Huawei’s biggest innovations in recent years in the mobile space have tended to focus strongly on camera features and quality. The latest leaks surrounding its upcoming Huawei P40 Pro suggest it’s not slowing down in that respect, even if it’s going to produce a phone that looks a lot like the P30 Pro.
That’s not a bad thing to speak of however. The Huawei P30 Pro was one of my absolute favourite phones of 2019, and while much of that credit went to its amazing stills camera capabilities, the core style of the phone was great too. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for subtly blue toned phones, although Gizmodo Australia’s editor Tegan Jones seems to agree.
Huawei is set to announce the Huawei P40 series of phones ” most likely the Huawei P40 and Huawei P40 Pro, with the distinct possibility of a Lite model or maybe a fancy ultra-designed variant if Huawei’s feeling fancy ” by the end of the month in Paris, and Digital Trends managed to get some serious hands-on time with a prototype version of the P40 family.
Being a prototype it’s always possible that the design hasn’t been finalised, but that’s really not that much of a jump from the P30 Pro’s design, or for that matter its number of lenses. Digital Trends wasn’t able to confirm which P40 phone this was ” Lite, regular or Pro ” so it’s also feasible that if it’s the low-end lite model that the Pro might have a fancier design or more tricked-out camera array. The brief hands-on period did suggest slightly more rounded corners for easier grip, and glass that runs over the curves as well.
Given that the Huawei Mate Xs that Huawei recently announced is running on Huawei’s Kirin 990 platform, it seems likely that this will be the powerhouse behind the P40 as well. Or at least the Huawei P40 and Huawei P40 Pro at least; it’s conceivable that the P40 Lite, if it eventuates might run on a slightly lesser Kirin family processor.
The Huwei P30 and Huawei P30 Pro were effectively Huawei’s last flagships released before the US trading ban that saw Huawei unable to licence Google services for its phones, which means that future phones will have to rely on Huawei’s less impressive App Gallery when it comes to apps and additional functions. The Huawei P40 would be Huawei’s first P-series phones to be hit with this restriction, which sees no sign of easing any time soon.
At the same event where I was able to go hands-on with the Huawei Mate Xs, Huawei Australia Consumer MD Larking Huang confirmed to Gizmodo Australia that the Huawei P40 phones would definitely launch in Australia, but did not confirm when that might be. We may well know more on the 26th of March when Huawei launches the Huawei P40.