Huawei Mate 40 Pro: Specs and Review

Huawei was actually doing well on the way to replacing Samsung as the market leader. Then Donald Trump came along and imposed a ban on the Chinese company, which prohibited US companies from working with companies like Huawei. As a result, not only has the hardware become scarce, but Huawei smartphones have not had any Google services on board for some time. 

This has a strong effect on the everyday use of the models, because the majority of Android users are used to accessing the free Google apps such as Maps, Mail or Pay. Since the Google services also include payment and location services, among other things, there are now quite a few alternative apps in the Huawei app store, the app gallery, but not all of them work without problems and many users are not even ready to.

This has already happened to many very good Huawei smartphones such as the Huawei P40 Pro or the expensive but excellent Huawei Mate Xs  to doom. In the meantime, Huawei is even separating from its daughter Honor, who is also affected by the ban. All the more astonishing is the stubbornness with which Huawei launches one smartphone after the other as planned – always without Google services and always in the knowledge that many interested parties will be put off by this.

The most recent example is the Mate 40 Pro. The Mate series traditionally goes on sale at the end of the year and combines the best technology of the year with completely new technology for the coming year. As a result, you can probably expect a great smartphone again in terms of hardware, which is slowed down by software restrictions. Or is it different this time?

Design – indescribably high quality & beautiful

Huawei Mate 40 Pro: Our rating for Design = 8.3/10

Looking at Huawei smartphones from the past, such as the Mate 30 Pro or the P40 Pro , while they were quite large, they were still within the bounds and thus smaller than the trend of other smartphones, which also made them high-quality. However, that changed with the Mate 40 Pro. With dimensions of 75.5 mm in width, 9.1 mm in thickness and a weight of 212 grams, it doesn’t differ much from other big flagships. One-handed operation is almost impossible.

The frame of the smartphone is made of aluminum with a high-gloss finish, which feels very high-quality. However, it is extremely thin because the display curves backwards by around 90 degrees in a large edge. It is also called “waterfall display”. This ensures that you can impress people and the design looks extremely high quality and expensive.

In addition, you can adjust the volume on both sides with a double tap via a faded-in controller, which I really like to use in everyday life and found it to be much more practical than the regular volume control with buttons. Unlike the predecessor, these are still there. As beautiful and impressive as the waterfall display looks, you have to make do with visible discolorations in everyday life when looking at the screen from the front.

Camera – very good despite setbacks

Huawei Mate 40 Pro: Our rating for Camera = 9.0/10

If Huawei can do one thing, it’s smartphone cameras. The Chinese company has earned this reputation with models like the Huawei P20 Pro (test report) , Huawei P30 Pro (test report) and P40 Pro (test report) have substantiated it. In addition to the P series, the Mate series has always offered top optics in the past and that is no different with the new Mate 40 Pro.

For this, the manufacturer relies on an Ultra Vision main camera with 50 megapixels and f/1.9 aperture, plus a Vine wide-angle with 20 megapixels and f/1.8 and a telephoto lens with 5x optical magnification, 12 megapixels and f/3.4 .

The main camera and telephoto are optically image stabilized (OIS). At the front, in the large punchhole notch, there is a selfie cam with 13 megapixels (f/2.4) and a 3D depth sensor. Huawei does without bells and whistles such as an additional depth or macro sensor.

Huawei Mate 40 Pro: Screen

Huawei Mate 40 Pro: Our Rating for Screen= 8.8/10

Of course, an extremely large screen is used in the Mate 40 Pro. The 6.76-inch screen has an OLED panel, includes HDR10 support and supports a 90Hz refresh rate. You can change the screen refresh rate between 60Hz or 90Hz, as well as the screen resolution. The native resolution of the screen is 1344×2772 pixels.

The Mate 30 Pro also had a notch on the screen, but it was positioned right in the middle of the screen. On the Mate 40 Pro, this area is shifted to the left of the screen. Here we see that there are dual cameras, we will talk about the details.

Thanks to the curved screen edges of the Mate 40 Pro, you have a wide viewing area. This screen is not only big, it also looks very beautiful. The use of OLED panel and HDR technology together displays the colors in a very vivid and saturated way, while the maximum brightness of the screen is quite high.

Huawei Mate 40 Pro – SPECIFICATIONS

General

• ModelHuawei Mate 40 Pro
• ReleasedOctober, 2020
• StatusAvailable

Design

• TypeBar
• Dimensions162.9 x 75.5 x 9.1 mm
• Weight212 Grams
• WaterproofIP68 dust/water resistant

Display

• Display TypeOLED
• Size6.76 inches
• Resolution1344 x 2772 pixels
• Display Colors16M Colors
• Pixel Density456 ppi (pixels per inch)
• Touch ScreenYes
• FeaturesHDR10+
  90Hz

Hardware

• CPUOcta-core (1×3.13 GHz Cortex-A77 + 3×2.54 GHz Cortex-A77 + 4×2.05 GHz Cortex-A55)
• GPUMali-G78 MP24
• RAM (Memory)8 GB
• Internal Storage256 GB
• Memory Card SlotNM (Nano Memory), up to 256GB (uses shared SIM slot)
• SensorsFace ID, fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, barometer, compass, color spectrum

Software

• Operating SystemAndroid 10 + EMUI 11 (no Google Play Services)
• User InterfaceYes

Camera

• Rear Camera50 MP (wide) omnidirectional + 12 MP (periscope telephoto) optical zoom + 20 MP (ultrawide)
• Image2160p
• Video4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240/480fps, 720p@960fps, 720p@3840fps, HDR, gyro-EIS
• FlashLeica optics, LED flash, panorama, HDR
• Front Camera13 MP (wide) + TOF 3D (depth/biometrics sensor)

Network

• SIMNano SIM
• Dual SIMSingle SIM (Nano-SIM) or Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)

Connectivity

• Wi-fiWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
• USBUSB Type-C 3.1, USB On-The-Go
• GPSYes, with dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS, NavIC
• NFCYes
• Wireless ChargingFast wireless charging 50W + Reverse wireless charging 5W
• Headphone JackNo

Battery

• CapacityLi-Po 4400 mAh + Fast charging 66W + Fast wireless charging 50W+ Reverse wireless charging 5W
• PlacementNon-Removable

Media

• Video PlaybackYes
• Video OutYes
• FM RadioNo
• Ring TonesYes
• LoudspeakerYes
• HandsfreeYes

Data

• 4G LTE1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26, 28, 32, 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42
• 5G NR Bands1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 28, 38, 40, 41, 77, 78, 79, 80, 84 SA/NSA/Sub6
• SpeedHSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A, 5G