About a month before the official launch of the flagships from the P40 series, Huawei officially announced the affordable variant of the new lineup: Huawei P40 Lite. It is not a completely new device since it is just a rebranded version of the device known in China as the Huawei Nova 6 SE. The difference is that the Huawei P40 Lite is for the global market. For this specs comparison, we chose one of the latest devices launched in the global market: Samsung Galaxy A51. We also included one of the most popular mid-rangers in the European market: Xiaomi Mi 9T. Does the Huawei P40 Lite represent a better option? This comparison will try to give you the final answer.
Huawei P40 Lite vs Samsung Galaxy A51 vs Xiaomi Mi 9T
| Huawei Nova 6 SE | Samsung Galaxy A51 | Xiaomi Mi 9T | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT | 159.2 x 76.3 x 8.7 mm, 183 grams | 158.5 x 73.6 x 7.9 mm, 172 grams | 156.7 x 74.3 x 8.8 mm, 191 g |
| DISPLAY | 6.4 inches, 1080 x 2310p (Full HD+), 398 ppi, LTPS IPS LCD | 6.5 inches, 1080 x 2400p (Full HD+), 405 ppi, Super AMOLED | 6.39 inches, 1080 x 2340p (Full HD+), Super AMOLED |
| PROCESSOR | Huawei Hisilicon Kirin 810, octa-core 2.27 GHz | Samsung Exynos 9611, octa-core 2.3 GHz | Qualcomm Snapdragon 730, octa-core 2.84 GHz |
| MEMORY | 8 GB RAM, 128 GB – nano memory card slot | 4 GB RAM, 64 GB – 4 GB RAM, 128 GB – 6 GB RAM, 128 GB – micro SD dedicated slot | 6 GB RAM, 64 GB – 6 GB RAM, 128 GB – 6 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 256 GB |
| SOFTWARE | Android 10, EMUI | Android 10, One UI | Android 9 Pie, MIUI |
| CONNECTIVITY | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5, GPS | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS |
| CAMERA | Quad 48 + 8 + 2 MP f/1.8, f/2.4, f/2.4 and f/2.4 16 MP f/2.0 front camera |
Quad 48 + 12 + 5 + 5 MP f/2.0, f/2.4, f/2.4 and f/2.2 32 MP f/2.2 front camera |
Triple 48 + 13 + 8 MP, f/1.8, f/2.4 and f/2.4 20 MP f/2.2 front camera |
| BATTERY | 4200 mAh, fast charging 40W | 4000 mAh, fast charging 15W | 4000 mAh, fast charging 27W with Quick Charge 4.0 |
| ADDITIONAL FEATURES | Hybrid Dual SIM slot | Dual SIM slot | Dual SIM slot |
Design
Do you like punch-hole displays to get rid of bezels or do you prefer a notch-less and holeless display on a phone equipped with a pop-up selfie camera? If the first option is your choice, we believe you should go for the Samsung Galaxy A51, which provides a single punch-hole display and a higher screen-to-body ratio than Huawei P40 Lite. But if you do not hate the pop-up camera, Xiaomi Mi 9T has a more interesting design since it is built with more premium materials. Despite it is just a mid-ranger, it comes with a glass back and an aluminum frame just like flagship smartphones. Xiaomi Mi 9T is even more compact, but it is thicker and one of the reasons is the presence of a motorized pop-up camera.
Display
Huawei P40 Lite is not so trendy with its IPS display. On the other hand, Xiaomi Mi 9T looks very gorgeous with its AMOLED display boasting the HDR certification. It is a notch-less panel with brilliant colors and a great image quality, great for multimedia-addicted users. Samsung Galaxy A51 is another device with an amazing display. Just like the Xiaomi Mi 9T, it has a Full HD+ AMOLED panel with high contrast, brightness, and screen-to-body ratio. Unfortunately, it is not HDR-compliant, but it remains an awesome display for a mid-ranger.
Specs & Software
On the paper, the Kirin 810 found on the Huawei P40 Lite is the best chipset. It has great CPU and GPU performance, as well as a very low energy consumption since it is built with a 7 nm production process. And Huawei P40 Lite also offers a higher amount of RAM than Samsung Galaxy A51 and Xiaomi Mi 9T: up to 8 GB. Huawei P40 Lite has expandable internal storage, while Xiaomi Mi 9T does not. And unlike the Xiaomi Mi 9T, it has Android 10 out of the box, despite it does not come with Google services, replaced by Huawei Mobile Services. Samsung Galaxy A51 has inferior hardware to both Xiaomi Mi 9T and Huawei P40 Lite.
Camera
We still had no chance to test every camera department of these devices, but on the paper, Xiaomi Mi 9T looks more interesting. It is the only one to offer a telephoto lens, so it is the only with optical zoom, despite it has a triple camera instead of the quad-camera setup found on its rivals. Samsung Galaxy A51 looks to have a better front camera, but its rear cameras do not look promising.
Battery
With its 4200 mAh capacity (200 mAh more than Samsung Galaxy A51 and Xiaomi Mi 9T) and a very efficient chipset, Huawei P40 Lite should last more than its opponents with most of the usage patterns. It also charges a lot faster thanks to its 40W fast charging technology.
Price
You can get all of these devices for less than €300/$332 and for those prices, Huawei P40 Lite looks like a slightly better handset. But it lacks an AMOLED display and a really premium design, so keep that in mind. Further, I believe Xiaomi Mi 9T can offer a higher value for money due to a lower street price (less than €270/$299 in the 6/64 GB configuration).
Huawei P40 Lite vs Samsung Galaxy A51 vs Xiaomi Mi 9T: PROs and CONS
Huawei P40 Lite
PROs
- Very fast charging
- Biggest battery
- More RAM
- Good cameras
CONS
- Nothing particular
Samsung Galaxy A51
PROs
- Nice AMOLED display
- Micro SD dedicated slot
- In-display fingerprint reader
CONS
- Nothing particular
Xiaomi Mi 9T
PROs
- Very good price
- Great hardware
- Notch-less and holeless display
- Telephoto sensor
CONS
- No micro SD
