Earlier today, Huawei officially confirmed that the P40 series will be released globally via an online event on March 26. The company’s P-series has always been a special lineup for tech enthusiasts across the world as the brand has upped the bar in smartphone photography every year. This year’s P40 series is even more special. Rivals like Xiaomi, OPPO, and even Samsung have upgraded the camera departments on their 2020 flagships. And Huawei will have to prove that it’s still the best in the business by surpassing these top-end camera flagships!
I know we are all looking forward to the new P40 Pro and we’ve got some juicy details about the upcoming device. In a closed-door session with Huawei about the upcoming model, the company briefed us about the Huawei P40 Pro. Of course, the company didn’t give out specific hardware details about the device, but it has given us a solid direction on what to expect from the series on March 26.
Huawei P40 series “Guarantees New Records” In Mobile Photography
Okay, I know this is a bold statement. But it’s not from me, I’m directly quoting the Huawei representative who briefed us about the phone.
Let me put you in the right direction. The Huawei P30 series took smartphone photography to new heights. It came with the brand new custom RYYB sensor instead of a traditional RGB, a first in the smartphone industry. Second, it came with a ‘Periscope Camera’ which offered insane zoom capabilities. Today, P30 Pro’s tech might not feel like much, but back in March 2019, this kind of tech was never before seen on a smartphone camera.
Now coming to 2020 Huawei P40 Pro, what does Huawei mean when it says it ‘Guarantees New Records’ in smartphone photography?
They did give us a clue. The Huawei P40 series will build upon the technologies introduced in the P30 series last year. The Huawei P40 Pro and probably the standard P40 model too will feature the company “Second Generation Persicope Zoom Camera“. The company confirmed this at the meeting.
But what can we expect from the “second-gen” tech? To recall, the Huawei P30 Pro offered 5x optical zoom, up to 10x hybrid zoom and 50x digital zoom.
And from what we heard at the meeting, it looks like the second-generation tech will increase the ‘optical zoom capabilities’ and also improve its hybrid zoom range as well.
Huawei P40 is inspired by the ‘Eagle Eye’
At the briefing, Huawei mentioned how an eagle could spot its prey from nearly 3kms away with great resolution and clarity. That’s what the company is aiming for here. Huawei said that software will also play a major role in the P40 series’ zoom capabilities. This has got us thinking that the company will push the 10x hybrid zoom barrier with the P40 Pro. At present, the top-end flagship smartphones from rival brands all max out at 10x hybrid zoom, and if Huawei manages to increase this range, it will be a new breakthrough in smartphone zoom technology.
AI will also play a huge role in the P40 series. Huawei revealed that the P40 lineup will come with the highest AI capability “never before seen” on a smartphone. The Huawei Kirin 990 5G chip that’s expected to power the P40 series has come out top on AI benchmarks and the company will be looking to take full advantage of this chip on the new lineup.
Huawei is Completely Invested in Its RYYB filter tech
When I asked the Huawei representative if the RYYB tech will make a comeback in the new Huawei P40 series, he said: “Huawei has invested a lot in this tech and wouldn’t want it to go to waste”. This basically means that the P40 series will continue to use a custom sensor with an RYYB filter. To recall, the P30 Pro featured the custom IMX650 RYYB sensor. Rumors state that the new P40 series will have the custom IMX700 Sony sensor with the same RYYB filter. But the company hasn’t confirmed the phone’s camera specifics.
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Huawei P40 Series will Offer ‘New Material’ Options
If you recall, the Huawei P30 series got some really beautiful color options like Aurora and Amber Sunrise. Then the Mate 30 series got these two really cool Vegan Leather variants in orange and forest green colors. The company confirmed that it will add ‘New Material’ options for the Huawei P40 lineup. Unfortunately, it didn’t talk about what kind of materials to expect. All it said was the company will continue to work on colors, materials, and finish of its smartphones to offer unique options to its users.
Huawei even offered a ‘Hands-on’ experience to attendees, but unfortunately, I couldn’t try it out. A handful of journalists did get to touch and feel the phone that was hidden in a sensory box (see image below). They said that the phone had a large camera bump and the camera housing felt in line with what the leaks had revealed earlier. So this likely means the P40 Pro will have a rectangular camera housing, much like the Galaxy S20 series. Plus, the phone was curved on both sides.
Huawei representatives also talked about how it is building its AppGallery app store for Huawei smartphones. The company revealed that the AppGallery is the third largest app store in the world and is available in over 170+ countries across the globe. The app store has more than 400 million monthly active users right now.
Source: Render by 91Mobiles
The Huawei P series has always been a camera-centric lineup. And from what we heard from the company recently, the P40 series will have exciting upgrades in the camera department. There are a lot of details we still don’t know about the upcoming device, but hopefully, we can bring you more details before the official launch on March 26!
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