Huawei has announced two new Mate smartphones: the Mate 9 and the Porsche Design Mate 9. The latter is a smaller, more premium model of the Mate 9, offering a curved display and a lovely premium build.

First glance at the Huawei Porsche Design Mate 9 and you'd think you were looking at a Samsung Galaxy S7 edge. They are pretty damn similar, more so from the front than the rear. How else do they compare though? Read on to find out.

Huawei Porsche Design Mate 9 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 edge: Design

  • S7 edge is smaller, slimmer, lighter and waterproof
  • Both premium designs
  • Both front-mounted fingerprint sensors

The Huawei Porsche Design Mate 9 measures 152 x 75 x 7.5mm and weighs 169g. It offers an entirely metal build with the Porsche Design logo at the top of the screen on the front, along with the PD logo on the rear.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge is slightly smaller, slimmer and lighter, measuring 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7mm and hitting the scales at 157g. It is made from a combination of metal and glass, with a tempered glass rear sporting the Samsung logo in the middle. It is also IP68 water and dust resistant.

Both offer fingerprint sensors, and both sit within the physical button on the front of the device. This is typical of Samsung devices, while Huawei's tend to be rear-mounted traditionally.

Huawei Porsche Design Mate 9 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 edge: Display

  • Both curved AMOLED displays
  • Both 5.5-inch, Quad HD resolutions

It is the display on both these two devices that put them on the same team. Both the Galaxy S7 edge and the Porsche Design Mate 9 have a 5.5-inch curved AMOLED display, making their designs more appealing and exciting than some other flagships around.

Both also have 2560 x 1440 resolutions, delivering pixel densities of 534ppi so they should both deliver sharp, crisp images with good colour vibrancy. Samsung offers some extra software functionality that makes use of the curved display, while Huawei doesn't.

Huawei Porsche Design Mate 9 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 edge: Cameras

  • PD Mate 9 has a dual rear camera setup, 20MP and 12MP
  • S7 edge has wider aperture but single setup
  • Both have OIS

The Porsche Design Mate 9 features a dual camera arrangement like the P9 and it continues the partnership with Leica. The camera setup on the rear is arranged vertically, with one sensor on top of the other, rather than them sitting side-by-side as they do in the Apple iPhone 7 Plus and LG G5.

The Porsche Design Mate 9 has a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor coupled with a 12-megapixel RGB sensor, both of which sport a f/2.2 aperture and optical image stabilisation. The front camera is an 8-megapixel sensor with autofocus.

The Galaxy S7 edge has one 12-megapixel sensor on the rear, featuring an aperture of f/1.7, phase detection autofocus and optical image stabilisation. The front camera is 5-megapixels with an aperture of f/1.7 and Auto HDR capability. It's worth remembering that megapixels aren't everything however and Samsung's S7 edge is a fantastic camera performer.

Huawei Porsche Design Mate 9 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 edge: Hardware

  • PD Mate 9 has more RAM and internal storage
  • S7 edge has microSD support
  • PD Mate 9 has larger battery capacity

The Porsche Design Mate 9 features Huawei's Kirin 960 octa-core processor, coupled with Mali-G71 MP8 graphics and 6GB of RAM. There is 256GB of internal storage available but unlike the standard Mate 9 model, there is no microSD support despite the Dual-SIM functionality.

The Galaxy S7 edge has either Samsung's Exynos 8990 octa-core processor, or Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 quad-core chip, depending on the region. The former has Mali-T880 MP12 graphics, while the latter offers Adreno 530, and both have 4GB of RAM. Storage options are 32GB or 64GB, both of which have microSD expansion.

The Porsche Design Mate 9 offers a 4000mAh battery, while the Galaxy S7 edge has a 3600mAh battery, and both support quick charging. The Porsche Design Mate 9 has USB Type-C on board, while the Galaxy S7 edge opts for Micro-USB.

Huawei Porsche Design Mate 9 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 edge: Software

  • PD Mate 9 runs on Android Nougat with EMUI 5.0
  • S7 edge runs on Android Marshmallow with TouchWiz

The Porsche Design Mate 9 runs on Android Nougat with Huawei's Emotion skin over the top. It has a simpler interface and a cleaner design than previous EMUI builds, along with some interesting options like dual Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp use via the Dual SIM. 

The Galaxy S7 edge runs on Android Marshmallow with Samsung's TouchWiz skin over the top. It will eventually see an update to Android Nougat and as we mentioned, it features some extra software functionality that takes advantage of the curved display.

Huawei Porsche Design Mate 9 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 edge: Conclusion

The Huawei Porsche Design Mate 9 has a similarly exciting design to the S7 edge with a curved display that is the same resolution and size as the Samsung alternative. It also offers more RAM, a dual camera setup, a larger battery capacity and more internal storage.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge has a slightly smaller and lighter build however, it's also waterproof and its camera capabilities have proven to be excellent. It also offers microSD support and it is significantly cheaper.

The Huawei Porsche Design Mate 9 costs €1395 and will be available in limited quantities from December, while the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge starts at £639 and is widely available.