Months of leaks promised an active cooling fan inside the Huawei Mate 80’s camera bump. Now reliable tipsters say that fan version has been scrapped. Here’s why Huawei ditched the idea, how it affects performance, and where the company is moving its cooling tech instead.
The short answer: the fan was real — but it never made it to mass production
For much of 2025, one of the wildest Huawei Mate 80 rumors was that at least one model in the series would ship with a miniature active cooling fan hidden inside the trademark circular camera bump. Early patents and leaks showed an intricate design with air ducts and a super‑thin centrifugal fan, promising gaming‑phone‑level cooling in a mainstream flagship. Notebookcheck
However, just days before the Mate 80 series launch event scheduled for November 25, multiple Chinese reports and tipsters – including the well‑known Digital Chat Station – now say that this so‑called “fan version” of the Mate 80 has been canceled and will not enter mass production. Sina
Huawei‑focused outlet Huawei Central has echoed these reports, confirming that despite earlier expectations, the Mate 80 lineup coming this month will not feature the much‑talked‑about cooling fan technology. Huawei Central
Instead, Huawei appears to be taking a more conservative approach on phones while moving the fan tech to its new MatePad Edge 2‑in‑1 tablet and adding battery‑focused features like Outdoor Mode, which promises up to 14 days of battery life on the Mate 80 in specific scenarios. Huawei Central
Let’s break down what happened, why the fan didn’t make the cut, and what it means for buyers watching the Mate 80 launch on November 25.
How we got here: a year of fan hype around Mate 80
The story starts with patents and leaks:
- Smartphone fan patents from Huawei showed a reworked version of the Mate series’ circular “star ring” camera module, split into layers with:
- Side air inlets and outlets
- An internal ring‑shaped air duct
- A tiny centrifugal fan under 3 mm thick
- Fins and channels to move hot air out of the phone Notebookcheck
- Tipsters claimed this design would debut on the Huawei Mate 80 Pro or Pro Max, with the fan integrated into the lower half of the camera deco, pushing airflow out through the sides of the ring. Gizmochina
- Reports from sites like Notebookcheck, Gizmochina, and regional tech media repeated the same basic idea:
Mate 80 = Kirin 9030 + big battery + active cooling fan on top models. TechNode
For gamers and power users, this sounded like a dream: sustained peak performance with fewer thermal throttling issues, all while staying within a familiar Mate design language.
Why the cooling fan didn’t make it into the shipping Mate 80
According to Chinese outlet Kuaikeji and Digital Chat Station, Huawei actually built a Mate 80 “fan edition”, with the active cooling system fully integrated in the camera island — but it failed to reach mass production “for certain reasons.” Sina
While Huawei itself has not officially explained the decision, the combination of leaks, patents, and supply‑chain chatter points to a few very likely factors:
1. Space wars inside an ultra‑thin flagship
Modern flagships are basically 3D Tetris:
- Large camera sensors and periscope lenses
- A high‑capacity battery (rumors point to 6,000 mAh silicon‑carbon options on some Mate 80 models) TechNode
- 5G antennas, satellite comms modules, and mmWave / sub‑6 hardware in some variants
- Big vapor chambers or graphite cooling layers
Now add a 3 mm‑thick fan plus ring‑shaped ductwork across the width of the middle frame, and something has to give. Chinese analysis of the patent notes that the fan module seriously eats into the space normally reserved for the camera stack, which is a problem for a series that sells itself on camera performance. Tencent News
In short: more fan space = less room for big sensors, lenses, or battery. For a camera‑centric flagship like Mate, that’s a painful trade‑off.
2. Heat, dust, water — and reliability
An active cooling system in a phone introduces new headaches:
- Maintaining IP water and dust resistance with moving parts and air vents is hard and expensive.
- Tiny fans spinning at high RPM can be subject to dust buildup, noise, and mechanical wear over years of use.
- If the fan fails, it could impact performance or even trigger throttling sooner than on a passive design.
Leaked commentary from Chinese tech media suggests Huawei tried to solve this with miniaturized, sealed fan modules and hidden ring ducts, but making that robust enough for millions of units — not just engineering samples — is a different challenge. Sina
3. Power consumption and endurance
A fan, even a tiny one, consumes power. That’s a tough sell in a year when Huawei is heavily marketing:
- Outdoor Mode on the Mate 80, which promises up to 14 days of endurance for hiking, camping, and emergency scenarios by cutting power draw from satellite and background functions. Huawei Central
- New eSIM + dual physical SIM support on some Mate 80 variants, allowing up to four numbers on one device — another communications‑heavy, battery‑sensitive use case. Huawei Central
A phone that’s simultaneously pushing “super-long battery life outdoors” and “always‑on cooling fan” sends mixed signals. For the first launch wave, Huawei appears to have prioritized endurance, connectivity, and reliability over experimental active cooling.
4. Production risk so close to launch
Huawei has already locked in a November 25 launch date for the Mate 80 series in China, alongside the Mate X7 foldable and other ecosystem devices. Pandaily
Trying to finalize and mass‑produce a mechanically complex new cooling module at scale — on top of sanctions‑related supply constraints — may simply have been too risky this late in the cycle.
The result: the fan version stayed in the lab.
