On Thursday, 26 March, Huawei announced the new P40 Series, which is centered on advanced mobile photography with a fortified Leica camera system and new AI capabilities.
The launch revealed three new P40 models—P40, P40 Pro, and P40 Pro+—made to be the industry’s leading devices in smartphone photography yet. One prominent update to Huawei’s photographic ability lets you easily wipe out passersby and reflections in photo frames.
The phones are 5G-compatible, and are powered by Kirin 990 5G for all-inclusive, high-speed 5G band support, power efficiency and powerful AI performance. They also sport a refresh rate of 90Hz for greater responsiveness and gaming experiences.
The two higher-tier models, the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+, arrive with an elegant “Quad-curve Overflow Display” resembling water on the brink of overflowing from a cup. The barely-there bezels attain an almost end-to-end look, and new round corners ensure the phones fit comfortably in your palm. The smartphones can be unlocked quickly with an in-screen fingerprint scanner that’s 30-percent larger and faster than their predecessors.
The Huawei P40 and P40 Pro come designed in three glossy glass backs—Ice White, Deep Sea Blue and Black—as well as two matte glass finishes—Blush Gold and Silver Frost.
Silver Frost glimmers stunningly, and promises to be fingerprint-resistant.
The Huawei P40 Pro+ goes against the grain with a nano-tech ceramic finish, “kilned and polished” for durability and timeless style. It’s available in White Ceramic and Black Ceramic.
Here’s the bit everyone wants to know about. Across the board, the Huawei P40 phones boast a large 1/1.28-inch sensor with a binned pixel size of 2.44μm to maximize light intake during low-light settings, ensuring crisp images all-day-long. In addition, an improved periscope design allows up to 10x true optical zoom.
The lineup also sports an Ultra Vision Leica camera system, available in triple-camera (P40), quad-camera (P40 Pro) and penta-camera (P40 Pro+) options. All three models have a 32MP front-facing camera.
The P40 comes with a 16MP ultra-wide-angle f/2.2 shooter, a 50MP Red, Yellow, Yellow and Blue (RYYB) f/1.9 camera, and an 8MP telephoto camera that can shoot up to 3x optical zoom.
Photo taken at night with the Huawei P40. Video screenshot via Huawei
The P40 Pro camera is much more advanced, with a 50MP RYYB f/1.9 lens, a 40MP ultra-wide camera and a 12MP “super-zoom” telephoto promising 10x optical zoom, comparable with the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. It also has a Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor.
Huawei is betting on the P40 Pro+, which CEO Richard Yu even described to be a “camera monster.” The device has a 50MP main lens, 40MP ultra-wide lens, and 8MP f/4.4 periscope lens for 10x optical zoom. It also has an 8MP f/2.4 telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom and a ToF sensor. Its two zoom lenses are able to snap photos of up to 20x hybrid zoom, with a maximum of 100x zoom.
Huawei also showed off the top-tier video cameras found in the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+, which are able to shoot 4K time-lapse, 7680fps ultra-slow-mo, audio zoom, and up to 4K 60fps video shooting. The P40 series also supports real-time bokeh effects in videos.
Specs at a glance: Huawei P40
Release date
7 April
Price
€799 (US$882)
Dimensions and weight
Dimensions: 2.8 in x 5.8 in x 0.3 in (71.06 mm x 148.9 mm x 8.5 mm)
Weight: ~0.39 lb (175 g) including battery
Colors
Silver Frost, Blush Gold, Deep Sea Blue, Ice White, Black
Display
6.1-inch OLED (FHD+ 2340 x 1080 pixels, 16.7 million colors)
Splash, water and dust-resistant
IP53
Processor
HUAWEI Kirin 990 5G
CPU: Octa-core
2 x Cortex-A76 Based 2.86 GHz + 2 x Cortex-A76 Based 2.36 GHz + 4 x Cortex-A55 1.95 GHz
50 MP Ultra Vision Camera (Wide Angle, f/1.9 aperture) + 16 MP Ultra-Wide Angle Camera (f/2.2 aperture) + 8 MP Telephoto Camera (f/2.4 aperture, OIS)
Autofocus Mode: Autofocus
Image stabilization: OIS + AIS
Zoom Mode: Digital Zoom, Optical Zoom, Hybrid Zoom
Video Recording: 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels) 60fps video recording
Image Resolution: up to 8192 x 6144 pixels
Video Resolution: up to 3840 x 2160 pixels
Front camera
32 MP Selfie Camera (f/2.0 aperture), IR Camera
Video recording: 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels) 60fps video recording
Image resolution: up to 6528 x 4896 pixels
Video resolution: up to 3840 x 2160 pixels
50 MP Ultra Vision Camera (Wide Angle, f/1.9 aperture, OIS) + 40 MP Cine Camera (Ultra-Wide Angle, f/1.8 aperture) + 12 MP SuperSensing Telephoto Camera (f/3.4 aperture, OIS) + 3D Depth Sensing Camera
Autofocus mode: Autofocus
Image stabilization: OIS + AIS
Zoom Mode: Digital Zoom, Optical Zoom, Hybrid Zoom
Video recording: 4K(3840 x 2160 pixels) 60fps video recording
Image resolution: up to 8192 x 6144 pixels
Video resolution: up to 3840 x 2160 pixels
Front camera
32 MP Selfie Camera (f/2.2 aperture) + Depth Camera
Autofocus Mode: Autofocus
Video Recording: 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels) 60fps video recording
Image resolution: up to 6528 x 4896 pixels
Video resolution: up to 3840 x 2160 pixels
Operating system
EMUI 10.1 (Based on Android 10)
Memory
8 GB RAM + 256 GB ROM
Battery
4200 mAh
Specs at a glance: Huawei P40 Pro+
Release date
June 2020
Price
€1,399 (US$1,542)
Dimensions and weight
Dimensions: 2.86 in x 6.58 in x 0.35 in (72.6 mm x 158.2 mm x 9.0 mm)
Weight: ~0.5 lb (226 g) including battery
Colors
White Ceramic, Black Ceramic
Display
6.58-inch OLED, up to 90Hz refresh rate (2640 x 1200 pixels, 16.7 million colors)
Splash, water and dust-resistant
IP68
Processor
HUAWEI Kirin 990 5G
CPU: Octa-core
2 x Cortex-A76 Based 2.86 GHz + 2 x Cortex-A76 Based 2.36 GHz + 4 x Cortex-A55 1.95 GHz
50MP Ultra Vision Camera (Wide Angle, f/1.9 aperture, OIS) + 40MP Cine Camera (Ultra-Wide Angle, f/1.8 aperture) + 8MP SuperZoom Camera (10X Optical Zoom, f/4.4 aperture, OIS) + 8MP Telephoto Camera (3X Optical Zoom, f/2.4 aperture, OIS) + 3D Depth Sensing Camera
Autofocus Mode: Autofocus
Image stabilization: OIS + AIS
Zoom Mode: Digital Zoom, Optical Zoom, Hybrid Zoom
Video Recording: 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels) 60fps video recording
Image Resolution: up to 8192 x 6144 pixels
Video Resolution: up to 3840 x 2160 pixels
Front camera
32 MP Selfie Camera (f/2.2 aperture) + Depth Camera
Autofocus Mode: Autofocus
Video recording: 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels) 60fps video recording
Image resolution: up to 6528 x 4896 pixels
Video resolution: up to 3840 x 2160 pixels
Operating system
EMUI 10.1 (Based on Android 10)
Memory
8 GB RAM + 512 GB ROM
Battery
4200 mAh
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