate family, but they are significantly different in terms of their designs. As you might expect, the Porsche Design Mate 9 offers a more premium build than the standard model, but it also smaller, slimmer and lighter.

The standard Mate 9 measures 156.9 x 78.9 x 7.9mm and hits the scales at 190g, while the Porsche Design model measures 152 x 75 x 7.5mm and weighs 169g.

The Porsche Design is a limited edition model, as we mentioned, and it only comes in one colour option: Graphite Black. The standard Mate 9 on the other hand, is available in Space Gray, Moonlight Silver, Champagne Gold, Mocha Brown, Ceramic White and Black colour options.

Both devices feature a fingerprint sensor, but they aren't positioned in the same place. The standard Mate 9 offers a circular rear-mouted fingerprint sensor, while the Porsche Design model puts its fingerprint sensor in the button on the front of the device, like Samsung does. The rear of the Porsche Design model features the Porsche Design logo instead, distinguishing the two Mate 9 devices.

Huawei Mate 9 vs Porsche Design Huawei Mate 9: Display

  • Porsche Design Mate 9 has smaller, sharper and curved display
  • Standard Mate 9 has a larger, flat display with lower resolution 

It isn't just the design where the two Mate 9 devices differ though. The standard Mate 9 features a 5.9-inch Full HD display for a pixel density of 373ppi, which although is sharper than the preceding Mate 8, it is still quite low for this size device. 

The Porsche Design Mate 9 model reduces the screen size to 5.5-inches, and ups the resolution to Quad HD, putting its pixel density at a much sharper and crisper 534ppi, which is the same as the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge.

The standard Mate 9 offers 2.5D glass, which makes the screen curve nicely into the frame, like the Apple iPhone 7 does, but the Porsche Design model has a curved display, again like the Galaxy S7 edge. The curved display makes the Porsche Design model that little bit more exciting compared to the standard model and with AMOLED technology, colours should be bright and punchy.

Both the standard Mate 9 and the Porsche Design Mate 9 have 16.7 million colours but the Porsche Design model has a 100 per cent colour saturation compared to the standard Mate 9's 97 per cent.

Huawei Mate 9 vs Porsche Design Huawei Mate 9: Cameras

  • Same cameras across both models
  • Leica partnership present again
  • Higher resolution monochrome sensor than Huawei P9

The cameras on the Huawei Mate 9 and Porsche Design Mate 9 are the one area where the two devices are identical. Both offer the Leica partnership found on the Huawei P9 and both feature dual-sensors on the rear, one of which is monochrome, the other of which is RGB.

The resolution has increased for the monochrome sensor compared to the P9 however, with both Mate 9 devices offering a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor, coupled with a 12-megapixel RGB sensor. These have an aperture of f/2.2, optical image stabilisation and 4K video recording capability. They also both have a 4-in-1 hybrid autofocus which combines laser focus, phase detection focus, depth focus and contrast focus.

In terms of the front camera, the two Mate 9 devices have an 8-megapixel snapper, featuring an aperture of f/1.9 and autofocus.

Huawei Mate 9 vs Porsche Design Huawei Mate 9: Hardware and software

  • Same processor, same graphics, but Porsche Design has more RAM and more storage
  • No microSD for Porsche Design but support on standard model
  • Both feature Android Nougat with EMUI 5.0

The Huawei Mate 9 and Porsche Design Mate 9 both have the Huawei Kirin 960 octa-core processor under their hoods, coupled with Mali-G71 MP8 graphics. They are also both dual-SIM, both offer a battery capacity of 4000mAh and both support quick charging technology, which Huawei calls SuperCharge.

The standard Mate 9 comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, with support for microSD expansion via the secondary SIM slot. The Porsche Design Mate 9 comes with 6GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but it doesn't offer microSD support. Both have USB Type-C.

The Mate 9 and Porsche Design Mate 9 also both run on Android Nougat with Huawei's Emotion interface laid over the top in EMUI 5.0. In terms of software experience, they should therefore be identical, while in performance terms, the Porsche Design model should be slightly superior thanks to the extra RAM.

Huawei Mate 9 vs Porsche Design Huawei Mate 9: Price

  • Porsche Design Mate 9 double the price of the standard Mate 9

The Huawei Mate 9 will cost €699, while the Porsche Design Mate 9 will set you back €1395, putting it at double the price of the standard model.

The Mate 9 will launch in select European cities, but the UK won't be one of them. The Porsche Design Mate 9 will be available in Porsche Design stores in Europe from December, followed by worldwide stores in January 2017, excluding the US.

Huawei Mate 9 vs Porsche Design Huawei Mate 9: Conclusion

The Huawei Mate 9 is larger and heavier than the Porsche Design model, but it also offers a bigger screen for those that want it and more colour options.

The Porsche Design model is more premium, has a sharper display, more RAM and more storage, but its price is more premium too and there is no microSD support. 

Which Mate 9 is the best for you? Well that depends on where you live and whether you can get your hands on either, how much money you have to spend, and whether the extra pixels, extra RAM and PD logo are worth double the dollar.