Huawei P50 series sees official launch in China

(Pocket-lint) – Huawei has announced the Huawei P50 and P50 Pro at an event in China, unleashing its latest flagship smartphone on the world.

Prior to launch we’d seen that big camera array on the rear of the phone and now that’s been fully revealed, with two big openings containing an array of lenses, sensors and flashes.

That’s what’s really going to standout on this phone, as big cameras are here to stay. Huawei wants to boost the camera experience with what it’s calling Huawei XD Optics, along with the XD Fusion Pro Image Engine, which is says does more to bring you true to life colours, restore lost detail and give you better results.

Sticking to the cameras, let’s run down that Huawei has equipped the P50 Pro with. There’s a 50-megapixel main camera, f/1.8 with OIS, supported by a 40-megapixel monochrome camera.

Then there’s a 13-megapixel ultrawide camera and finally the 64-megapixel telephoto, with 3.5mm optical zoom and a maximum 100x digital zoom.

There’s a single 13-megapixel selfie camera in a punchhole in the display.

That display is a 6.6-inch OLED, with 120Hz refresh rate and 300Hz touch sampling, with a 2700 x 1228 pixel resolution. It curves towards the edges.

Sitting at the heart of the phone is the Kirin 9000, although it appears that there will also be a Snapdragon 888 version. We’re not sure exactly what you’ll get where.

There will be 8GB RAM with 128/256/512GB storage options, with NM card support. There will also be 12GB RAM version with 512GB.

The battery capacity is 4360mAh with 66W wired charging and 50W wireless charging, although you’ll have to buy those chargers separately to get those speeds.

Moving on to the Huawei P50, this is a smaller device, with a flat OLED display rather than curved, measuring 6.5-inches and with a 90Hz refresh rate. It has the same 2700 x 1224 pixel resolution.

It’s powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, again with 8GB RAM and 128/256GB storage options and support for NM cards.

There’s one less sensor on the back – with the monochrome sensor dropped – leaving you with a 50-megapixel main camera, 13-megapixel ultrawide camera and 12-megapixel telephoto, offering 5x optical zoom and digital zoom to 50x – so a totally different telephoto arrangement too.

Both phones run HarmonyOS 2 and both have an IP68 rating.

So far we only have the details from the Chinese website and there’s no mention of 5G, we also don’t know what the international release might look like or the prices – but we’ll update as soon as we know.

Writing by Chris Hall. Originally published on 29 July 2021.