Huawei has added another iteration in its new Mate 9 flagship lineup. The new device is a step-down version of the flagship and is expected to be the inexpensive variant in the lineup.

Dubbed as the Mate 9 Lite, the new handset is already live on Huawei's consumer website. Interestingly, the new release is a surprise addition, since the China-based tech maker has not announced the step-down variant when it launched the Mate 9 flagship in Munich and Beijing. The Germany press launch only focused on the base version and the special edition Porsche Design, while the China release only added the Mate 9 Pro to the lineup.

With the specs and features already listed online, it is confirmed that the Mate 9 Lite is a step-down variant of the base Mate 9 version. The new addition has a smaller 5.5-inch display with full HD resolution. Under the hood, the Mate 9 Lite runs on a step-down Kirin 655 chipset, not the newly-announced Kirin 960 that powers the Mate 9. The step-down variant is paired with either 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of onboard storage, or 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal memory.

Meanwhile, although the Mate 9 Lite still has the dual-cam feature that is the signature of the Mate 9 series, Huawei has downgraded its setup to a 12- and 2-MP assembly, a significant decrease from the 20- and 12-MP pairing on the Mate 9. In addition, the Leica branding is also absent in the step-down variant, so it is expected that the dual-cam setup is regular Huawei optics.

Other specs and features include Android Marshmallow 6.0 right out of the box, 3,340 mAh battery, fingerprint sensor, and an 8-MP setup for its selfie shooter.

Although Huawei has yet to provide release and pricing details, the Mate 9 Lite is expected to be the cheapest iteration in the new flagship lineup.