The Android-powered Mate S has a metal unibody with a curved back and rounded edges, as is the standard design these days. It measures only 2.65mm thick, the 5.5-inch screen offers 1080p, and on the rear is a 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization. There’ll be two versions – standard and premium.

Differentiating them is the Force Touch technology, which – just as we’ve seen on the Apple Watch – tracks not only touchscreen-taps but how hard you press on the display. But where the Mate S really differs is with its use of Force Touch and “Knuckle Sense” technology, which allows the screen to recognize the difference between taps and presses with a finger tip and drags of a finger knuckle. Thus unusual Knuckle Sense feature can spot when you’re sketching out things with your knuckle and treat them as launcher shortcuts.

Force Touch allows users to make specific like gestures, like directional swipes or firm presses, to trigger certain actions. Like, gestures can be made with knuckles, like a long drag across the display to take a screen capture, or drawing a letter to launch specific apps instead of searching for them. Huawei’s demonstration showed launching the camera with the letter “C.”

Along with dual SIM support there’s the  32GB of storage, priced at R10 699 (Vodacom ) and R10 799 (MTN), respectively. Oddly enough, Vodacom has been retailing the device for the past 4 weeks – or so – whilst MTN announced on Friday that they’ll be retailing the device soon. The version with Force Touch will be limited to “select markets,” the company says, but with no details on pricing just yet.

More on the Mate S: it has a 5.5-inch 1080p screen with 2.5D fourth-generation Gorilla Glass display, 7.2mm thickness, Kirin chipset, 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization, stepped battery rated for over one full day and an improved rear-fixed fingerprint sensor. Where the Mate S’ design is concerned, special emphasis is made on its curved metal build – referred to as “diamond cut” — as being more comfortable for most consumers to hold. Gone from the Mate S are the typical Android shortcut keys as they are now hidden in the Mate S’ “magic bottom” just beneath the screen. However, this applies only to the 128GB Force Touch model and down at the base, surrounding the micro-USB port, are dual speakers.

Where the Mate S breaks from the pack is in how it manages data: The device has two SIM slots so users can jump between separate LTE connections. The device is now available from Vodacom in two versions: on a once-off R10499 version that comes in either mystique champagne or titanium gray and has 3GB RAM/32GB storage; or from R529 pmx24 on their Samrt S plan. Pricing and local availability for a Force Touch-enabled 128GB Mate S will be announced at a later date.