Huawei has announced its new flagship smartphone family, the Huawei P40, P40 Pro, and P40 Pro Plus, which feature a large 50MP camera sensor on the back and a Kirin 990 Chipset. The Huawei P40 series was actually kicked off back in February with the P40 Lite, but today we’re finally seeing the flagship devices. These are Huawei’s latest high-end smartphones for 2020, and they pack tons of features into attractive packages. The display sizes range from 6.1-inches to 6.58-inches, but in general, the family shares many of the same specifications. The Huawei P40 Pro and P40 will be available from April 7, while the premium variant P40 Pro+ will be available in June.
Huawei P40 series design and display
The design of all three devices is relatively similar. They all have rectangular camera modules positioned in the top left corner on the back. All three also have hole-punch displays with the hole placed in the top left. Speaking of the display, the P40 Pro and Pro+ have 90Hz Overflow displays. The Overflow display is a full edge-to-edge display. The edges of the display are curved on all four sides, creating a very smooth transition anywhere you touch. The Huawei P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ have 6.58-inch displays, while the P40 has a smaller 6.1-inch flat display.
All three devices have an under-display optical fingerprint sensor. This sensor is 30% bigger and 30% faster than the sensor on the previous generation. Huawei also has some fancy new animations to go along with it. Goodix has also provided the AMOLED touch controller and smart audio amplifier for the P40 series. As for color options, all three models will be available in Ice White, Deep Sea Blue, and Black with glossy finishes. There is also Silver Frost and Blush Gold colors available in a matte finish. The premium variant P40 Pro+ has a ceramic back and is available in black and white.
Cameras
The Huawei P40 series offers a lot going on in the camera department. The headliner on all three phones is a 50MP RYYB 1/1.28” Ultra Vision Sensor. This camera boasts the highest light intake, higher dynamic range, and lower noise compared to the 40MP sensor on last year’s P30 series. Along with the bigger 50MP sensor, the Huawei P40 series also has a new HD Image Engine. This is the company’s 3rd generation AI image engine, and it has several improvements. Talking about zoom capability, the P40 series has plenty of abilities when it comes to zoom. The standard P40 can do a 3X optical zoom, which is suitable for portraits. The P40 Pro can do 5X optical zoom with the SuperSensing SuperZoom Lens. The P40 Pro+ has short-range, mid-range, and long-range versatility. It can do a 3X optical zoom and 10X optical zoom. All three flagship phones have 32MP camera on the front, but the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ also have an IR depth sensor. In addition to the 50MP primary camera, the P40 Pro has a 40MP wide-angle camera, 5MP telephoto lens, and a TOF lens. The P40 Pro+ has 40MP wide-angle cameras, dual 8MP telephoto lens, and a TOF lens. While, the standard variant, in addition to the 50MP primary sensor, has a 16MP ultra-wide sensor and 8MP telephoto shooter. For video recording, the devices are capable of many things. You can shoot in HDR, 4K 60fps, 4K timelapse, 7680fps super slow motion, super-steady telephoto video recording with OIS plus AIS. The phones are also capable of audio zoom thanks to the three stereo microphones.
Battery, Chipset, and Software
As for the Chipset, the new P40 series is equipped with the Kirin 990 5G SoC, which includes the 16-core Mali-G76 GPU. The P40 Pro+ has a four-layer SuperCool system, 3D graphene film, and a super-thin Vapor Chamber cooling system. The P40 features a 3,800mAh battery, while the P40 Pro and Pro+ have 4,200mAh batteries. All three have 40W wired charging, while the Pro and Pro+ models also have 40W wireless charging with the Huawei charging pad. Let’s talk about software; the Huawei P40 series arrives with the brand’s EMUI skin, which in this case, is EMUI 10.1 based on Android 10. Huawei includes a new preloaded app called “MeeTime.” This is a video/audio calling app similar to FaceTime and Google Duo. It claims to have the best resolution in unfortunate network bandwidth situations. Google apps are obviously a big lesson with Huawei smartphones, and the P40 series does not include them due to the US ban.