Huawei P40 release
date, price, news and everything we need to know
Huawei has had a tumultuous six months since the unveiling of the Huawei P30 series, but it's now showing off its next top-end flagship phone within the sort of the Huawei P40.
The Huawei P40 family features three different devices; the Huawei P40, Huawei P40 Pro and, a brand new addition to the line-up for 2020, the Huawei P40 Pro Plus.
These three handsets feature top-end specs to undertake and combat the Samsung Galaxy S20, Google Pixel 4, and devices just like the upcoming iPhone 12 and OnePlus 8. But keep in mind that Huawei’s app selection is lacking compared to those alternatives.
Below we’ve collected together all of the knowledge that we’ve learned thus far about the handsets.
Huawei P40 release date and price
The Huawei P40 is about to hit stores in some regions on April 7 and in Australia on April 16, at a price of €799 (AED 3,195., around $870 / £730), with the Huawei P40 Pro arriving on a similar day for €999 (AED 4,040, roughly $1,100 / £900).
The Huawei P40 Pro Plus meanwhile isn't scheduled to land until June and can cost €1,399 (approximately $1,500 / £1,300 / AED 5,509).
Of course, apart from the confirmed European and UAE pricing above, the opposite prices listed won't be exact conversions and availability in key regions is still unclear.
Huawei handsets haven't been widely available in the US, and they’re also a bit more uncertain within the UK now they don’t go together with Google Mobile Services.
For example, the Huawei Mate 30 Pro launched in September last year but it didn’t come to a UK retailer until early 2020. Even then, it came with little fanfare and a sophisticated process to line it up.
That means we don’t know how long you’ll be waiting to be ready to buy these new handsets.
That said, Huawei is a big brand in UAE & Egypt and both the Huawei P40 and P40 Pro are confirmed for release Down Under.
Huawei P40 design and display
The Huawei P40 range of phones don't look radically different from their predecessors, and therefore the main difference is that the camera array is a little bit bigger, with all the lenses on the back housed in one big bump.
Well, the Huawei P40 Pro has another noticeable change, as while it retains the curved edges, it also includes a curved top and bottom. This might make it slippery.
The Huawei P40 range comes with a glass rear, except the P40 Pro Plus which includes a ceramic rear that's said to be more scratch-resistant, and apparently feels more premium in the hand.
The Huawei P40 is IP53 water and dust resistant, but the P40 Pro and Pro Plus are IP68-rated, which should make them survive a watery dip should accidents occur.
There's no notch on any of those phones, with the front-facing cameras instead housed in a pill-shaped cut-out within the top left of the display.
The screen on the Huawei P40 is 6.1 inches with a 2340 x 1080 resolution, while the P40 Pro and Pro Plus are both 6.58 inches with 2640 x 1200 resolutions. All the phones displays have 90Hz refresh rates, a improve over the P30s but less than the 120Hz that a few top-end phones have now.
One improvement here is alleged to be the in-screen fingerprint sensor, which is outwardly 30% bigger so it's easier to use, and it's apparently 30% faster too.
Huawei P40 camera
All three of those devices are set to offer a top-end camera experience, but the higher-end Huawei P40 Pro Plus is about to be the best experience.
Starting with the Huawei P40, this phone comes with a 16MP ultra-wide-angle f/2.2 shooter, a 50MP RYYB f/1.9 camera and an 8MP telephoto.
That telephoto is capable of doping up to 3x optical zoom, and it’s likely to be ready to do more with digital zoom. this can be the same as the Huawei P30.
The Huawei P40 Pro includes a much more powerful camera setup on paper. It features the 50MP main camera from before but a 40MP ultra-wide snapper and a 12MP 'super-zoom' telephoto camera. There's also a Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor.
This 'super-zoom' camera facilitates 10x optical zoom, which is pretty impressive and enough to rival the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra.
The Huawei P40 Pro Plus has even that beat though, as it has the same 50MP main lens along side the 40MP ultra-wide one, but then has an 8MP f/4.4 periscope lens offering 10x optical zoom, and an 8MP f/2.4 telephoto one with 3x optical zoom, plus a ToF sensor. Those dual zoom lenses also allow 20x hybrid zoom and 100x maximum zoom.
Each of the phones features a 32MP front-facing camera, and also the Huawei P40 Pro and Pro Plus both have ToF sensors on the front too.
While pictures taken on the phones should be great, Huawei made some extent of the new and improved video-shooting modes like 4K time-lapse, 7680fps ultra-slow-mo, audio zoom (so once you zoom video within the audio only focuses on what's in frame), and a max of 4K 60fps video shooting (notably not 8K, as many new phones have).
Huawei P40 specs and battery
There’s a Kirin 990 5G chipset in each of the three Huawei P40 phones, which is the accomplished chipset we saw within the Mate 30 from late 2019. It should return pretty great bench marking scores after we test it out, and Huawei also said it's good for optimizing the phone to drain less power. That chipset also means the entire range is 5G-compatible.
For RAM, you are looking at 8GB altogether models, with 128GB of storage in the Huawei P40, 256GB within the P40 Pro, and 512GB within the P40 Pro Plus.
As for batteries, there is a 3,800mAh one within the Huawei P40 and a 4,200mAh within the P40 Pro and Pro Plus, so they don't seem to be huge, but combined with the optimizations the phones could still last an extended time without charging.
The Huawei P40 has 22.5W charging, but that is the only way you'll be able to charge it up - there is no wireless charging. On the P40 Pro and Pro Plus, though, you'll use 40W charging, both wired and wireless.
Huawei P40 software
The three phones come running EMUI 10.1 software from Huawei, which doesn’t include popular Android apps just like the Google Play Store, YouTube or Google Chrome.
That’s going to cause tons of problems for users within the west who are embedded in those services already, as it means you will not be ready to download the foremost popular apps as easily, and instead, Huawei offers its own alternatives through the Huawei App Gallery.
There’s a range of apps available on that store, but it doesn’t compare to the amount available on iOS or other Android devices. Huawei endeavors to incorporate more and more apps within the future, but at the present , the choice is kind of lacking.
There is some way to install certain apps onto the handsets without any dubious hacking though, which you will find in our guide to Huawei Mobile Services apps here.
Beyond the app situation, the software should be familiar if you've used Huawei phones before, but there are some new features, like a new voice assistant called Celia.
There's also a multi-window feature for multitasking, and a video calling app called MeeTime.