It would be fair to say that Huawei has had a tough 2019. The smartphone company started off the year on a path towards greatness but was quickly shut down due to the U.S ban. This prompted Huawei’s main suppliers like Google, Qualcomm and ARM to stop doing business with the manufacturer. While the Huawei P30 remained relatively unharmed, the next flagship Mate 30 Pro suffered as a result with the device getting a limited launch without Google Play services.
Things don’t look too bright in the future for Huawei either with the ban staying in place for the time being. However, despite such a massive hit, the smartphone manufacturer is determined to continue forward with full force for next year’s flagship phone, the Huawei P40.
Huawei P40 leaks show promising improvements in the camera department
The Huawei P30 series, launched way back in March, managed to capture everyone’s attention thanks to its incredible cameras capable of zooming up to 50x. In fact, the P30 still has one of the best cameras on a smartphone. Huawei has really mastered the art of image processing over the years and when you combine that with the Leica collaboration, the result is always going to be magical.
With the Huawei P40, the company is hoping for a repeat of last year’s success. However, with the current ban in place, it would be interesting to see what the P40 would be able to do without Google Play services. While software continues to be a concern for Huawei, it seems like they’ve got the hardware side of things nailed down.
According to a recent leak, the P40 is going to be sporting a rather large camera bump at the back. However, this camera bump is unlike the one on the latest Mate 30 and looks much more similar to the P30 instead. The extra chunkiness of the camera bump suggests that Huawei might be packing bigger camera sensors into the flagship phone.
Furthermore, we’ve also seen reports of next year’s flagships having ridiculously high megapixel counts in their cameras after Qualcomm announced support for 8K video in their upcoming Snapdragon processors. So, with that in mind, it wouldn’t be far fetched to expect some bonkers camera specs in the Huawei P40, as the company’s own HiSilicon Kirin chips are very much on level terms with Qualcomm.
Other than the cameras, the leaks also show that Huawei will be backing off on the whole waterfall display trend. So, after Samsung, it seems like Huawei will be choosing function over form as well. While the smartphone will still have some sort of curved display, it just won’t take up as much space on the sides, with the power and volume buttons still being intact.
Can Huawei actually manage to make a comeback?
The Huawei Mate 30 series had a limited launch in only a few regions, making it one of the most understated phones of the year. However, there are rumours floating around that Huawei is ramping up towards a global launch for the Mate 30 as well as the P40. Apparently, the company is waiting for the launch window for the 2020 flagships and will reveal its devices at either CES or MWC 2020.
The chances of a flagship device succeeding in the US or Europe without having Google Play services though are pretty much non-existent. So, it would be interesting if Huawei still has some tricks up its sleeve with either a deal to lift the ban or the company’s own Harmony OS powering the flagship device.
The Huawei P40 is expected to launch in March 2020. According to older leaks, the phone will feature a 6.57-inch QHD+ AMOLED display with pinhole selfie cameras. The device will ship with the company’s latest Hi-silicon Kirin 990 chipset with full support for 5G.
What are you hoping to see in the upcoming flagship phone from Huawei? Let us know down in the comments below.