Huawei woos Amazon's Alexa for the U.S. launch of its Mate 9

Huawei has made a name for itself by partnering with Google on the final Nexus phone and selling affordable, feature-packed handsets in China, but now the company is looking to stand on its own in the U.S. Not only is it finally launching its 6.9-inch Mate 9 phablet to the States, it's bringing along a new friend along for the trip: Alexa. Among the features of the Mate 9--aside from its giant 1080p display--are a 4,000 mAh battery, 5A fast charging through its SuperCharge technology, and a Leica-made dual-lens camera that combines a 12MP standard camera with a 20MP monochrome one to capture more depth and detail. Also on board is Huawei's Hybrid Zoom system that delivers 2x magnification, and a 4-in-1 hybrid auto-focus that combines "laser focus, phase detection focus, depth focus, and contrast focus." The Mate 9 is powered by Huawei's in-house Kirin 960 chipset, which features an ARM Cortex-A73/A53 Octa-core CPU and Mali G71 Octa-core GPU. The company boasts that the chip utilizes a "Machine Learning Algorithm that helps deliver a fast and smooth experience, even after 18 months of continuous use."