Huawei has announced the P40 and P40 Pro, two high-end smartphones without Google certification. The Huawei P40 price is 799 euros, while the larger and better Pro variant gets a suggested retail price of 999 euros. The P40 Lite and P40 Pro + are also on the market here.
The P40 and P40 Pro will be available in the Netherlands from April 7 in the colors silver (Silver Frost) and black (Blush gold Black). From that date, the P40 Lite is also for sale. This midrange model costs 299 euros and comes in black (Midnight Black) or green (Crush Green). Huawei also presented a P40 Pro + with even more powerful hardware. This smartphone will only appear in June in the Netherlands and will cost 1399 euros.
If you buy the P40 or P40 Pro between April 7 and May 3, you will receive a free set of Huawei FreeBuds 3 wireless earbuds. These earplugs cost about 150 euros separately. Huawei is also gifting 50GB of storage to early decision makers for its Huawei Cloud service, an alternative to Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive and Apple iCloud.
Screen, battery and charging
Just like last year’s P30 and P30 Pro, the P40 and P40 Pro differ in several areas. For example, the P40 has a 6.1-inch full-HD OLED screen with 60Hz refresh rate, while the Pro version’s full-HD OLED display measures 6.58-inch and shows a 90Hz refresh rate. The higher refresh rate delivers a smoother, quieter image but also puts more pressure on the battery life. That is why the P40 Pro has a larger 4200 mAh battery and there is a 3800 mAh battery in the regular P40. Where the Pro variant charges via a USB-C cable with a power of 40W, the P40 does not go beyond 22.5W. The P40 Pro can also charge wirelessly with 40W; faster than all other smartphones. Wireless charging is missing on the regular P40.
Selfie cameras
The smartphones are made of glass and aluminum and lack a 3.5mm headphone jack. The P40 is IP53 splash proof, while the Pro version is completely waterproof and dustproof thanks to its IP68 certification.
In the screen of the P40 and P40 Pro, there is a wide hole for the selfie camera on the left. On the P40, there is a 32 megapixel behind this, but the P40 Pro complements it with a depth sensor and infrared sensor. This unit therefore offers safe 3D face protection.
5G internet
Both smartphones run on a Kirin 990 processor and support 5G internet. Dutch providers are expected to launch their 5G networks in the summer. The P40 models have 8GB RAM, support dual-sim and e-sim. You can expand the storage memory via an NM card. The P40 has 128GB storage memory, in the P40 Pro this is 256GB.
Huawei P40 (Pro) has zoom camera
The smartphones also differ in the camera area. The P40 has a 50-megapixel main camera, a 16-megapixel wide-angle lens and an 8-megapixel zoom camera. The P40 Pro uses the same main camera, but with optical image stabilization for better photos. The device has a 40-megapixel wide-angle lens and a 13-megapixel periscope camera for more zoom. Huawei promises three times zoom on the P40 without loss of quality and no less than ten times on the Pro version.
No Google certification: you will notice this
It is worth mentioning that the P40 and P40 Pro are not certified by Google. Google is not allowed to do this because Huawei is on a sanction list from the United States government. The lack of that certification means the P40 (Pro) comes without Google apps. Services like Maps, YouTube, Gmail and the Play Store app store are not installed on the Huawei phone and can only be downloaded through unreliable detours. Google and Huawei strongly advise against this. Not only Google apps are missing; Google’s security and other services software is also absent. Many popular Android apps and games have been developed with this software in mind and hardly ever work on a smartphone without it. We can say this from our own experience because we recently tested the Honor 9X Pro and Huawei Mate 30 Pro, devices that also do not carry Google certification.
Huawei is trying to compensate for the missing Google services with its own app store (AppGallery), but it only contains a fraction of the apps from the Play Store. In addition, some of the popular apps in the Netherlands are not yet working properly. Developers are getting support from Huawei to fix this – a process that takes time. Huawei recommends that users use Google apps and non-working apps as their website, such as youtube.com.
The P40 series runs on an open version of Android 10 with Huawei’s EMUI 10 shell. It is not yet clear how Huawei – without Google’s help – wants to release Android updates in a timely and long-term manner.
Computer! Totaal will soon publish an extensive review of the Huawei P40 Pro.
P40 Lite and P40 Pro +
Huawei also announces that the P40 Lite will be released in the Netherlands. This smartphone was already announced in February and has a 6.4-inch full-HD screen, four rear cameras and 6GB of RAM. The storage memory measures 128GB. The 4200 mAh battery charges from zero to seventy percent via the 40W plug within thirty minutes, according to Huawei. This device also lacks a Google certification.
The new P40 Pro + will only appear in June, but Huawei already shares details of the smartphone. In essence, the P40 Pro + is identical to the P40 Pro, with some differences. For example, the battery charges faster, the device has an extra zoom camera for a total of ten times optical zoom (five times on the P40 Pro) and the storage memory is twice as large: 512GB instead of 256GB.
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