Huawei P40 line will officially launch on March 26

Huawei P30
(Image credit: Huawei)

The Huawei P40 lineup will officially launch on March 26 in Paris, France, the company’s CEO Richard Yu reportedly confirmed.

Yu made the announcement while unveiling the Huawei Mate XS, per GSMArena. Clearly, the introduction of a refined version of their first foldable - the Huawei Mate X, which hasn’t been released outside China - hasn’t slowed down the company’s typical smartphone release cadence. 

The P-series has traditionally launched early in the year (in ‘Spring’ or Q2), and indeed, the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro launched on March 26, 2019. This year, we’re expecting the typical Huawei P40 and higher-end Huawei P40 Pro, as well as the potential for additional P40 Lite and Huawei P40 Pro Premium editions, though we aren’t sure if they’ll all launch on the same day.

Huawei P40: continuing the march to better cameras

Like the P30 before it, we’re expecting improved cameras on the Huawei P40 and P40 Pro. We’ve heard plenty of rumors by now, many of which contradict or aren’t specific about which models get which setups. 

For instance, a rumor suggests the P40 Pro will get a five-camera array consisting of a 64MP main lens, a 12MP telephoto allegedly capable of up to 10x optical zoom, an ultrawide lens, a depth sensor, and finally a macro camera for up-close shots. 

Like other phones, there’s also claims the main camera (which might be 64MP and might be 52MP) may use an extreme form of ‘pixel binning’ to combine 16 pixels into 1 in a process that’s allegedly called ‘Quad Quad Bayer.’ This shrinks the shot quality down to 3.25MP, but should dramatically improve low-light performance. 

Whether these lenses and capabilities make it to the standard P40 or other as-yet unconfirmed phones in the P40 lineup is unclear, but at least we have a release date to look forward to.

  • With such powerful cameras, will the Huawei P40 Pro land on our overall best phones list?
David Lumb

David is now a mobile reporter at Cnet. Formerly Mobile Editor, US for TechRadar, he covered phones, tablets, and wearables. He still thinks the iPhone 4 is the best-looking smartphone ever made. He's most interested in technology, gaming and culture – and where they overlap and change our lives. His current beat explores how our on-the-go existence is affected by new gadgets, carrier coverage expansions, and corporate strategy shifts.