What to Expect with the Upcoming HUAWEI P40 Series

When it comes to March, if you are a Huawei fan, you will know that they will be unveiling the P-series smartphone, which is usually focused on the camera system.

Leaked pic of HUAWEI P40 Series

During the Huawei Mate Xs launch in Barcelona recently, Richard Yu did mention that the HUAWEI P40 Series will be launched on 26th March 2020 in Paris.

However, due to COVID-19, Huawei has not announced if the event will carry on as per normal or not. Maybe it will become another virtual event like the Mate Xs launch. I am still waiting for the official announcement.

Nevertheless, the leaks never stop on the HUAWEI P40 Series. Currently, the smartphone trend seems to focus on a few things:

  • Design: Unique Color
  • Camera
    • Number of Camera Modules
    • Camera Resolution
    • Front-Facing Camera
    • DxO Mark
  • Display refresh rate
  • Super fast charging speed
  • 5G

Design: Unique Color

If you remember those days when smartphones only come in black, grey, white or a single color tone. Nowadays, smartphones come in very unique color tones and even unique names like Aurora, Breathing Crystal, Cosmic Gray, Cloud Pink and whatever.

Tracing back, I think it might have started with Huawei. I remembered vividly when I first saw the HUAWEI P20 Pro in Twilight color. It was amazing to see something refreshing (abet it is a fingerprint magnet).

I think Huawei knows it very well. It even shared this information during IFA 2019.

A photo of IFA 2019 captured by Teknofilo

Since then I saw many phone makers (especially China phone makers) moving towards interesting colors on the glass back.

From Huawei, to make such vivid colors, it is not easy. They used a vacuum nanometre manufacturing process to layer the glass so that it can project those vivid colors and shading. The P20 used 8 layers of coating while the P30 series uses 15 layers.

I think P40 Series will follow this trend. I wonder how many coating it will use on the P40 Series. Here is a leaked picture of the HUAWEI P40 Pro.

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Camera

How far can phone makers push on smartphone cameras? 10 years ago, you might not agree or believe that consumers have replaced the compact digital cameras with smartphones’ cameras.

Look around you. I am sure most of your tech-savvy friends are carrying a smartphone that has at least 2 camera modules.

Number of Camera Modules

Based on leaks, the new P40 Series might have up to 5 camera modules. That is a lot. Here is a leaked picture showing a close-up of the camera modules.

If you Google Ming-Chi Kuo on HUAWEI P40, you will see articles stating that the up and coming HUAWEI P40 Pro will have an advance periscope camera that can support 10x optical zoom and enhanced hybrid and digital zoom. If this is true, it will be the first (for 10x zoom) for a smartphone using a periscope camera module.

BTW, this analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, has been quite accurate in his previous predictions on smartphones.

Camera Resolution

With the recent launch of smartphones, the camera resolution game is strong. Look at Samsung’s latest Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, it has a whopping 108 Megapixels rear camera.

However, a photographer will tell you that you should not just look at pixels. You must also look at the lens, the sensor size and the sensitivity of this sensor.

Some rumors regarding the HUAWEI P40 Pro is that it may come with an RYYB sensor with pixel resolution of 60MP, a large 1/1.3-inch sensor by Sony that has very good low light photography capability.

Note: Current Mate30 Pro is using 40 MP camera and 1/1.7-inch sensor.

Another feature I am looking forward to is an improved video capturing experience. I love the current HUAWEI SuperSensing Cine Camera on the Mate30 Pro. I have been doing most of my videos using it. I do hope that it can become even better (like a wider angle camera, more realistic bokeh effect (with a ToF 3D depth-sensing camera), better stabilization for smooth video capture).

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Front-Facing Camera

The next leak is from Teme on Twitter. Not sure how this person gets the information on all the phones’ specs and pictures.

Based on some of his tweets, the P40 Pro or P40 Series will have a front dual camera with punch Fullview Display. Here is one of his latest tweets.

Here is another one.

From other sources, it seems that the P40 might have a 32 MP and an 8MP ultra-wide front-facing camera. I am not a fan of Huawei front-facing camera. It is really not great. Hopefully, with HUAWEI P40 series, it can change my mind.

DxO Mark

Recently, Huawei launches the HUAWEI Mate30 Pro 5G here in Singapore. Comparing to the Mate30 Pro, it has a better DxO score of 123 (compared to Mate30 Pro at 121). However, this score has been overtaken by OPPO Find X2 recently.

Interestingly, if you follow DxO scores, many years ago, it is difficult even to reach 100. Now, smartphones are above 100 marks and recent smartphones are going above 120.

Knowing Huawei, they will definitely challenge the other phone makers to get the best DxO mark with their close partnership with Leica. Let us wait and see if they can break through the 124 marks.

BTW, do you know who has the highest DxO Mark for selfie camera (as of this writing on 10th March 2020)? Yes, it is Huawei. I am sure they will combine the best of both worlds into their next flagship P40 Series.

Display Refresh Rate

So far, Huawei is not following competitors in increasing the refresh rate of the screen. Some leaks are indicating a 120Hz refresh rate for the P40 Series. Hopefully, it is true.

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Super Fast Charging

Fast charging is almost a requirement for smartphones especially recent ones that are equipped with 5G chips. I love Huawei’s SuperCharge. I wonder if the P40 Series will follow Mate Xs to have the 55W SuperCharge or not.

I hope they do, since OPPO has already launched 65W VOOC charging on their flagship OPPO Finder X2.

5G

Without doubts, 5G is one of the hottest topics worldwide. Every new flagship phone from makers should come with 5G. I am sure the HUAWEI P40 series will come with 5G if they are using the current Kirin 990 5G chip.

Note that not all 5G chips are the same. There are many 5G frequency bands. Based on the specs, Huawei is able to support 8 5G bands. With different countries adopting different frequency bands for 5G, it is good that your smartphone can support the most popular 5G bands.

So, after such a long post, are you excited for the HUAWEI P40 Series? Let me know in the comments.