In Europe and the US you can only get the phones without Google apps and services, yet that hasn't stopped many people from buying a Huawei. According to researcher Counterpoint, Huawei was the largest telecom manufacturer worldwide in the month April of 2020.
It should be noted that in April the number of smartphone sales dropped 41% year-on-year. Sales in Europe and the US collapsed, but sales in mainland China were seeing a steady rise. Mainly the country where Huawei sells most of it phones. That gives a somewhat distorted picture, but the achievement remains there. For the first time, Huawei sold more phones than Samsung, the respective number 2 worldwide.
Huawei doesn't need the US at all
According to researcher Counterpoint, as many as 69.37 million smartphones were sold in April 2020. 21.4% of these were from Huawei, Samsung sold 19.1%. Both brands obviously suffered from the coronavirus outbreak, but on top of that, the Galaxy S20 series also did worse than expected. In 2016, Huawei had set itself the ambitious goal of becoming the largest manufacturer of smartphones within 5 years. It now has achieved that but the question remains whether it can remain that. With the current American boycott that is not very likely. However, when the rest of the world keeps waiting on buying their next new mobile and home market China keeps buying them like never before, Huawei could surprise us all.
Huawei has announced the P40 series consisting of the P40 with Triple, P40 Pro with Quad and P40 Pro+ with Penta camera. All three units will have a larger 1/1.28 inch camera sensor. This is larger than any competitor, making it more light sensitive. Ideal for taking pictures in the evening.
Huawei has always focused on photography, but lately it's been lagging behind. With the P40 series, it is matching and sometimes even surpassing the competition. The series consists of the P40, P40 Pro and the P40 Pro+. As expected you will find the most advanced camera features at the latter.
The Huawei P40 is equipped with a triple camera consisting of 16MP wide angle, 50MP ultra wide angle and 8MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom. The camera system of the P40 Pro consists of a 40MP wide angle, 50MP ultra wide angle, 12MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom and a ToF depth camera. The P40 Pro+ surpasses everyone with a Penta camera consisting of a 40MP wide-angle, 50MP ultra-wide-angle, 8MP telephoto with 3x mid-range optical zoom, secondary 8MP telephoto with long-range 10x optical zoom and a ToF depth camera. The P40 Pro+ also features an 8-channel color temperature sensor for capturing colors up to 45% more accurate.
1/1.28 inch large RYYB sensor
The RYYB sensor used by Huawei has a size of 1/1.28 inch which is larger than the 1/1.33 inch of the previous champion; the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. A larger sensor means better light absorption. Huawei has also invested in better software. Google and Apple have been investing for years in Computational Photography where multiple images are combined into one super image. Huawei copies this idea and calls it XD Fusion Engine. It doesn't stop there, the P40-series also has Golden Snap, Remove Passersby and Remove Reflection. The first one chooses the best moment to take a picture, the second removes bystanders from a portrait image and with the latter you can remove your own reflection for example when you shoot something through glass.
Everywhere no Google services
The P40 series gets an enhanced 32MP selfie camera accompanied by an infrared depth camera. This combination allows you to take enhanced portraits with blurry backgrounds. Also you can shoot selfie videos up to 4K resolution. Huawei also promises wireless charging of up to 40 Watts, a personal assistant named Celia and the updated EMUI version 10.1. What is missing are Google apps and services. Huawei thinks it can offer sufficient alternatives with its own AppGallery.
With only a few days to go before Huawei announces the P40 and P40 Pro, all the details of both phones are already public. A few things become clear; the Chinese are betting heavily on 5G and on camera-specs. And despite the thin edges of the screen, not all screen space is used in a meaningful way.
Images of the Huawei P40 and Huawei P40 Pro appeared at our neighbors of WinFuture. It seems to be the official renders that will be released shortly after the presentation. Both phones run Android 10 but come without Google services. Instead you will have to rely on Huawei's own AppGallery. It's not ideal, but workable though (with some tinkering that is).
The Huawei P40 and P40 Pro
Head of the series is this P40. With a 6.1 inch screen it is relatively compact. Huawei uses a flat AMOLED panel with Full HD+ resolution although attention is mainly focused on the large pill shaped hole for the selfiecam. This is needed for the 32 megapixel selfiecamera with separate depth camera. On the back we find a 50MP main camera, 16MP ultra-wide-angle camera and 8 megapixel telephoto camera for zooming. Both phones use the Kirin 990 processor with 5G support.
Huawei P40 Pro
The P40 Pro comes with a 6.58 inch screen with a somewhat peculiar rounding near the corners. The screen does not follow the same edge as the device. Also striking; the even larger punch hole for the selfie camera. This leaves only 2/3rd of space for the status bar at the top.
Very large notch
The Huawei P40 Pro not only includes a double selfie camera, but also an infrared sensor for secure face unlock. On the back of the Pro we find a four-headed camera system with 50MP UltraVision main camera and SuperSensing camera with 50x zoom. The latter camera uses a periscope lens that allows zooming without image quality loss.
Huawei P40 launch
Prices of the Huawei P40 starts at 799 euro while the P40 Pro should cost 999 euro. Available colors are black, gold and silver. Huawei announces both models on Thursday March 26th. You can tune in to the live press event at 14:00 CET.
