Huawei has announced the latest round of their P series phones. The P40 and P40 Pro build on what was fantastic hardware in the P30 series last in 2019. This year the phones are back and are more refined, faster and have much better cameras.
The HUAWEI P40 Series now features a massive, 1/1.28″ sensor has a binned pixel size measuring 2.44μm to massively boost light intake for enhanced lowlight performance.
A new periscope design offers 10x true optical zoom, this is designed to be more practical, like allowing you to zoom in when you’re physically constrained from approaching a location.
The P40 Series is rocking 5G and Wi-Fi 6 support, making sure you have the fastest mobile connectivity available.
In terms of design, the hardware is even more curved than last year, featuring the HUAWEI Quad-curve Overflow Display. The super-narrow bezels and streamlined round corners ensure an ergonomic hold and a near borderless look, while an enhanced in-screen fingerprint reader offers 30 percent faster biometric authentication.
“The HUAWEI P Series has always been about innovative aesthetics and making premium imaging hardware accessible, representing the very best of industrial design and technology. With an outstanding sensor, camera systems that we coengineered with Leica, powerful chipset and HUAWEI XD Fusion Engine, the HUAWEI P40 Series exemplifies our focus and offers an all-day Super Definition experience to help consumers realise their creative vision.”
Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer BG,
All-day Super Definition photography
Embedded in the HUAWEI P40 Series is the advanced Ultra Vision Leica camera system, available in triple-camera, quad-camera and penta-camera configurations. The HUAWEI P40 delivers outstanding photographic results with ultra wide-angle, wide-angle and telephoto lenses. The HUAWEI P40 Pro features an evolution of the Leica Quad Camera with a more powerful Ultra Wide Cine Camera and ToF Camera alongside 50x SuperSensing Zoom.
The HUAWEI Ultra Vision Sensor included in the full HUAWEI P40 Series is Huawei’s largest CMOS sensor to date. Measuring 1/1.28 inches diagonally, it supports pixel binning to achieve a pixel size of 2.44μm and Full Pixel Octa PD AutoFocus for high-speed focus at any time of day, while the HUAWEI XD Fusion Engine integrates and processes data from multiple cameras to generate a comprehensive improvement in picture quality.
HUAWEI P40 Pro brings faraway subjects up close with 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom and 50x maximum digital zoom. For the first time ever, the 5x Optical Telephoto Camera in the HUAWEI P40 Pro includes a RYYB colour filter array to boost light intake and improve quality of zoomed shots. HUAWEI P40 Pro+ has a 100x SuperZoom Array with a new periscope design that reflects light five times, extending the light path by 178 percent to support 10x true optical zoom.
The optically stabilised Ultra Vision Wide Camera and SuperZoom Array work in tandem with AI to realise Triple OIS+AIS for vastly improved photo and video stabilisation.
Skin tone and texture are faithfully reproduced by a new Multi-spectrum Colour Temperature Sensor and AI AWB algorithm that boost colour accuracy by 45 percent.
Deep learning algorithms provide real-time portrait optimisations that enhance lighting and detail. HUAWEI P40 Pro has a 32MP AF Camera and IR Depth Camera that support autofocus and Bokeh reproduction to deliver the same outstanding portrait effects that are signature to Huawei devices, as well as IR Face Unlock for device unlock even in low light conditions.
HUAWEI P40 Series also introduces HUAWEI Golden Snap, which includes AI Best Moment, a new smart photography feature that chooses the best frames from a Moving Picture. AI Remove Passersby and AI Remove Reflection can do away with unwanted subjects and glare from the frame, allowing users to easily enhance their images after the fact.
Specifications
We know the full, detailed specs can provide the critical detail you’re looking for to determine if this is your next phone or not. We’ve included them below.
