Huawei has initiated the process for customers to express their interest in an upcoming smartphone model without revealing any details about it.
However, this move has sparked excitement and speculation that the next iteration of its premium P series phones is soon to be released.
Last year, the Mate 60 series marked the company’s return to the high-end smartphone market, a move praised by state media as a victory against U.S. sanctions. However, this launch is also held responsible for a significant drop in iPhone sales in China.
There has been growing speculation in recent months regarding Huawei’s imminent release of the P70. It is anticipated that this device, similar to the Mate 60, will incorporate a cutting-edge chip manufactured in China.
Huawei’s P series is renowned for its cutting-edge cameras and elegant aesthetics, whereas the Mate series, which is also a premium offering, prioritizes exceptional performance and incorporates business-centric functionalities.
More Details About The Incoming Smartphone
Huawei’s new flagship P70 smartphones are now available for pre-order subscription at some stores in China, and an industry analyst said that the new series will likely kick off its sales very soon.
Huawei held a spring product launch event online during which several new products including its MateBook X Pro 2024 laptop and FreeBuds Lipstick 2 earbuds alongside more details about HarmonyOS Next were launched, but the much anticipated P70 series remained absent.
READ MORE: LemFi Suspends Ghana Operations, Here’s Why
A manager who was identified as Li at a Huawei dealership shop in Guangzhou City, South China’s Guangdong Province, told the Global Times on Thursday the formal launch date for the P70 series remains unknown, but consumers can register with a deposit of 1,000 yuan ($138.2) to pre-order the device.
Li, who declined to be fully named said the smartphone hasn’t been released yet, and predicted that the P70 series will likely encompass three smartphone models — P70, P70 Pro, and P70 Art. Their prices may be similar to the Mate 60 series, according to Li.
A Sneak Peak Into What It Looks Like
Luckily, a new spy shot of what appears to be the back plate of the P70 made rounds across Chinese social media Weibo. and it appears to feature matte AG glass while the camera island gets a glossy finish.
The three cameras are placed in a somewhat symmetrical triangle formation, with the biggest ring likely housing the primary 50MP camera, while the other two are telephoto and ultrawide units. The horizontal opening is likely reserved for the dual-tone LED flash, or an LED flash and autofocus-aiding laser combo.
The main camera will likely use a 50MP OmniVision OV50H sensor paired with variable aperture, whereas the ultrawide will employ the 50MP Sony IMX989 shooter. The telephoto camera is also said to be 50MP with 4x optical zoom.
Lovers of Huawei anticipate the release of four Huawei P70 models, including the standard P70, Pro, Pro+, and Art variants. Leaks suggest that the P70 will feature a 6.56-inch quad-curved LTPO OLED display with a 1.5K resolution, while the other three models will have a larger 6.76-inch screen size.
P70 and P70 Pro are rumored to feature OmniVision’s 50MP OV50H main sensor with a 1/1.3″ sensor size, 1.2µm pixels, and a variable aperture. P70 Pro+ and P70 Art may go for the 1-inch IMX989 instead. All four new P70 series phones are expected to run on the yet-to-be-announced Kirin 9010 chip.
What You Should Know
In 2019, the U.S. under former President Donald Trump put Huawei on a blacklist that restricts the ability of American companies to sell to the Chinese telecommunications giant.
That includes licensed access to the latest versions of Google’s Android operating system.
Huawei instead released its system, called Harmony OS. Few months later, the company announced the latest version of that operating system and claims it was downloaded over one million times in three days.
