Huawei P40 Pro+ VS P40 Pro: Worth Topping Up S$450?

The availability of Huawei’s ultimate flagship phone, the P40 Pro+, has finally been announced, with some super enticing freebies for preordering customers. With a price tag of S$1,898, it’s a good S$450 more expensive than the P40 Pro (S$1,448). But is the phone worth the asking price?

Let’s look at the most obvious difference first, the weight. It’s heavier by 17 grams, but it definitely can be felt when held in the hand. It’s due to using Huawei’s special nano-tech ceramic as well as the addition of an additional lens to the rear camera array.

The P40 Pro+ has a penta-camera setup, with the 12MP telephoto replaced by an 8MP telephoto lens that supports 3x optical zoom, and added an 8MP periscope lens that supports up to 10x optical zoom, 20x hybrid zoom and 100x digital zoom.

The difference can be seen between the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+, when looking at the same magnification (50x). You’ll notice that the P40 Pro+ has better details (although still blurry) and less of an oil painting look to the plants when zoomed in.

Let’s compare quality though. We were quite impressed with the 60x zoom on the Oppo Find X2 Pro when we tested it, but I think it’s safe to say that the P40 Pro+ holds its own. There’s better detail in the grass and sign, although the photo is a little more washed out. Nothing that can’t be fixed with a bit of editing though.

It’s highly unlikely for most people to want to use the 100x zoom since it’s not easy to keep hands steady enough for a shot like that. Details aren’t quite useable at that level either, although it might be useful for trying to see far away objects if they’re large enough.

Another difference is that the only way to get more internal storage space is by either buying Huawei’s nano memory cards or by getting the P40 Pro+, which comes with 512GB of storage.

Aside from those, however, the big difference is that the P40 Pro+ supports a whopping 40w wireless charging. The 40w wireless charger doesn’t come in the box, but will be bundled together with the P40 Pro+ for preorders and purchases.

The question then arises, is it worth the asking price? Honestly, based on the merits of the phone itself and the hardware, I say yes. But if you already bought a P40 series phone, there’s very little incentive to upgrade, especially if you bought the P40 Pro. If you’re using another Android phone and want to make a switch, the P40 Pro+ will definitely be futureproofed.

Unfortunately, like the P40 and P40 Pro, you get Android on these but there’s no support for Google Mobile Services, Play Store and more. There are workarounds for this, like the Phone Clone option we explored previously.

Huawei has also recently released the Petal Search app which acts as a way to search for apps if they can’t be found on the Huawei AppGallery. For instance, searching for WhatsApp will link users to the WhatsApp official download website.

The P40 Pro+ will be available for preorder from 20th June to 26th June, and preorder customers will not only get the 40w SuperCharge Wireless Stand (S$148) for free but also the Huawei Sound X speaker (S$498). The speaker is developed in conjunction with French audio brand Devialet, and from our limited testing, it actually sounds pretty good.

Customers who purchase the phone after the preorder period will still get the SuperCharge Wireless Stand bundled in, along with one of Huawei’s Monogram series phone case (S$48). The case actually has a raised lip around the camera module to protect it from scratches, which does make me feel a bit safer when putting the phone down on rougher surfaces.

The Huawei P40 Pro+ (S$1,898) will only be available in White Ceramic for the APAC region and will officially be on sale islandwide from 27 June 2020 at local telecommunications operators (M1, Singtel and StarHub), Huawei Concept Stores and Huawei official online stores in Lazada and Shopee, as well as authorised retailers (Best Denki, Challenger, COURTS and Harvey Norman).

More information about the Huawei P40 Pro+ can be found on Huawei’s website.