The US trade ban dealt a massive blow to Huawei's smartphone business. The Chinese company did not exit the market entirely, but the shortage of core components forced it to slow down the pace of launches significantly. And while Huawei phones are available outside of China, the lack of Google Play access means they don't find many takers. Despite all these hurdles and setbacks, the company has released some impressive devices over the years, including the foldable Mate Xs 2, P50 Pocket, and the P50 series. Now, Huawei is gearing up to launch the Mate 50 in China on September 6—a day ahead of the rumored iPhone 14 launch event.

The Mate 40, which launched in October 2020, was the Chinese smartphone maker's last phone from the lineup. Following the various trade sanctions that led to a shortage of core components, the company presumably decided against releasing new phones in the series. Nearly two years later, the firm plans to resurrect the brand with the Mate 50. The Mate lineup has represented the best of what Huawei has to offer, so it will be interesting to see what the upcoming Mate phone packs, especially since the trade sanctions are still in place.

The image shared by Huawei on Weibo teases the "Mate 50 series" launch, hinting at the release of multiple smartphones. Going by the company's track record, we could see the Mate 50, Mate 50 Pro, and a premium Porsche-branded RS model being announced. With Huawei not having access to 5G chips from Qualcomm, the Mate 50 series should be powered by a 4G-variant of the Snapdragon 888 or Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC.

The Huawei Mate 20 from 2018 was the last Mate-branded phone we reviewed back. Back then, we found it among the best smartphones not coming to the US. So, the Huawei Mate 50 has some large shoes to fill.