Huawei P50 Pro and P50 Pocket are finally launching in more countries

A Huawei P50 Pocket in gold
A Huawei P50 Pocket (Image credit: Huawei)

The Huawei P50 Pro isn’t a new phone. In fact, it was announced all the way back in July, but if you’re not in China then you can’t easily buy it - that’s about to change though, with the more recent Huawei P50 Pocket also set to get a wider launch soon.

Huawei Malaysia’s Twitter account has shared that both phones will be unveiled for the country on January 12, and while we doubt many of our readers are in Malaysia, a launch there could mean we’ll soon start seeing the P50 Pro and P50 Pocket in other countries too.

However, we wouldn’t count on necessarily being able to buy them in the UK or Australia, or even maybe outside Asia. Certainly, you’re not going to be able to buy them in the US, thanks to the ongoing Huawei ban.

But the Huawei P40 did land in the UK and Australia so there’s hope for these phones too, we just can't be certain until there’s more concrete news, especially as the Huawei P50 Pro is getting on a bit now, and the Huawei P50 Pocket is likely to be rather niche.

The news of this Malaysian launch did come with another interesting detail though, as the Huawei P50 Pocket will run EMUI 12, meaning Android without the Google apps and services.

That’s a big shift from the Chinese model, which runs Huawei’s own HarmonyOS 2. If these phones launch elsewhere, we’d think there’s a good chance EMUI 12 will be used in other regions too.


Two Huawei P50 Pro models from the back, against a black background

A Huawei P50 Pro (Image credit: Huawei)

Analysis: why you should care about the Huawei P50 Pro and P50 Pocket

While it’s too early to say for sure whether you’ll soon be able to buy these phones outside of China and now Malaysia, there are lots of reasons to want them.

Beyond typically top-end specs like a 6.6-inch 1228 x 2700 screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, the Huawei P50 Pro really looks to stand out with its cameras, which include a 50MP main snapper, a 13MP ultra-wide, a 40MP monochrome, and a 64MP telephoto, with 3.5x optical zoom and 200x digital zoom.

Huawei often packs some of the best imaging options available into its flagship phones, so these are likely to perform well.

As for the Huawei P50 Pocket, that’s a stylish foldable phone that could give the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 a run for its money, and has an even more interesting camera setup.

This includes a 40MP main camera, a 13MP ultra-wide one which doubles up as a macro snapper, and a 32MP ‘super spectrum’ camera, which allows for fluorescent photography – capturing details that the human eye can’t ordinarily see.

Via GSMArena

James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.