Huawei Australia says its much-anticipated Mate 9 phablet, first announced back in November, will launch in Australia in Q1 2017 – though neither the actual date nor the Australian pricing has been announced byt the local office at this stage.

The Mate 9 is a classy looking high-end device with a 5.9-inch display. It uses Huawei’s own Kirin chips rather than the Qualcomm Snapdragon chips used by most of its competitors.

There’s a Full HD display, and two cameras capable of 4K video. The main camera is a Leica dual-lens device with a 20MP monochrome sensor and a 12MP RGB sensor, claimed to capture and reproduce the most stunning details. Another 20-megapixel sensor is said to be designed to shoot very crisp pictures in black and white.

The battery is claimed to deliver a good two days of uninterrupted performance, a 40 percent increase in call time and a 20 percent increase in gaming time.

Some observers believe the Mate 9 could steal sales from Korean rival Samsung which was forced to withdraw its Note7 device, following a series of fires and explosions.