Both models utilise the Kirin 980 system-on-chip, an octa-core SoC featuring Cortex-A76 and Cortex-A55 CPU cores, Mali-G76 MP10 GPU, and a pair of AI accelerators.

Unlike previous Huawei phones, it does not include a monochrome lens for contrast adjustment and greyscale images, with the company citing improvements to the colour sensors as making it redundant.

This is accompanied by improvements to Huawei's artificial intelligence object recognition system, which can now distinguish between multiple types of subjects in a scene to selectively apply enhancements (rather than only applying one to the entire photo) and can recognize 1,500 possible scenarios (a three-fold increase over the P20's similar system).

[19] Vlad Savov of The Verge felt that the Mate 20 Pro "[wasn't] the best overall Android smartphone", but argued that its specifications "[checked] off every wishlist item you can think of", and cited standout features such as its extensive battery life, and "iPhone-like" responsiveness (whilst also noting Huawei's frequent use of user interface elements strongly influenced by iOS).

Its display was considered comparable to Samsung's Galaxy Note 9, but felt that the symmetry of its front and rear curves affected ergonomics.

[5] The 3D face unlock was praised for its speed, contrasting the in-screen fingerprint reader (which did not have the same performance as the capacitive sensor on the P20), while the pre-release EMUI 9 software on the review device was noted to be buggy (but that its gesture implementation made more sense than the similar one implemented on Android 9 itself).

[5] In conclusion, Savov considered the Mate 20 Pro to be "a hugely indulgent purchase for those who are (a) outside the US, and (b) absolutely convinced they need its extensive list of good features and desirable specs.

"[5] CNET was similarly positive, noting that the Mate 20 Pro "not only has a spec list that's the equal of any flagship phone out there, but it comes with enough new features to make it a truly exciting phone", and was less aggressive in its use of color saturation on photos than the P20 Pro, but panned Huawei's switch to a proprietary memory card format due to pricing and availability not having yet been announced.