Huawei’s new flagship range was announced during a time that the world was plunged into voluntary lockdown. It was a strange time, but Huawei is ready to launch the three devices (P40, P40 Pro and the P40 Lite) into SA, starting with the budget option: the P40 Lite.
This is especially interesting considering South Africa never got the previous flagship from the company: the Mate 30 range. That’s because of the ongoing trade war with the US and its software not containing Google support. It’s clear now that Huawei wanted to bolster its App Store before rolling out in the local market.
Since then. Huawei has made great headway to get a solid list of South African apps on its AppGallery. So the P40-range is the first since the trade war to launch locally. Let’s have a look at the hardware and local pricing.
Here’s the P40
The base P40 device is exactly what you need if you’re not set on a Pro or a Lite device. Its hardware is powerful, and it’ll cost R17,000.
It features a 6.1in OLED display fitted with an in-display fingerprint sensor and a cutout-selfie camera up top. In the cutout, you’ll find some cool tech that allows for facial recognition biometric security and a top-notch selfie camera weighing in at 32MP. Around back, you’ll find three cameras, including a 50MP main sensor, a 16MP sensor, as well as an 8MP sensor.
The whole shebang is powered by Huawei’s own HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G (if you’ve got the 5G variant), 8GB of RAM, and 128GB storage standard. Keeping everything up and running is a 3,800mAh battery setup.
And the P40 Pro
Then there’s the big boi, although Huawei announced a Pro Plus device, we’ll be getting the P40 Pro standard for the time being. This one will cost you R21,000.
The P40 Pro is Huawei’s best flagship to date, featuring some of the most powerful hardware we’ve seen on a smartphone. That is, if you can look past all the software niggles (check out our full review for more on this). It is one helluva device, featuring the HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G, 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of storage space.
It’s got a 4,200mAh battery that can keep this guy running for two days, easy. The display sizes in at 6.58in, so this is a big device, with a cutout selfie cam that features a main sensor (32MP as well as a TOF sensor). The main camera array around back features a 50MP main sensor, a 40MP sensor, a 12MP sensor and a TOF sensor.
Lastly, the P40 Lite
But definitely not least. Out of the whole lineup, this is the device we’re most excited about. It really brings top-end specs to a proper budget device, pricing at just R6,500.
It’s also the first device in the range to be available in SA, and is already available through contracts at major mobile networks. Weirdly, the P40 Lite has a lot in common with its two big bros, including a 4,200mAh battery, the big 6.4in display (this time LCD though) with a cutout selfie cam and in-display fingerprint sensor.
Powering the device this time is the midrange HiSilicon Kirin 810 chip (so no 5G option on this one), 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Not bad for a sub R10k device, eh? And it’s available to buy now.
Make the choice
It’ll be slightly harder for Huawei fans to decide this time, considering the lack of Google apps and the Play Store. But rest assured, It works like any other Android smartphone, and Stuff is here to guide you through all the software bumps you may encounter while using a Google-less smartphone.
What Huawei is continuously offering, is a brilliant product with top-end specs that costs a fraction of that of the competitors’. We’re excited to test more of them out and see the hardware and camera flex on all the P40 devices.
