As much as smartphone manufacturers rely on word of mouth and advertising, they also rely on large scale media events to introduce their latest offerings. As such, it’s only natural to see a manufacturer sending out media invites before an upcoming event, which is exactly what Huawei is now doing. Specifically, they’ve sent out media invites for an announcement event where they’ll be outing at least one new phone, but details aside from that are slim pickings.
With the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and iPhone 7 both in the works and rumored to be officially announced soon, it’s not terribly surprising to see the world’s number 3 smartphone manufacturer making their move as well. While the underdog of the top dogs is keeping mum on any specifics of the event, with two months and some change standing between now and the event, the rumor mill is very unlikely to keep quiet and leaks are quite likely to surface, as they already are doing with the last couple of months seeing rumors surface on a new Nexus 6P model and also a possible Mate 8 with force touch included.
As for what exactly may be revealed, all that’s been said is that it will be a smartphone, or perhaps multiple phones, with the assumption being not much else. Thus, hopes for a speedy release of a new Huawei Watch seem unlikely, unless plans change. Since Huawei’s P9 flagship was only released recently, its sequel probably is very unlikely to show up during the announcement. With the Honor 5X budget handset doing as well as it is in the market, a new Honor could show up, though it’s anybody’s guess just what tier it will be in, whether lower, mid-range or high mid-range. Finally, the most likely scenario is that this event will be the big reveal for the Mate 9, whose predecessor had its big outing in October of 2015. Although that would make this year’s model a month early, the timing would be just so to keep the Mate 9 from getting lost in the din of shiny new toys from Samsung and Apple. Whatever Huawei may have in mind, invites are out and the details will become known soon enough.