Huawei Mate 9 release date, specs: New Mate 9 concept phone coming in December?

A promotional image for the Huawei Mate 9Huawei website

Huawei has already unveiled its newest flagship, the Mate 9. However, speculations suggest that Huawei is not finished with the release, as another Mate 9 concept phone will supposedly debut next month.

According to GizmoChina, noted China-based analyst Pan Jiutang has announced this launch on social media site Weibo. The analyst also mentioned that the next release is already in the pipeline, though it has been dubbed as a concept phone. Allegedly, some company insiders have already seen the device, claiming that the concept phone as "stunning."

The post also highlighted features of the upcoming concept phone. Apparently, the next Huawei flagship release will use" Samsung customized four curved screen," hinting that it will be a near bezel-less display with curved edges on all the four edges of the front panel. Mr. Jiutang added that the concept phone will feature a number of additional sensors — likely teasing an iris scanner — as well as artificial intelligence support.

While Huawei has yet to comment on the rumor, an imminent release for a concept phone is high possible. Although Huawei has recently released its new Mate 9 flagship, it faces stiff competition with another China-based tech maker, Xiaomi. The company has released its new flagship, Mi Note 2, and it co-launched with its own concept phone, the Mi MIX.

Huawei is likely thinking of going head-to-head with Xiaomi on the concept phone lineup since the Mi MIX is sporting a near bezel-less display that supposedly covers almost 91 percent screen-to-body ratio on the front panel. The Mi MIX also launched with top-tier specs such as the new Snapdragon 821 processor paired with 6 GB of RAM and as much as 256 GB of onboard storage.

Should Huawei follow Xiaomi's lead, the Mate 9 concept phone will likely share some similar specs and features with the new Mate 9, like the new Kirin 960 chipset and 6 GB of RAM, as well as the dual-cam setup for its main camera.