Huawei held a press conference today in Paris. And the company just unveiled its brand new flagship phone — the P30 and the P30 Pro. In many ways, this year’s update is a continuation of the P20 series — but everything has been upgraded. I played with both devices for a bit of time yesterday, here’s my experience.
While Huawei’s sub-brand Honor has switched to a hole-punch design, Huawei is keeping the good old notch for its flagship device. But this year’s notch is a lot smaller. The company has switched from an iPhone X-like notch to a tiny little teardrop notch. The P20 and P20 Pro were the last flagship phones to feature a fingerprint sensor below the display, on the front of the device. With the P30 series, Huawei is removing that odd-looking bezel and integrating the fingerprint sensor in the display. The company could have used that opportunity to make the phones smaller. But Huawei opted for taller displays instead. The P20 and P20 Pro had 5.8-inch and 6.1-inch displays with a 18.7:9 aspect ratio. The P30 and P30 Pro have gigantic 6.1-inch and 6.47-inch displays with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The P30 Pro is still narrower than the iPhone XR, but it won’t be for everyone. It definitely feels too big in my hand for instance. The industrial design of the P30 series is in line with the P20 series. The phones feature a glass on the back with colorful gradients. The frame is made of aluminum. Overall, the devices feel slimmer on the edges thanks to curved back and front glasses. The company has flattened the top and bottom edges of the devices as well. Everything feels solid in your hand. The P30 and P30 Pro are now closer when it comes to features. They both have an OLED display with a 2340*1080 resolution for instance. You no longer have to choose between an LCD and an OLED display. The two biggest differences you can spot is that the P30 Pro has a Samsung-style display, slightly curved on the sides — the P30 displays is completely flat. Huawei is also bringing back the headphone jack, but only for the P30. It doesn’t really make sense to segment the lineup this way, but maybe Huawei considers you have enough money to buy wireless earbuds if you’re in the market for a P30 Pro. Both devices come in five colors — Breathing Crystal, Amber Sunrise, Perl White, Black and Aurora. Amber Sunrise is a red to orange gradient color, Breathing Crystal is a white-to-purple gradient, Perl White is a white-to-slightly pink gradient, Aurora is a blue-to-turquoise gradient. You’ll be able to buy the P30 for €799 ($900) with 128GB of storage and the P30 Pro for €999 ($1,130) for 128GB of storage — there are more expensive options for the P30 Pro with more storage. The phones will be available in Europe and Asia today, and probably won’t be released in the U.S.Four camera sensors, because why not
When it comes to cameras, Huawei has always been one of the leading smartphone manufacturers on this front. There are only four brands that ship cameras that perform so well — Apple, Samsung, Google and Huawei. It’s going to be hard to comment on the quality of the photos after so little hands-on time, but the P30 Pro now features not one, not two, not three but f-o-u-r sensors on the back of the device.- The main camera is a 40 MP 27mm sensor with an f/1.6 aperture and optical image stabilization.
- There’s a 20MP ultra-wide angle lens (16mm) with an f/2.2 aperture.
- The 8 MP telephoto lens provides nearly 5x optical zoom compared to the main lens (125mm) with an f/3.4 aperture and optical image stabilization.
- There’s a new time-of-flight sensor below the flash of the P30 Pro. The phone projects infrared light and captures the reflection with this new sensor.
- A 40 MP main sensor with an f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization.
- A 16 MP ultra-wide angle lens with an f/2.2 aperture.
- An 8 MP telephoto lens that should provide 3x optical zoom.
- No time-of-flight sensor.