HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro variant exclusive to China is 35% cheaper than anywhere else

The HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro is continuing the trend of HUAWEI’s Mate line of smartphones receiving incredible accolades from both industry press and smartphone enthusiasts alike. Here at Android Authority, our review concluded the device “is probably the best phone you can get right now.”

However, those of us living in the United States can’t get the device, as it likely won’t see a Stateside release. Additionally, those of you out there who do have access to the device will pay a pretty penny, as its starting price is 1,050 euros (~$1,217).

While that all is a tough pill to swallow, there’s one country in the world which not only has access to the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro but will also pay much less for it. That country is China, HUAWEI’s home turf. Not only does China have cheap(er) access to the device, but it also has access to a variant which no one else can get, via GSM Arena.

Globally, there are five variants of the Mate 20 series. From cheapest to most expensive, they are the HUAWEI Mate 20 Lite, Mate 20, Mate 20 X, Mate 20 Pro, and HUAWEI Porsche Design Mate 20 RS.

In China, however, there’s no Mate 20 Lite (it got released under a different name). There’s also a different, sixth variant, and a slight feature change for the Mate 20 Pro.

The sixth variant is called the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro (UD), and it is essentially the same as the international version of the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro, except it features more RAM and has an option for more internal storage. The regular HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro in China drops the in-display fingerprint scanner — and drops the price by about 35 percent.

Here is how the Chinese pricing of the five Chinese variants breaks down:

HUAWEI Mate 20

• 6GB/64GB — 3999 yuan (~$575)
• 6GB/128GB — 4499 yuan – (~$647)

HUAWEI Mate 20 X

• 6GB/128GB — 4999 yuan – (~$718)
• 8GB/256GB — 5999 yuan – (~$862)

HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro

• 6GB/128GB — 5399 yuan – (~$776)

HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro (UD)

• 8GB/128GB — 5999 yuan – (~$862)
• 8GB/256GB — 6799 yuan – (~$977)

HUAWEI Porsche Design Mate 20 RS

• 8GB/512GB — 12999 yuan – (~$1,868)

For the sake of comparison, here are the prices for the global variants (leaving out the Mate 20 Lite):

HUAWEI Mate 20

• 4GB/128GB — 799 euros (~$927)
• 6GB/128GB — 849 euros ( ~$985)

HUAWEI Mate 20 X

• 6GB/128GB — 899 euros (~$1,043)

HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro

• 6GB/128GB — 1,049 euros (~$1,217)

HUAWEI Porsche Design Mate 20 RS

• 8GB/256GB — 1,695 euros (~$1,966)
• 8GB/512GB — 2,095 euros (~$2,430)

There are a lot of differences there which almost make it worthwhile to think about importing the device from China rather than buying directly from a non-Chinese vendor. However, the Chinese variants likely feature limited band supported which could cause issues when connecting to your local wireless carrier.

Regardless, hopefully the pricing of the devices will come down soon, as these are all great phones and lots of folks would buy them — if they were a bit more affordable.

NEXT: HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro review: The phone for power users