The forthcoming Huawei P40 Pro smartphone may not have access to Google services, but it will arrive packing a periscope camera providing a 10x optical zoom, one insider believes.
According to prolific mobile industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Huawei will become the latest firm to add significant lossless zoom technology to the camera array, using the periscope technique.
Kuo says only P40 Pro’s periscope lens will take photos at an 8-megapixel resolution and offer an f/4.0 aperture. It will contain two mirrors and an extended field of view in order to his the high-end zoom capabilities, TF International Security analyst Kuo said in a note to investors first reported by Huawei Central. If the information is accurate, the P40 Pro would be Huawei’s first camera with a 10x optical zoom.
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According to Kuo, the standard edition of the P40 will only have a 5x optical zoom camera, similar to the P30 Pro released earlier this year, which also contained a periscope lens. The analyst reckons that future versions of the high-end Nova, Honor and Mate phones will also get the 5x periscope camera down the line.
In our review of the Huawei P30 Pro, our own Max Parker called the 5x optical zoom lens a ‘standout feature’, so we can expect it to get better again when the P40 Pro arrives in 2020. The launch is expected to take place in March next year, despite the company being unable to ship the handsets with Google apps and services.
The P30 range was also sold without the likes of Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube and the Play Store, due to the ban on American companies dealing directly with Android.
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Regardless, the P40 is expected to arrive rocking the open source version of Android 10, rather than the fledgling, homegrown HarmonyOS.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
