Huawei Officially Unveils Google-Free P40 Flagship Lineup and They’re All About the Cameras

The Chinese tech giant has finally lifted the lid on its latest-and-greatest smartphones.

Earlier today, Huawei unveiled the P40, P40 Pro, and the P40 Pro Plus in an event live streamed on YouTube, and there’s no question — these phones are all about the cameras.

According to Huawei, the 50MP RYYB main sensor on the P40 lineup is the largest (1/1.28-inch) on any phone to date, allowing for noticeably improved HDR. The regular P40 features a 16MP ultra-wide sensor and an 8MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom, while the P40 Pro packs a 40MP ultra-wide sensor with a 12MP telephoto sensor and a time-of-flight sensor. The flagship P40 Pro+ is home to a 40MP ultra-wide sensor, an 8MP periscope with 10x optical zoom, and an 8MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom and ToF sensor.

The regular P40 features a 32MP front-facing camera with depth-sensing technology; the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ both feature the a 32MP camera with an IR sensor. The P40 Pro+, Huawei says, will feature 100x zoom — same as the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra.

The entire line of P40 phones is powered by the Kirin 990 5G processor, with the P40 offering 8GB of RAM while the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ both offer up to 12GB of RAM. The regular P40 only comes with 128GB of storage, while you have the luxury to choose between 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB on both the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+.

As far as displays go, the regular P40 packs a 6.1-inch OLED panel with 2340×1080 resolution, compared to the 2640×1200 OLED panels on the P40 Pro and P40+.

The P40 comes with a 3,800mAh battery while the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ both offer a 4,200mAh battery along with 40W fast-charging and 40W wireless charging.

While the smartphones are no doubt impressive pieces of technology in and of themselves, the noticeable lack of support for Google apps and services may be a dealbreaker for many. Instead, the Chinese tech giant is releasing its so-called “App Gallery” as a replacement.

The App Gallery features a tool to help user find the apps that may not be directly available from Huawei, but the company says it also has more than 1,000 software devs working with outside companies to help create apps for the platform. That said, even with that added support, Huawei is still missing a lot of major games, plus apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, and more.

The company is also launching a new personal assistant called Celia in the UK, France, Spain, Chile, Mexico, and Colombia as an alternative to the Google Assistant.

From a technological standpoint, the P40 lineup is absolutely pushing the limits of what a smartphone can do, however its software and lack of Google services seem to be proving a bit of a weakpoint.

“The problem is the software, and not just the fact there’s no support for Google services. Compare to devices like the iPhone 11 and Pixel 4, the P40 Pro isn’t as slick or seamless. This doesn’t mean it’s bad, just that it’s not quite at that level,” concludes a report from The Next Web.

As with previous launches, Huawei was expected to throw an event in Paris, but that plan, like almost all tech recent events, was cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.

The P40 Series will begin arriving in Canada in early June, while prices and availability will be announced in the coming weeks.