Huawei revealed the Mate 40 today, with a slew of improvements being announced for its next big flagship smartphone. The company leads the pack when it comes to camera tech, and it didn't disappoint on that front.
You can watch the reveal livestream below if you missed it, or scroll further down for all of the juicy details about the specs, design, price, and launch date.
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Huawei Mate 40 reveal: how to watch
The Huawei Mate 40 reveal was a long one, at around two hours, and touched on a few other new devices the company is rolling out. We've embedded the off YouTube livestream above if you want to sit through it, or you can skip ahead to all of the major announcements about the new smartphone below.
Huawei Mate 40: design and display
The Huawei Mate 40 is the first of the company's handsets to feature the 'Space Ring' design for its camera array, and features a curved display similar to the Galaxy S7 Edge.
The volume rocker still makes an appearance, but in an effort to make the device easier to operate, there's a virtual key to control the volume on the left-hand side of the phone; so it doesn't matter which of your hands is the dominant one, Huawei has you covered.
The Mate 40 Pro and Pro+ have a 6.76-inch Flex OLED Huawei Horizon display (curved at 88-degrees) with a 90Hz refresh rate. Huawei says that despite the large screen size, the phone itself is "very compact", comparing it to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, which has a width of 78.1mm and a 6.7-inch display, while the Mate 40 and Mate 40 Pro+ measure 75.5mm wide. Combined with the curved display panel, and volume control, the phone is being touted as much easier to hold and operate with just one hand
The Mate 40 sports a 6.5-inch Flex OLED display – curved at 68-degrees – with DCI-P3 HDR providing high saturation and contrast ratios. The refresh rate is also 90Hz.
Huawei says it's "very easy" to provide a 120Hz refresh rate, but it opted for the lower 90Hz in an effort to balance "power consumption, long battery life, and smooth operation."
The base model features 2D Face Unlock tech, while the premium models get 3D Face Unlock. All three devices have an in-screen fingerprint sensor for added security.
Other features include a dynamic always-on display (AOD), and the introduction of Eyes on Display (EOD) that activates the smartphone "at a glance" – you can even stop incessant phone ringing by making eye contact with the device.
A new colorway was also debuted: Mystic Silver. The shimmering pearlescent effect takes on different sheens in different settings, making for a unique variant if you're looking for something a bit different, or can't decide on a single color.
If you're after something more traditional, there's classic Black, and White. The Mate 30's vegan leather variant is also making a comeback, in Yellow and Green.
For fans of the P40 Pro+ nano-tech ceramic finish is back in Black and White.
Just as with previous Huawei special editions, the Mate 40 is getting a Porsche makeover with the Huawei Mate 40 RS. This edition of the phone includes an infrared thermo-sensor so you can check temperatures from -20 to 100-degrees if you feel so inclined.
The handset is available in Ceramic Black and Ceramic White.
Huawei Mate 40: specs
The Huawei Mate 40 boasts dual stereo speakers that promise 150% stronger bass.
On the camera front, the Huawei Mate 40 has single front-facing camera, while the Mate 40 Pro and Mate 40 Pro+ have a dual front-facing camera.
Both the Mate 40 Pro and Mate 40 Pro+ are IP68 rated, as you'd expect, while the Mate 40 is just IP53 rated (dust resistant, and it can survive against spraying water, as opposed to full immersion protection offered by IP68).
The Mate 40 series houses the Kirin 9000 SoC – the world's fist 5nm 5G chipset, boasting 15.3 billion transistors, which is 30% more than Apple's A14 bionic processor.
The 8-core CPU is 10% faster than Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865+, while the 24-core GPU is 54% faster, which is great news for mobile gamers.
Compared to Qualcomm's flagship chip, the Kirin 9000 provides better power efficiency, making for longer battery life, and on the 5G front, the chip reportedly offers a 5G experience that's five times faster with uploads, and twice as fast with downloads.
Jumping to the battery, the Mate 40 Pro houses a 4,400 mAh compared Samsung's Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, but lasts for two hours longer. Inside the Mate 40 you'll find a 4,200mAh battery. You can now juice up your phone faster with Huawei's 66W wired SuperCharge technology, which hits the balance between allowing a thin form factor and long battery life. The Mate 40 Pro and Pro+ offer 50W wired SuperCharge.
Both the phone and charger are being lauded for their functionality in cold temperatures, so if you're off skiing, this is the handset for you.
Huawei's gesture control has been updated, allowing users to swipe up/down to scroll, left/ right to flip through photos, and a press gesture to answer calls and play music.
Multitasking has also been addressed with smart multi-window, while multi screen collaboration carries over to PC, allowing you to work on up to three windows at once.
A new suite of Huawei apps was also introduced, from its Celia voice assistant, app gallery, Petal Maps, and Petal Search. Dedication to privacy was also a highlighted, with Huawei stating that while users are browsing the web, they won't be tracked by sites, while advertisers tracking your personal info can be blocked altogether.
Huawei Mate 40: camera
This is the arena in which Huawei shines, and both the Mate 40 and Mate 40 Pro's camera setup feature a SuperSensing Wide Angle 50MP f/1.9 lense as the main shooter. This is accompanied by a 16MP f/2.2 ultra wide, and 8MP f/2.4 telephoto lens on the Mate 40 (with 5x optical zoom), and a 20MP f/108 ultra wide Cine lens, and 12MP f/3.4 telephoto lens on the Mate 40 Pro.
The Mate 40 Pro+ houses a 50MP f/1.9 SuperSensing Wide lens, 20MP f/2.4 ultra wide, 8MP f/4.4 periscope, 12MP f/2.4 telephoto, and ToF sensor, as well as 17x optical zoom.
The dual front-facing camera combines a 1.6
Huawei says that compared to the Note 20 Ultra's 108MP shooter, its 50MP camera offers better color and detail, as well as superior lowlight snaps.
The company also introduced the world's first 'Free-form' lens with anti-distortion, which we saw teased earlier this week.
Huawei Mate 40: price
The Huawei Mate 40 series won't be getting a US launch, but will be releasing in Europe and the UK, although the exact date hasn't been divulged just yet. Huawei did delve into the pricing, but this was only provided in euros, so we've given an approximate conversion for an idea of the price in other territories.
The Huawei Mate 40 starts from €899/ £812/ $1,063/ AU$1,497 (8GB/ 128GB) and is available in Mystic Silver, White, Black, Yellow, and Green (the latter two options being vegan leather).
The Mate 40 Pro starts from €1,199/ £1,089/ $1,418/ AU$1,996 (8GB/256GB) and comes in the same colorways.
The Mate 40 Pro+ starts from €1,399/ £1,264/$1,654/ AU$2,329 (12GB/256GB) and comes in Ceramic Black, and Ceramic White.
The Huawei Mate 40 RS Porsche edition starts at €2,295/ £2,073/ $2,714/ AU$3,821 (12GB/ 512GB) and also comes in Ceramic Black, and Ceramic White.
