Huawei has been on the verge of being demolished since the Android ban has taken place in which Huawei is not allowed to deal with any of the US companies be it in terms of exchange of technology, components or even services. This restriction has cost Huawei alot to the point that their phones launched after the trade ban are pretty useless if you depend on the Google services, more precisely know as Google Mobile Services (GMS). As Google being an American company. Well, that’s what an Android phone is made up of, Google apps which even includes Play Store and that too is no longer present on recently launched Huawei phones. Now only time will tell if the newly elected US president would revert the changes and if Huawei would once again be able to deal with Google and other US brands for the components it requires in its devices.
Now the point is, should you still buy a Huawei phone despite of no Google services? Most probably not as an Android phone without Google apps and more importantly without the Play Store is a fish without the water. On the hand, Huawei has been working day and night to improve its own in house app store i.e. App Gallery but it hasn’t been working up to the mark so far. Various location based apps like cab/taxis booking, food delivery apps rely on the Google Maps infrastructure which Huawei phones lack these days. These apps simply won’t work until integrated with other maps service.
But that doesn’t stop the brand from launching new phones. Huawei will also use its own operating system – HarmonyOS in phones, IoT products, appliances and even cars from 2021. Huawei recently launched the Huawei Mate 40 series and is now gearing up for the next iteration of its flagship ‘P’ series of smartphones i.e. P50 series in the first half of 2021.
The Huawei P50 will likely come in 3 forms just like last year’s Huawei P40 series. Which means the phones in the P50 series will be namely Huawei P50, Huawei P50 Pro, Huawei P50 Pro Plus and who knows maybe a mid-range too which could be Huawei P50 Lite. Now let’s take a look at what all will be likely make the cut in Huawei P50 series when its released.
1. Pretty Unconventional Camera
The Huawei P40 series had a pretty huge rectangular camera module but that’s all about to change with the Huawei P50 that too in a very different way. As you can see from the image provided by @RODENT950 on Twitter, the camera layout is circular but the chord is chopped off. You don’t see these everyday and after all the Huawei ‘P’ series is all about cameras and photography.
Also another thing to note is the notch. This most likely won’t happen when Huawei P50 is released because in 2020 itself, Huawei’s both P series and Mate series have finally got rid of the notch. Rather huge punch hole cameras have taken place. Similarly, that’s what will make it on the final version of Huawei P50.
A whole new set of cameras would be equipped on the Huawei P50 series. A report from China states that these phones might come with ‘Liquid Lens’. If that’s the case then this tech is finally making its way in smartphones with the P50. Liquid lens is made up of optical liquid metal which can change its shape according to the available lighting and results in highly fast focusing speeds. It can cut the focusing speeds to half then the current smartphones. The liquid lens would be implemented in the telephoto lens of P50 which means for taking close up zooms, it would be blazing fast to focus on the scene. The lens might be the announced Sony IMX782. Liquid lens has been rumored for before Huawei flagships as well but this time its highly likely it will finally make its debut.
2. Display & Design
These set of phones would not be much different from its predecessors Huawei P40 as design and display from the concept renders look pretty similar to last gen phones. This means Huawei will once again retain the quad display which results in curves on all 4 edges of the display. Do note that the top and bottom curves are not as evident as the ones on sides. The OLED displays on Huawei P50 series, which we all know are going to be outstanding as expected and would be supplied from LG and Samsung and these have even acquired a license.
In front you’ll get to see a dual selfie camera, possibly a dual punch hole. Also the volume up/down and power buttons are on the same side. The back, as mentioned above would be highly similar to P40 meaning some variants with glossy finish and some with matte finish.
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3. Uncertain choice of SoCs
Since the US comapnies are forbidden to deal with Huawei, the silicon business of Huawei was too uncertain and not only because of Qualcomm. Well, Huawei doesn’t even use Qualcomm Snapdragons in its flagships. But the problem lies with the manufacturer of its processors i.e. TSMC. TSMC despite being a Taiwan silicon manufacturing company was restricted to supply chips to Huawei due to the fact they use American patented technology to manufacture the chips. But Huawei saw it coming and stocked up HiSilicon Kirin chipsets for its phone from TSMC, or Huawei P50 series in this case. The Kirin chip that would be used on these phone would be Kirin 9000 which also powers the Huawei Mate 40 series. This is a chip based on 5nm architecture resulting in highly great battery life.
For Huawei’s relief, it has been reported that Qualcomm has finally been granted license to deal with Huawei which means in future Qualcomm might be able to deliver semiconductors and processors to Huawei. On the other hand, Huawei would have required to sell of its subsidiary brand Honor and has been done to a tech enterprise of government consisting of several partners which is Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co. Ltd. This also means that Honor is free to do business with other tech partners and the upcoming Honor V40 series will most likely be powered by flagship Mediatek chipsets, presumably Mediatek Dimensity 1000+
Despite all the uncertain situation thrown at Huawei througout the last 2 years, it still stands firm and would sell devices no matter what. This shows how dedicated the brand is towards core mission. The Huawei P50 announcement series is not out yet but as its on track, we can assume it would be a similar timeline like previous launches in this series i.e. March/April of every year. So expect Huawei P50 series to reveal in March or April of 2021.
Should you buy the Huawei P50?
But all this for what when these devices are pretty useless in terms of software usability due to the exclusion of Google Play Store and GMS. So again the question arises, Should you even buy a Huawei phone? Now since brands like Qualcomm and Samsung are finally been granting licences to do business with Huawei, what if all the sanctions are reverted and even Google would be able to provide its services for the Huawei phones. Then once again Huawei phones would be running full fledged Android apps. But there’s bigger concern then that, which is the privacy related concerns with Huawei devices. Afterall that was the reason this ban took place in the US. That Huawei will have to figure out how they’ll gain the trust of the potential customers and doesn’t even matter if the phones run Google services or not, because privacy is to be considered no matter what.
A portion of this article was provided by @dudheyashraj
