Carrying on from its strong showings in the past few years, Huawei decided to go a bit bigger with its IFA 2015 event. As such, the Chinese manufacturer debuted two new phablets, to try and tackle the clout of Samsung's Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+. Whether or not the Huawei Mate S and Huawei G8 can outdo their South Korean counterparts remains to be seen, but Huawei has packed both with a number of new features in order to tempt consumers.

S marks the spot

To that end, the Mate S is the standout option between the two, and essentially takes over from the Mate 7 (review) as Huawei's flagship phablet. Leading up to the Mate S' official debut, the hammered home the message of "touch" and what it can enable for users. As Huawei's Richard Yu presented the Mate S, the message made more sense, as the phablet features a 2.5 D 5.5" full HD Amoled screen. The screen itself is smart-touch sensitive in nature, akin to Apple's Force Touch system.

This is the Mate S' top feature, so much so that Huawei has integrated a new version of both Fingerprint and Knuckle Sense. The latter is perhaps the most intriguing though, as consumers can use their knuckle to launch specific apps by writing certain letters. For example, an 'M' launches the Music app, and a 'W' deploys the Weather widget. Whether or not this feature is more gimmick than revolution will be uncovered when we get hands-on time with the Mate S.

Top of the Line

The Mate S does not seem like a one trick pony though, as Huawei has loaded the rest of it with high end specifications. Internally we find a split Kirin 936 octa-core chipset, with a quad-core 2.2 GHz and quad-core 1.5 GHz respectively. Added to this is 3 GB of RAM, with onboard storage options ranging between to 32 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB.

This solid internal setup is matched by an equally strong sounding 13 MP camera to take care of the shooting on the rear, and 8 MP front facing camera. Huawei has given a range of shooting modes with a Professional option that Huawei boasts can rival a DSLR.

Checking the boxes

Perhaps given less time in the spotlight than its flagship brethren, the Huawei G8 is a rather unassuming but very impressive looking phablet. Just like the Mate S, the G8 features a 5.5" 2.5D (chamfered edge) full HD display (1920x1080).

Other similarities are 3 GB of RAM and a 13 MP primary camera. The latter however does not feature the same OIS system and shooting modes as the Mate S. Added to this is 32 GB of onboard storage, but there is no word yet on whether other storage options will be available. Handling the processing, we find a Qualcomm MSM8939 octa-core setup, with a quad-core 1.5 GHz and quad-core 1.2 GHz chipsets taking care of the heavy lifting.

Just like its predecessor, the G7 (review), Huawei has fitted the G8 with a sizeable 3000 mAh battery which should see a full day's use easily handled.         

No local word

At the moment, local pricing and availability for the Huawei Mate S and G8 remain unknown, but these two new phablets will certainly help improve the Chinese company’s standing as a high end manufacturer within South Africa.