Huawei hasn’t abandoned the fan idea — it’s moving to MatePad Edge
Interestingly, Huawei seems determined not to waste the work it poured into active cooling. A new MatePad Edge 2‑in‑1 tablet, teased this week, appears to be the first beneficiary. Huawei Central
According to leaks:
- The MatePad Edge uses a PC‑level Kirin 9‑series SoC (details still under wraps)
- Configurations reportedly go up to 24 GB RAM + 1 TB storage
- Crucially, the tablet includes a built‑in active cooling fan, specifically marketed as a performance booster for tasks like gaming, video editing, and heavy multitasking
On a tablet, the trade‑offs are less brutal:
- There’s far more internal volume for fans, ducts, and larger heat spreaders
- Thicker chassis and keyboard‑dock form factors make noise and airflow more acceptable
- Users already expect laptop‑like behavior from a 2‑in‑1, including active cooling
In other words, MatePad Edge becomes Huawei’s test bed for this next‑gen cooling tech, while Mate 80 plays it safe in your pocket.
So how will Mate 80 keep cool without a fan?
Even without an active fan, the Mate 80 series is still shaping up to be a serious step forward on the thermal and performance front.
From various launch teasers and leaks, here’s what’s expected:
- Kirin 9030 chipset across the lineup, with improved efficiency over the Kirin 9020 in the Mate 70 series Android Headlines
- Possible 6,000 mAh silicon‑carbon batteries on some models, trading some pack volume for better energy density TechNode
- Large passive cooling solutions like vapor chambers and multi‑layer graphite (already common in Huawei flagships, likely enhanced here)
- HarmonyOS 6 / HarmonyOS NEXT, with improved system‑level power and thermal management, shipping out of the box on Mate 80. TechNode
Together with features like Outdoor Mode, Huawei is clearly betting that smart software + efficient silicon + upgraded passive cooling can deliver stable performance without the complexity of a spinning fan.
New Mate 80 features announced today (Nov 20, 2025)
While the fan news is a let‑down for some enthusiasts, Huawei has dropped several fresh Mate 80 teasers today that matter to real‑world users:
1. Outdoor Mode with up to 14‑day battery life
Huawei has officially promoted a new Outdoor Mode for the Mate 80 series:
- Designed for hiking, camping, and long trips
- Reduces power used by satellite communications and other background tasks
- Aims to stretch battery life to as long as 14 days in specific low‑usage, safety‑focused scenarios
- Marketed as a safety feature, ensuring you still have battery left for navigation or SOS messaging in remote areas Huawei Central
2. Dual physical SIM + dual eSIM: four numbers in one phone
Another leak today suggests that top Mate 80 models will support two physical SIM cards plus two eSIMs, for a total of up to four numbers on a single device. Huawei Central
The report claims:
- Mate 80 RS Ultimate will use a custom display with higher PWM dimming and brightness
- Mate 80 Pro Max may ship with a dual‑layer OLED screen
- All while enabling flexible SIM management for heavy travelers or professionals juggling work and personal lines
This also ties back into the fan story: with so much radio hardware and display tech competing for internal space, the trade‑off against a bulky cooling module becomes even sharper.
3. Watch Ultimate 2 and ecosystem tie‑ins
Alongside the Mate 80 teasers, Huawei has confirmed a November 25 China launch for the Watch Ultimate 2, a high‑end smartwatch running HarmonyOS 6 with: Huawei Central
- Underwater communication support and 150‑meter diving rating
- SOS and emergency features
- A China‑exclusive Beidou satellite voice messaging feature
As usual, Huawei will lean on tight integration between phones, wearables, and tablets — another reason it may prefer silent, sealed phones over experimental fan designs, at least for now.
What this means for gamers and power users
If you were hoping the Mate 80 would be a mainstream phone with gaming‑phone‑style active cooling, the latest leaks are disappointing. But in practice:
- Most users won’t miss the fan.
With efficient Kirin silicon, large batteries, and refined software tuning, Huawei’s recent flagships have already handled day‑to‑day workloads and even long gaming sessions fairly gracefully. - A fan in a phone is still niche and experimental.
We’ve seen similar attempts in gaming phones from other brands, often with trade‑offs in noise, thickness, and durability. - The real winner may be Huawei’s tablets and future flagships.
By deploying active cooling first on a 2‑in‑1 like MatePad Edge, Huawei can gather real‑world data, refine the design, and then decide whether a future Mate 90 or 2026 flagship is the right place to re‑introduce it. Huawei Central has already floated this possibility, noting that Huawei’s patents leave the door open for a later Mate generation to finally bring the tech to market. Huawei Central
Looking ahead: will Mate 90 finally get the fan?
Here’s the bottom line as of November 20, 2025:
- Yes, Huawei really worked on a Mate 80 with an internal fan, and it got as far as engineering units. Sina
- No, that fan version isn’t launching on November 25. The retail Mate 80 lineup will rely on upgraded passive cooling and efficient hardware instead. Huawei Central
- Huawei’s fan tech isn’t dead — it’s just moving sideways to the MatePad Edge and possibly future devices once the company is satisfied with durability, noise, and space trade‑offs. Huawei Central
For now, the Mate 80 story is less about “a phone with a secret fan” and more about battery life, communication features, and ecosystem play — Outdoor Mode, four‑SIM flexibility, and tight integration with wearables like the Watch Ultimate 2.
If Huawei can deliver on its promises of longer endurance, stronger connectivity, and smooth performance without a fan, most buyers may never notice that one of 2025’s wildest rumours quietly stayed in the prototype lab.
