26 March 2020

HUAWEI P40 Series pushes envelope on advanced photography

Source: Huawei. The HUAWEI P40 Series continues the series heritage of photography innovations.
Source: Huawei. The HUAWEI P40 Series continues the series heritage of photography innovations.

The Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG) today announced the HUAWEI P40 Pro+, HUAWEI P40 Pro and HUAWEI P40, the new HUAWEI P40 Series flagship smartphones featuring groundbreaking camera innovations that expand mobile photography and video capture possibilities.

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer BG said, “The HUAWEI P Series has always been about innovative aesthetics and democratising premium imaging hardware, representing the very best of industrial design and technology. With an outstanding sensor, optics from 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.”

The HUAWEI P40 Pro and HUAWEI P40 Pro+ are equipped with the HUAWEI Quad-curve Overflow Display. Inspired by the art of motion in nature, the display takes on a demi bullnose edge on all four sides, creating a shape that is reminiscent of water about to overflow from the rim of a cup. The super narrow bezels and streamlined round corners ensure a near-borderless look that provides an immersive viewing experience and ergonomic hold. An improved in-screen fingerprint scanner offers 30% faster biometric authentication.

The HUAWEI Ultra Vision Sensor included in the full HUAWEI P40 Series is Huawei’s largest CMOS sensor to date. The larger the sensor, the more light it can capture, enhancing photographs. Measuring 1/1.28" diagonally, it supports pixel binning* to achieve a pixel size of 2.44 μm and Full Pixel Octa PD AutoFocus for high-speed focus at any time of day. The HUAWEI XD Fusion Engine integrates and processes data from multiple cameras to generate a comprehensive improvement in picture quality.

Embedded in the HUAWEI P40 Series is the advanced Ultra Vision Leica camera system, available in triple-camera, quad-camera and penta-camera configurations. The HUAWEI P40 has ultra wide-angle, wide-angle and telephoto lenses. The HUAWEI P40 Pro features an evolution of the Leica Quad Camera with a more powerful Ultra Wide Cine Camera and time-of-flight (ToF) camera alongside 50x SuperSensing Zoom. The HUAWEI P40 Pro+ sports the unprecedented with the SuperZoom Array, which supports 10x true optical zoom and 100x maximum digital zoom.

The HUAWEI P40 Pro has 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom and 50x maximum digital zoom. For the first time ever, the 5x optical telephoto camera in the HUAWEI P40 Pro includes a RYYB colour filter array to boost light intake and improve quality of zoomed shots. A RYYB filter replaces the green part in a more traditional red-green-blue (RGB) filter with yellow, which theoretically allows the sensor to capture more light.

The HUAWEI P40 Pro+ has a 100x SuperZoom Array with a new periscope design that reflects light five times, extending the light path by 178 percent 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 for vastly improved photo and video stabilisation.

Skintone and texture are faithfully reproduced by a new multispectrum colour temperature sensor and AI automatic white balance (AWB) algorithm that boost colour accuracy by 45%. Deep learning algorithms provide real-time portrait optimisations that enhance lighting and detail. The HUAWEI P40 Pro and HUAWEI P40 Pro+ have a 32 MP autofocus (AF) camera and infrared (IR) depth camera that support autofocus and bokeh reproduction to deliver the portrait effects that are signature to Huawei devices, as well as IR Face Unlock for device unlocking even in low-light conditions.

The HUAWEI P40 Series also introduces 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 images after the fact.

The 40MP ultra wide cine camera in HUAWEI P40 Pro and HUAWEI P40 Pro+ has a focal length that is equivalent to 18 mm and a 1/1.54" sensor supporting the 3:2 aspect ratio. SedecimPixel Fusion technology is built into this camera to support 16-in-1 pixel binning, producing super pixels that measure 4.48 μm to boost light sensitivity up to ISO 51200 and enable 7,680 fps ultra slow-motion video capture.

HUAWEI P40 Series supports real-time bokeh effects for videos. Similar to the results of a wide aperture lens, this feature adds progressive bokeh to help highlight the main subject of the footage. The telephoto camera can capture high quality zoom footage as well as 4K time-lapse videos. Directional Audio Zoom, available on HUAWEI P40 Pro and HUAWEI P40 Pro+, allows users to zoom in on an audio source and amplify its sound at the same time.

The HUAWEI P40 Series is powered by Kirin 990 5G chipset to deliver integrated 5G connectivity with the most comprehensive 5G band support, robust AI performance and power efficiency. Display responsiveness and gaming experience are taken to the next level by the upgraded graphics rendering engine making the most of the 90 Hz panel on the HUAWEI P40 Pro and HUAWEI P40 Pro+. The 160 MHz Wi-Fi 6 Plus technology featured in the full lineup offers high-speed connectivity with support for 2,400 Mbps peak theoretical transmission speed.

The 40 W Wireless HUAWEI SuperCharge feature is available on the HUAWEI P40 Pro+ for fast and convenient charging. The chipset is given the thermal headroom to deliver exceptional performance by the advanced cooling systems, including the bespoke 4-in-1 SuperCool system in the HUAWEI P40 Pro+.

The EMUI 10.1 operating system introduces a host of new features that enable a richer, more seamless AI life. HUAWEI MeeTime** supports 1080p Full HD video call on Huawei smartphones, tablets and the HUAWEI Vision TV and delivers clear picture quality even in low light or weak signal conditions. Users can also share their phone screen with the other party during the video call and mark up notes to share thoughts.

Huawei Share facilitates high-speed file transfer between the smartphone and other devices such as tablets and PCs. With Huawei Share on the HUAWEI P40 Series, consumers can stream music to a smart speaker, initiate screen projection and connect to Wi-Fi by tapping the device*** they want to connect to with their phone. New functionality added to the Multi-screen Collaboration feature allows users to easily answer video or voice calls handsfree directly through the PC, and open files and hyperlinks on the smartphone with native PC applications for enhanced productivity.

Working in close collaboration with global developers, Huawei offers a wide range of global and local apps on AppGallery, Huawei’s official app marketplace. Users can also enjoy quality entertainment media on HUAWEI Video, HUAWEI Music and HUAWEI Reader, with new additions from top content providers being added on a continuous basis.

Besides the HUAWEI P40 Series, Huawei launched the HUAWEI WATCH GT2e, HUAWEI Sound X and the latest spring/summer 2020 HUAWEI X GENTLE MONSTER Eyewear, further enriching its product portfolio of all-scenario products that are designed to help consumers live a better digital life.

Huawei Consumer BG is one of Huawei's three business units and covers smartphones, PC and tablets, wearables and cloud services. Huawei's products and services are available in more than 170 countries and are used by a third of the world's population. Fourteen R&D centres have been set up, including in India and China.

Details:

The devices are available in three glossy glass finishes – Ice White, Deep Sea Blue and Black – and two matte glass colourways – Blush Gold and Silver Frost. The HUAWEI P40 Pro+ further features a nano-tech ceramic back panel that is kilned and polished to ensure it stands the test of time. This design comes in two colours: White Ceramic and Black Ceramic.

Local availability and pricing will be advised separately.

*Pixel binning is technology that evaluates pixels that a nearby a particular pixel to reduce noise and improve picture quality.

**Feature will be available via a Huawei-Over-the-Air (HOTA) update. HUAWEI MeeTime is supported in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia. 

***Specific models of the device are required for this feature.