The dual-flagship series approach has brought us a constant stream of competition and innovation. Whereas we used to have to wait a year for the big boys to outdo themselves, we now get state of the art tech gushing in twice a year. This news cycle, Huawei Mate 40 Pro is the main attraction with its siblings ably deputising.
Huawei have faced a huge deal of adversity in the face of the Trump embargo and US lobbying against their allies using Huawei more mature, objectively superior 5G technology. Despite this, the Shenzhen powerhouse has managed to stay competitive on the hardware front while playing catch-up when it comes to software.
Established Visual Mark
Huawei introduced Mate 40 Pro by placing it in context of previous Mate designs. The rear symmetry and use of the main camera arrangement as a macro detail centrepiece are plainly visible. As is the refinement of the circular camera surround of Huawei Mate 30 Pro – this time dubbed the ‘Space Ring’.
Mate 40 Pro’s colours and mix of decals is, again, bold. Of the bunch, ‘Yellow’, with its pearlescent inlay is the most striking; it’s certainly a confident look. The other eye-catcher is Mystic Silver which shares reminds us of Matte Grey Huawei P40 Pro and Breathing Crystal P30 Pro.
The front is dominated by the ‘Horizon’ display which helps the Mate 40 Pro achieve a screen-to-body ratio of 94.1%. The Horizon display is mostly flate before falling off at 88 degrees.
The AMOLED 1334×2772 screen sees the pill-shaped notch borrowed from Huawei P40 Pro but reduced greatly in size. An easier pill to swallow for sure.
Design Changes and Rearrangements
One of the more radical design features of Mate 30 Pro has been omitted here. The touch volume control is gone – thankfully – replaced with the good volume rocker.
The placement of the power button and the prodigal rocker are in the same three-quarters rear location of Mate 30 Pro. It looks like it should be awkward but is easy to find and use after a brief period.
The aforementioned pill notch is much smaller than the receding notchline of the Mate 30 Pro.
We finally get stereo chassis speakers in a flagship Huawei device. The previous mono arrangement had its merits but stereo was always a better choice at it catered for the important and common need to enjoy movies and TV anywhere. The woofer-tweeter could only do so much for frequency response, most people would prefer to use an external speaker for a fatter sound.
Centred on Innovation
The HiSilicon Kirin 9000 at the heart of Huawei Mate 40 Pro is the world’s first five nanometre (5nm) 5G system-on-a-chip. For those who don’t know, smaller process chips are more powerful and more power efficient than larger ones and placing the 5G module directly on the chip apparently reduces latency.
Kirin 9000’s CPU is over 30% more powerful than the already-beefy Kirin 990 5G. Its GPU is over 50% more powerful – no doubt necessary for the increases in resolution and refresh rate over last year’s Mate 30 Pro.
Once Again, a Huawei Camera is Superb
The periscope zoom that was pioneered by Huawei returns – Mate 40 Pro features a 5x optical zoom. Additions and improvements to the DxOMARK-topping video and photo capture include the frankly amazing tracking shot and Cine Mode with the second gen. of XD Fusion HDR mode.
Tracking shot pans, zooms and otherwise follows a moving subject across the phone’s field of view without moving the device or controlling it after the initial selection. Cine Mode leverages AI and the sensors’ huge dynamic range to deliver professional-looking video no matter what the situation. Backlit video performance has seen a significant leap.
What Sort of Sorcery is This???
The most impressive feature of Mate 40 Pro has to be the wireless charging capability. A huge 50W wireless charge facility is available – that’s a faster wireless charge than many devices can manage while using a cable. Incredibly, Mate 40 Pro’s wireless charging is even faster Mate 30 Pro’s wired charging.
Huawei Mate 40 Pro features an ‘eyes-on’ display mode that detects when the user is looking at their device. It’s an elegant solution to a decade-old problem. No more scrolling just to keep the screen on. No more always-on displays nibbling on your battery.
Specifications
| Chipset: | HiSilicon Kirin 9000 5G, 5nm |
| CPU: | Octo-core 1xCortex-A77 3.13GHz 3xCortex-A77 2.54GHz 4xCortex-A55 2.05GHz |
| Memory: | 8GB RAM; 256GB ROM |
| Display: | 6.76”; 1344×2772 OLED; 90Hz; 19.5:9, 240Hz touch sampling rate |
| Rear Camera: | Quad Lens w/Leica optics – 50MP Ultra Vision, wide angle, f/1.9 – 20MP Cine Camera, ultra-wide angle, f/1.8 – 12MP Telephoto w/periscope, f/3.4, OIS, support AF – Laser Sensor |
| Video: | 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240/480fps, 720p@960fps, 720p@3840fps, gyro-EIS, HDR |
| Front Camera: | 13MP Ultra Vision (Wide Angle f/2.4), 3D Depth Sensing Sensing |
| OS Version: | Android 10.0, EMUI 11 |
| Connectivity: | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band; Bluetooth 5.2, A2DP, LE |
| Battery: | 4,400mAh Li-Po |
| Dimensions: | 162.9mm x 75.5mm x 9.1mm |
| Colours: | Mystic Silver, White, Black, Green, Yellow |
Your Other Mates
Huawei’s take on the now standard multiple versions is interesting. Both Mate 40 Pro and Mate 40 Pro+ are the same size, boasting 6.76″ screen diagonals. They have the same 4,400mAh battery, Kirin 9000 5nm 5G SoC. The difference is mostly in the camera and the relatively minor €200 price difference reflects that.
While Huawei Mate 40 is not much smaller at 6.5″. It uses a modified Kirin 9000 chipset, the Kirin 9000E. 9000E has the same CPU but a slightly lesser GPU to complement the the slightly lower screen resolution.
Huawei Mate 40 Pro launches worldwide on 1st November 2020
