Huawei P50 series: Here's everything we know so far
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Huawei recently lost its crown as China’s largest smartphone brand to archrival Oppo. This is just one of the many setbacks the Chinese telecommunications major has suffered in the past two years. In spite of the many stumbling blocks, the company has managed to continue launching its highly acclaimed flagship-grade Mate and P Series devices. In fact, we already know that Huawei plans to launch its next-generation camera-focused devices under the Huawei P50 series late this year.
The purpose of this hub article is to keep you apprised about all the rumours and developments surrounding the Huawei P50 series. This article, like all our other hub articles, will eventually be transformed into an official launch article once the product is finally launched. Until then, keep checking back to see regular updates about the Huawei P50 series right here!
As the norm is with hub articles, you will find the latest updates at the top while the older ones will be further down the order.
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Huawei P50 images leak
On March 12, 2021, popular leakster Steve Hemmerstoffer who goes by @Onleaks, released images of what he says is that of the Huawei P50. These images were leaked just one day after Steve had also posted images of the more expensive Huawei P50 Pro variant. Like the P50 Pro, the Huawei P50 will also get a glass rear panel surrounded by a metal frame. The design language is similar to that of the P50 Pro (we have pictures below). At the same time, however, it is less flashy than the P50 Pro.
The Huawei P50 is rumoured to get a 6.3-inch flat display and has a relatively thicker chin compare to the P50 Pro. It has a massive camera bump - just like on the P50 Pro. The metal frame is less curvy, which seems to be a deliberate attempt to make it look less premium. The rumoured dimensions are: 156.7 x 74 x 8.3mm (10.6mm with the rear camera bump), thereby making it larger than the previous generation Huawei P40 Pro which measured at 148.9 x 71.06 x 8.5mm.
Like with the P50 Pro, the P50 also gets a single front-facing ‘punch hole’ camera. There is still no word about the sensor used on the rear cameras, but the large bump does indicate the possibility of a large sensor. It remains to be seen if the P50 also gets the rumoured Sony IMX 800 1-inch sensor. An in-display fingerprint sensor is confirmed.
Like the P50 Pro, the vanilla P50 will also get a quad-speaker setup with twin speakers at the top and twin speakers at the bottom.
Huawei P50 Pro images leak
On March 11, 2021, @Onleaks posted what is arguably the first-ever images of the Huawei P50 Pro. This is the more expensive device of the two devices in the P50 series. Here are the key points we deduced from the Huawei P50 Pro leak.
From the images, it is evident that the Huawei P50 Pro features a premium glass-clad rear panel. This glass is surrounded by a metal frame with a flat-edged top and bottom. The phone is larger than the P50, and the dimensions are:159 x 73 x 8.6mm (10.3mm with the rear camera bump). The design language of the rear panel, according to Steve, is more reminiscent of the Huawei P30 and Mate 30 series than that of the P40 series.
Steve also adds that the Huawei P50 Pro will come with a 6.6-inch display and that this display will sport curved edges. As the case is with the P50, this phone will also get by with a single selfie camera nestled within a punch hole located at the top centre of the display. The Huawei P50 Pro will also boast extremely thin bezels in addition to a slim chin.
As for the main cameras, which has been at the centre of attention on previous P Series devices, we only know that the P50 Pro gets a massive camera bump. Details regarding the number of cameras, the sensors that will be used, and other juicier bits continue to remain under wraps now. But judging by the look of that massive camera bump, we are sure you will not be surprised if the P50 Pro does feature totally outrageous camera specs.
Other key takeaways from Steve’s recent leak is that
- The P50 Pro will get an in-display fingerprint sensor
- The phone will get a quad-speaker setup consisting of two speakers at the top and two at the bottom
- An IR blaster has also been provided
Huawei P50 series expected hardware specs
Still reeling under the US imposed sanctions, it remains to be seen what route Huawei takes with the Huawei P50 series when it comes to the processors. Traditionally, the P50 series use the same hardware as the Mate series, which follow a different launch cycle and are typically launched several months before the P Series.
We can, therefore, assume that the phone will use the same 5G capable chip - the Kirin 9000 - as we saw on the Mate 40 Pro. Since Huawei cannot work with its chip supplier TSMC anymore, the Kirin 9000 might just be the last flagship-grade chipset from the company in the current scenario. There have been reports which indicate that Huawei can still work with TSMC to make enough Kirin 9000s to keep its flagship series devices up and running. We can also expect all phones on the P50 series to feature uber-fast RAM and 128/256GB storage options, depending on the variants you buy.
Software: What about Android and Google services?
There have been several reports which indicate that in 2021, Huawei will finally make a switch to its own operating system - HarmonyOS. We still do not know if this will really end up being true because Huawei has maintained a stoic silence over the development and the current status of this operating system.
But here is no doubt that Huawei has made significant strides in the development of HarmonyOS. In fact, Huawei also released a developer beta of the platform to developers back in December 2020.
We still do not know if the P50 series will indeed get HarnonyOS or if Huawei would rather opt for EMUI 11, which is based on Android but come sans Google services.
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