Huawei Mate 9 debuts in the US for $599, will become Alexa-enabled later in the year

Huawei has finally released one of its top flagships for the United States, the Mate 9. The handset will gain Alexa support and be priced at $599 and be sold at major retailers.

Late last year, Huawei launched two handsets, the Mate 9 and Porsche Design Mate 9. While those in the United States were left hanging, the time has finally come, as Huawei has officially unveiled the Mate 9 for the US.

Although the device isn't the company's most powerful handset, it does still reside in the upper echelon of its lineup and offers quite a healthy set of features. Perhaps the most notable are its four internal microphones, its machine learning algorithm for improved performance, and its second-generation dual camera co-engineered with Leica. As a bit of a surprise, Huawei also announced that an update would arrive sometimes in 2017 that would make the Mate 9 an Alexa-enabled handset.

Full specifications of Huawei Mate 9:

5.9-inch 1080p IPS LCD
4GB RAM and 64GB of storage
4000mAh battery
USB Type-C port
EMUI 5.0 over Google's Android 7.0

The Huawei Mate 9 will be available in the US from Best Buy and other popular retailers on January 6 for $599. It certainly isn't the cheapest option available, but those looking for a larger handset packing a lot of power should be content with what the Mate 9 has to offer.