Huawei recently launched the new Mate 40 series which comprises three models: a standard variant, Pro model, and Pro Plus. Thanks to a preview session organised by the brand, I was given the opportunity to try the Pro version of the new phone prior to the launch. Here’s a quick look at Huawei’s latest flagship smartphone offering for 2020.
At first glance, the Mate 40 Pro’s curved FHD+ display looks almost identical to Huawei’s earlier flagship, the P40 Pro. Similarly, it also features a 90Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate and a pill-shaped dual camera cutout on the top left corner. The major difference between the two is the Mate’s larger screen, which measures at 6.76-inches and comes with a FHD+ resolution of 2772 x 1344 pixels.
The phone’s rear design is indeed attractive, thanks to the frosted metallic finish for its casing – especially the Mystic Silver colour that was provided to me for testing. Like its predecessor, the new Huawei Mate 40 Pro features a circular island for its rear camera setup. But rather than a simple black circle, its cameras are now arranged in a halo-like layout known as the “Space Ring”. A minor but much needed design improvement, in my opinion.
Due to the limited time I had with the phone, I wasn’t able to fully test the Mate 40 Pro’s overall performance – especially in terms of internal hardware and battery life. To recap, the phone is equipped with a Kirin 9000 chipset, 8GB RAM, 256GB of internal storage, and a battery capacity of 4,400mAh. The new handset runs on EMUI 11 (based on Android 10), which is built around the Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) ecosystem.
That said, I did spend some time sampling the Huawei Mate 40 Pro’s photography capabilities. Its 50MP main shooter delivered impressive results, where photos showcased vibrant colours and clear details. The same can be said for its telephoto lens which offers optical zooming capabilities of up to 7x, allowing for more details to be preserved when shooting faraway subjects. Going beyond its optical zoom limit will enable it to kick in the hybrid zooming technology at up to 10x, and going further than that will be done digitally at up to 50x.
The Huawei Mate 40 Pro has plenty more to offer in terms of performance, photography and even video recording. Hopefully, I’ll be able to share with you a more in-depth look at these in a full review. Huawei has yet to reveal the release date and pricing for the new Mate 40 series in Malaysia, but it is expected that an announcement will be made sometime soon.
