While almost all smartphones look like identical black glass slabs from the front, hardware designers are displaying increased creativity when it comes to the back panel. Smartphone manufacturers are hellbent on cramming as much camera hardware into their devices as possible — the same goes for Huawei. But tastefully. Remember the Nokia 9 PureView? They’re trying not to replicate that.
And we may have had a closer look at the rear (and front) design of the incoming Huawei P50, showing a very interesting camera configuration. According to the most recent leaks, we’ll only see this device in the flesh by mid-June, thanks to multiple delays, so this could be the closest we get to seeing the real thing for a while.
The P50 we deserve?
Huawei’s P series always comes out strong on the design front, and this time is no different. Early renders of the P50 Pro detail four rear cameras set in two larger housings (which makes it slightly resemble Wall-E). Three of the camera sensors, along with the laser focus module, are housed in the top circle, while a single giant periscope zoom lens lives inside the second. The Leica logo makes an appearance, indicating its stellar camera tech will find its way to smartphone users again this year.
Pictures of what we reckon is the base P50 variant are also doing the rounds. These seem to feature a different camera configuration, with two camera sensors in each housing. This could also just be a mock model to use as a mould for smartphone covers, though.
The front is that flat black slab we talked about earlier, with a centre-aligned punch hole to complete the 2020s display look everyone’s after. We don’t know whether the screen will actually be curved or flush at this point, but Huawei generally reserves its curved displays for its Mate range later in the year.
Even more interesting, however, would be that this may be Huawei’s first mobile phone that runs fully on its own operating system, called Harmony OS. This would mean a complete shift away from Android, and Huawei’s reliance on Google’s ecosystem, in favour of its own.
While the announcement date of the P50 lineup has not been confirmed yet, the rumour mill suggests we’ll see these announced at a Huawei event in mid-June, which will follow two earlier events to detail some other Huawei devices in May.
Source/Image: GizmoChina
