Huawei Announces P40 Series With Up To 5 Cameras
Updated: Aug 19, 2021
Written by Cheryl Tan
It’s that time again, with Huawei announcing their newcomers to the P series, the P40, P40 Pro and the P40 Pro+. As usual, Leica has provided their expertise to tune the lenses, with a triple camera array on the P40, a quad-camera array on the P40 Pro, and five cameras on the P40 Pro+. But let’s take a look at the other specs first.
All three phones will run on Huawei’s Kirin 990 5G processor, with Android 10.0 and EMUI 10.1. Huawei has stated that they will still be using their own Huawei AppGallery on the P40 series, with more apps now available.
The P40 Pro and Pro+ will have a 6.58″ OLED screen with a resolution of 2640 x 1200 and a pixels-per-inch (PPI) of 441. Thankfully, Huawei has upped the refresh rate of the display to 90Hz, meaning smoother scrolling and better visual performance in games.
On the other hand, the P40 will have a 6.1″ OLED screen with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 and PPI of 422. The phones have 8GB of RAM, but the P40 Pro+ will come with 512GB of storage, the P40 Pro will come with 256GB of storage and the P40 will be limited to 128GB. The storage is expandable with Huawei’s nano memory card, however.
It’s time to talk about the cameras. All three phones will have the 50MP Ultra Vision Camera which is a wide-angle lens with an aperture of f/1.9, but the P40 Pro and Pro+ lenses will have optical image stabilisation (OIS) built-in. This is supported by the 1/1.23-inch 50MP RYYB sensor. The phones also support up to ISO 409,600 for the P40 Pro and Pro+ while the P40 can go up to ISO 204,800. The P40 and P40 Pro+ can support up to ISO 51,200 for video.
They will also have a 32MP front-facing selfie camera, although that’s where the similarities end. The P40 Pro and Pro+ will have an additional depth-sensing camera on the front while the P40 Pro rocks a 40MP ultra-wide-angle Cine camera with f/1.8 aperture, alongside a 12MP SuperSensing telephoto camera that supports 5x optical zoom and a 3D Depth Sensing camera.
The Pro+ takes it one step further with an additional lens, an 8MP periscope lens that supports up to 10x optical zoom, 20x hybrid zoom and 100x digital zoom with dual-axis OIS. The Pro+ also swaps out the 12MP telephoto from the P40 Pro with an 8MP telephoto that can zoom up to 3x optically.
The P40 will have an 8MP f/2.4 telephoto camera with OIS and a 16MP ultra-wide-angle camera with an f/2.2 aperture. What we’re excited about is the software inside, including a particularly fascinating one called “AI Golden Snap”, which we’ll be sure to test out in our review.
The phones also have Huawei’s XD Fusion Image Engine and Octa Phase Detection (PD) Autofocus. Those should make for quicker focusing and better processing, retaining detail and colours.
All three phones have water resistance, with the P40 Pro and Pro+ having a rating of IP68 meaning it’ll be able to withstand immersion in water 1.5m deep for up to 30 minutes. The P40 has a rating of IP53, which means it’s partially protected against dust and debris, and only can withstand direct sprays of water when tilted at an angle up to 60 degrees.
The P40 Pro, Pro+ and P40 will get Huawei’s SuperCharge Technology, but the P40 is stuck at 22.5w while the P40 Pro and Pro+ get the faster 40w technology. The P40 Pro will be able to use a 27w wireless charger that’s sold separately and the P40 Pro+ will actually support 40w wireless charging, with the wireless charger being sold separately. The P40 Pro and Pro+ have the bigger battery at 4200mAh and the P40 will get a 3800mAh pack.
The phones use USB-C for charging and the P40 and P40 Pro are available in 5 colours: Deep Sea Blue, Ice White, Silver Frost, Blush Gold and Black. The P40 Pro+ comes in Ceramic White and Ceramic Black. Singapore pricing and availability will be announced soon, and our first impressions will be out by then, so stay tuned!