The HUAWEI Mate 9 Porsche Edition is an incredibly expensive Galaxy Note 7 lookalike

Huawei has unveiled a limited edition version of its new Mate 9 phablet, created in partnership with Porsche, at an event in Munich. The Porsche Design Mate 9 combines HUAWEI and Porsche’s design sensibilities and comes exclusively in graphite black.

The handset houses a 5.5-inch curved QHD display and physical home button – not unlike Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 – but differentiates itself with chamfered edges and a slightly rounded rear. Announcing the new product, Richard Yu, CEO of HUAWEI Consumer Business Group, said: “Porsche Design is synonymous with excellence in innovation, unique design and perfection. The Porsche Design HUAWEI Mate 9 sets a new benchmark in design and performance.”

Here are the specs:

• Dimensions: Height: 152 mm; Width: 75 mm; Depth: 7.5 mm
• Weight: ~169g
• Display: 5.5″ Curved AMOLED display, QHD (2560 x 1440), 534ppi
• Processor: HUAWEI Kirin 960 octa-core (4 x 2.4 GHz A73+ 4 x 1.8 GHz A53) chip + i6 co-processor
• GPU: Mali-G71 MP8
• OS: Android 7.0 (Nougat) with Emotion UI (EMUI) 5.0
• Memory: 256GB ROM; 6GB RAM
• Dual SIM: Yes
• NFC: Yes
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 2.4G/5G, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with Wi-Fi Direct support. BlueTooth 4.2, BLE support. USB Type-C (Hi-Speed USB)
• Main Camera:  20 MP Monochrome + 12 MP RGB, F/2.2 aperture, OIS (Optical Image Stabilization), 4K video
• Front camera: 8 MP AF, F/1.9 aperture.
• Battery: 4000 mAh

Unlike the regular Mate 9, however, the Porsche version doesn’t support expandable storage via microSD card, only the 256 GB internal storage it comes with.

HUAWEI also unveiled a new smartwatch at today’s event, the HUAWEI Fit and the regular version of Mate 9; find out our first impressions of that in our hands-on HUAWEI Mate 9 review.

The Porsche Design HUAWEI Mate 9 will go on sale in Europe for 1,395 Euros (~$1544) in European Porsche Design stores starting late December. It will roll out Porsche Design stores worldwide (excluding the USA) in January 2017 and select retail stores in Europe, Middle East and Asia.

What are your thoughts on the HUAWEI and Porsche partnership? Let us know in the comments.