| Model P40 | |
| Colour | Silver Frost and Deep Sea Blue |
| Dimensions | W: 71.06mm L: 148.9mm D: 8.5mm Weight: 175g |
| Display | 6.1” diagonal OLED Display 2340 x 1080 resolution 422 ppi |
| Camera | Rear Camera: 50MP Ultra Vision Camera (Wide Angle, f/1.9) + 16MP Ultra-Wide Angle Camera (f/2.2) + 8MP Telephoto Camera (f/2.4, OIS) *The photo pixels may vary depending on the shooting mode |
| Zoom | 30x Digital Zoom |
| AI Scene detection | Yes |
| Front Camera | 32MP Selfie Camera (f/2.0) |
| Water and Dust resistance | IP53 Rated |
| Capacity (typical) | 3800mAh |
| Talk Time (3G) | Up to 21.6hrs |
| Standby Time | Up to 441.7hrs |
| Internet Use | Up to 16.8hrs |
| Video Playback | Up to 22.8hrs |
| Music Playback* | Up to 81.8hrs |
| Supercharge | Huawei Supercharge™ |
| Charge Time | 1.5hrs (using supplied charger) |
| Fingerprint | Front In-screen Fingerprint sensor |
| RAM | 8GB |
| ROM | 128GB |
| Expansion | NM card up to 256GB, sold separately |
| Processor | HUAWEI Kirin 990 5G Octa-core, 2*Cortex-A76 Based 2.86GHz + 2*Cortex-A76 Based 2.36GHz + 4*CortexA55 1.95GHz |
| NFC capacity | Yes |
| Wi-Fi bands | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax,2×2 MIMO,HE160,1024 QAM, MU-MIMO, 2.4G/5G, support Wi-Fi direct (Note: Connected devices must also support Wi-Fi Direct) |
| Bluetooth | BT5.1, Support BLE, SBC, AAC, LDAC |
| USB | Type-C |
| Operating system | Huawei EMUI10.1 (Based on Android 10) |
| Model P40 Pro | |
| Colour | Silver Frost and Deep Sea Blue |
| Dimensions | W: 72.6mm L: 158.2mm D: 8.95mm Weight: 203g |
| Display | 6.58” diagonal OLED Display 2640 x 1200 resolution 441 ppi |
| Camera | Rear Camera: 50MP Ultra Vision Camera (Wide Angle, f/1.9, OIS) + 40MP Cine Camera (Ultra-Wide Angle, f/1.8) + 12MP SuperSensing Telephoto Camera (f/3.4, OIS) + 3D Depth Sensing Camera * The photo pixels may vary depending on the shooting mode. |
| Zoom | 50X SuperSensing Zoom |
| AI Scene detection | Yes |
| Front Camera | 32MP Selfie Camera (f/2.2, Auto Focus) + Depth Camera |
| Water and Dust resistance | IP68 Rated |
| Capacity (typical) | 4200mAh |
| Talk Time (3G) | Up to 23.5hrs |
| Standby Time | Up to 460hrs |
| Internet Use | Up to 17.3hrs |
| Video Playback | Up to 24hrs |
| Music Playback* | Up to 84hrs |
| Supercharge | Huawei 40W SuperCharge™ |
| Charge time | 1.1hrs (Wired Charge using Huawei SuperCharge Charger) |
| Wireless charge | 27w Quick Wireless Charge (Wireless chargers sold separately) Reverse wireless charge supported |
| Fingerprint | Front In-screen Fingerprint sensor |
| RAM | 8GB |
| ROM | 256GB |
| Expansion | NM card up to 256GB, sold separately |
| Processor | HUAWEI Kirin 990 5G Octa-core, 2*Cortex-A76 Based 2.86GHz + 2*Cortex-A76 Based 2.36GHz + 4*CortexA55 1.95GHz |
| NFC capacity | Yes |
| Wi-Fi bands | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax,2×2 MIMO,HE160,1024 QAM, MU- MIMO,2.4G/5G, support Wi-Fi direct (Note: Connected devices must also support Wi-Fi Direct) |
| Bluetooth | BT5.1, Support BLE, SBC, AAC, LDAC |
| USB | Type-C |
| Operating system | Huawei EMUI10.1 (Based on Android 10) |
Australian pricing & availability
The P40 Series – the P40 and P40 Pro – will be available to pre-order from today, Friday 27 March, and will be available from Thursday 16 April. The P40 from Huawei Authorised Chatswood Store, Mobileciti and Harvey Norman, whilst the P40 Pro will also be available from JB HiFi and Officeworks.
The P40 RRP is $1,099 and P40 Pro is $1,599, and both come with a complimentary VIP service to help consumers set up their new device.
All HUAWEI P40 Pro pre-orders in Australia will come with a free pair of HUAWEI FreeBuds 3(RRP $299 AUD). Simply, pre-order the P40 Pro between 27/03/20 – 15/04/20 and redeem the FreeBuds 3 between 16/04/20 – 27/05/20 at https://www.huaweipromotions.com.au/.
If you missed the launch event, you can rewatch it below.
Software
Now for the awkward part about the ongoing war between China and the US which involves Huawei and Google. Unfortunately due to those battles, the Huawei P40 and P40 Pro don’t come with the Google Play Store. Huawei are promoting that they have their own AppGallery with over 540 million global users across over 170 countries around the world.
The AppGallery features quality global apps, from over 10,000 global partners. Regardless, that’s not going to guarantee your favourite apps are available.
To address that, Huawei are hoping you add apps to your wish list – sending a message to the developers that you want it in the Huawei AppGallery.
