Amidst global economic uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic, many tech manufacturers are maintaining their product road map schedules. One of the most exciting launches that we’ve seen during the current health crisis is the Huawei P40 Series. Stating in their official press release, Huawei state that the Huawei P40 Series ‘Marks the Age of Visionary Photography’. Read on to see just how they intend to deliver that promise. 

The New Huawei P40 Series boast Huawei’s biggest CMOS sensor in any of their previous devices and arrives promising all-day ‘Super Definition’ photography with powerful camera tech, high-performance 5G and smart design. Following from an already-impressive series of photo-centric smartphones, the new Huawei P40 Series states further ground-breaking camera innovations that will ‘radically expand mobile photography and video capture possibilities.’

Tech [in a snapshot]

The new HUAWEI P40 Series houses a large 1/1.28-inch sensor and produces a binned pixel size measuring 2.44μm to boost light intake. This is how the P40 aims to achieve greater performance with enhanced low-light photography and video. A new periscope design promises 10x true optical zoom and the new series is powered by Kirin 990 5G and supports both high-speed 5G and Wi-Fi 6 Plus. 

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer BG, said: “The HUAWEI P Series has always been about innovative aesthetics and making premium imaging hardware accessible, representing the very best of industrial design and technology. With an outstanding sensor, camera systems that we co-engineered with Leica, powerful chipset and HUAWEI XD Fusion Engine, the HUAWEI P40 Series exemplifies our focus and offers an all-day Super Definition experience to help consumers realise their creative vision.”

Huawei P40 Series – All-day Super Definition photography

So, to break down just what Huawei means with this intriguing term, read on. The Huawei P40 Series has been announced as the advanced ‘Ultra Vision Leica camera system’. It’s available in triple, quad and penta-camera arrangements and promises to deliver exceptional photographic results with the devices native ultra wide, wide-angle and telephoto lenses. The new cameraphones highlight the progression of the Leica Quad Camera system with a more powerful Ultra Wide Cine Camera and ToF, [time of flight] camera alongside 50x SuperSensing Zoom. The Huawei P40 Pro+ promises users the ability to shoot unprecedented images with the SuperZoom Array, which supports 10x true optical zoom and 100x maximum digital zoom.

Supporting the native 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom and 50x maximum digital zoom in the new Huawei P40 Series, the 5x Optical Telephoto Camera in the HUAWEI P40 Pro includes a RYYB colour filter array which is designed to boost light intake and improve quality of zoomed shots. Alongside this, the Huawei P40 Pro+ boasts a 100x SuperZoom Array with a new periscope design that will reflect light five x, extending the light path by 178% to support 10x true optical zoom. The optically stabilised Ultra Vision Wide Camera and SuperZoom Array work in tandem with AI to realise Triple OIS+AIS in an attempt to vastly improved photo and video stabilisation.

A new Multi-spectrum Colour Temperature Sensor and AI AWB algorithm promise to reproduce skin tone and texture by boosting colour accuracy by 45%. 

The Huawei P40 Pro and Huawei P40 Pro+ house a 32MP AF Camera and IR Depth Camera which support autofocus and Bokeh to deliver the same outstanding portrait effects that are something of a trademark in Huawei devices, as well as IR Face Unlock for device unlock even in low light conditions. The Huawei P40 Series now also introduces the ‘HUAWEI Golden Snap’, which includes AI Best Moment, a new smart photography feature that chooses the ‘best’ frames from a Moving Picture. AI Remove Passerby and AI Remove Reflection can do away with unwanted subjects and glare from the frame. Clever stuff!

Video & audio

The Huawei P40 Pro and Huawei P40 Pro+ both house a 40MP Ultra Wide Cine Camera with a focal length equal to 18mm and a 1/1.54-inch sensor supporting the 3:2 aspect ratio. ‘SedecimPixel Fusion Technology’ is built into the camera to support 16-in-1 pixel binning, producing superpixels that measure 4.48μm to boost light sensitivity up to ISO51200 and enable 7680fps Ultra Slow-Motion video capture.

The new Huawei P40 Series offers real-time Bokeh effects for video, producing similar results to that of a wide aperture lens, adding Bokeh to highlight the subject of the footage. The telephoto camera promises to capture high-quality zoom footage as well as 4K time-lapse videos. 

Directional Audio Zoom, available in the Huawei P40 Pro and Huawei P40 Pro+, suggests that users can zoom in to an audio source to amplify its sound.

Pricing and availability

The HUAWEI P40 Pro 8GB RAM, 256GB Storage version will cost £899 [RRP] and will launch in the UK in Black and Silver Frost. They are available to pre-order from 26th March to 6th April from Carphone Warehouse, Virgin Mobile and other selected retailers, and with Three from 27th March to 6th April. Eligible pre-orders can claim [via redemption] a bundle which includes HUAWEI FreeBuds 3, Huawei SuperCharge Wireless Car Charger and Wireless Charger. The device goes on sale from the 7th April.

The HUAWEI P40 8GB RAM, 128GB Storage will come in at £699 [RRP] will launch in the UK in Silver Frost [Carphone Warehouse only], and Black [Virgin Mobile and selected retailers]. Pre-orders available now until 6th April, with the device goes on sale on 7th April. Eligible pre-orders will include a bundled pair of the HUAWEI FreeBuds 3.

Keep an eye on PhotoBite.UK and our social channels as we will have hands-on the new series in the coming days for review in #TheMeasue. In the meantime, head to Huawei’s website for more info.