Where would we be without Evan Blass? Probably at home too but without any information about upcoming phones. Of the Huawei P40 series for example. He just published the entire lineup.
The official launch of the Huawei P40 is planned for March 26th. It is said to be an online event so we are hopeful that it won't get cancelled. However, we don't have to wait for official press releases until then. Evan Blass just published the image below of the full line-up.
It may not be clear right away, but these are the P40, P40 Pro and P40 Pro PE (Premium Edition) in all colour versions. The previously announced P40 Lite is not in this family portrait and is already in stores in some countries.
P40 specifications
Now that we know what the P40 series is going to look like, it's time for some specifications. The Huawei P40 will be equipped with three cameras on the back including a 52MP main camera, 40MP ultra wide camera and a telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom. We do not (yet) know how big this last sensor is. The Huawei P40 Pro gets a depth camera and has a periscope lens with 5x zoom instead of 3x optical zoom. The P40 Pro PE even has 5 cameras although it is unclear what the latter is for.
#VisionaryPhotography
It should be clear that with the P40 Huawei focuses mainly on photography. This is also evident from the hashtag they use; #VisionaryPhotography. As mentioned before, the P40 series is expected March 26th via an online event. The models won't come with Google services and will use Huawei's own AppGallery instead.
For some time now, Huawei smartphones are no longer allowed to use Google Services. As a result, Google apps are missing and there is no possibility to download apps from the Play Store. In the meantime Huawei has come up with its own alternatives and is happy with them.
The American boycott was postponed several times but is now in force. Huawei's phones still run Android but they can't use the so-called Google Services. That's clumsy but not unworkable. Especially because Huawei has built its own alternative. There is a dedicated App Store and alternatives to popular Google apps such as Maps and Gmail.
Although Huawei announced its own operating system, Harmony OS, it prefers to use the tried and tested Android for its smartphones. By building an own clone of Google Services called HMS, an excellent workable alternative has been created. Consumers also seem to make little difference; Huawei's sales increased in 2019. Huawei now says to a German newspaper also not to return to Google if the boycott is lifted. Simply because it doesn't need Google anymore.
Huawei Mobile Services
And with that, the boycott has achieved the opposite effect, something Google already warned about. By keeping Huawei inboard the Americans could still exercise control, now that is no longer possible. Huawei has reserves and is currently pumping them into HMS. If other manufacturers exchange Google Mobile Services for HMS, this threatens the dominance of the American company Google. And considering how quickly and easily a boycott was imposed, other manufacturers will be eager to find an alternative.
The yet to be announced Huawei P40 will be the first Huawei to be delivered with HMS in Europe. Huawei already announced that the future flagship will be for sale in the Netherlands. And fair is fair; having a third superpower besides Apple and Samsung is very welcome as far as we are concerned.
Thanks to @evleaks we now also have images of the Pro-version of the Huawei P40. Who wouldn't know any better to look at Samsung's Galaxy S10+. For example, there is a double self-iecam at the front in a screen hole and the housing is made of ceramic.
The pictures below without watermark appeared on the timeline of @evleaks. Images of the Huawei P40 appeared earlier and this P40 Pro is very similar. Only in the camera area there are the necessary changes.
For example, there is a periscope lens on the back and two additional camera sensors, including a ToF sensor for accurate depth recognition. Somewhat strange is that another image of the Huawei P40 Pro appeared on AndroidHeadlines with a total of 4 cameras. In addition to a regular Pro, there may also be a P40 Pro Premium Edition in the making.
To 10x optical zoom
Because Huawei has the ability to print lens specifications on the back, we know the difference between the P40, P40 Pro and the P40 Pro Premium Edition. The latter two get optical zoom ranging from 5x for the first and 10x for the last. The regular P40 should do without a periscope lens but has 3x optical zoom thanks to a fixed focal length lens.
Huawei always announces her P-series in Paris sometime in March. So this year, too. In the corridors we hear the date Thursday 26 March. We're gonna see. What we already know is that the Huawei P40 series comes without pre-installed Google apps and cannot use Google services either. All this has to do with the American trade ban.
A render of Huawei's future P40 has appeared. The unit differs from the P30 in a few respects. So the notch had to clear the field and the layout of the camera island on the back also gets a makeover.
Although Huawei is no longer allowed to provide phones with Google services, this does not mean that they have stopped making phones. In fact, they still do their very best, even for their top series. Images of that upcoming Huawei P40 have appeared today and show a sleek, modern and (as far as possible) competitive phone.
The future Huawei P40
Images of the P40 appeared at 91mobiles and show some striking things. So we see two self-image cameras. Nothing new in itself, but many manufacturers have already abandoned it. For example, Samsung seems to equip the successor to the S10+ with a single lens and Google also did not provide the successor to the Pixel 3 XL with double self-iecams. So Huawei can distinguish itself on this point.
Exynos processor?
The Huawei P40 will be equipped with 3 Leica cameras at the back. For 4 cameras you need to be at the P40 Pro. According to the source, the latter will have an improved camera with periscope lens with which it will be possible to zoom in optically up to 10x this time. The P30 Pro got stuck at 5x.
The source further reports that Huawei's P40 series will use the Samsung Exynos 990 processor. That is the same chip as in the upcoming Galaxy S20. The switch would be strange because Huawei announced its Kirin 990 processor with built-in 5G support last IFA.
