Uswitch comment on the launch of Huawei Mate 40

Ru Bhikha, mobiles expert at Uswitch.com, commented:

“A year is a long time in the evolution of a smartphone, and when Huawei launched the Mate 30 last September we were all talking about how the Chinese manufacturer would cope with the absence of Google apps.

“Huawei showed its fighting spirit last night as it unveiled its own Petal maps app to replace the Google version, and the difficulty of this achievement should not be underestimated.

“Four models of the Mate 40 were unveiled, but we’re expecting only one to go on sale in the UK, the Mate 40 Pro, set to cost about £1,100.  

“The 6.8-inch screen - close to being one of the largest on the market - has a 90Hz refresh rate, making the browsing experience smooth as melted butter, and trumping the iPhone 12’s 60Hz display.

“The rear camera set-up is impressive, with three lenses, including a 50MP main snapper, a 20MP ultrawide, and a 12MP periscope widget, which lets it zoom in without the rig protruding from the camera body.

“Huawei is never far from the news, and the current topic of debate is what the manufacturer will do when it runs out of the powerful processor chips it has been banned from buying by a United States decree.

“The Huawei Mate 40 Pro joins the ranks of super-premium devices packed with technical wizardry, but the question remains: who will spend £1,000-plus on a phone without Google apps?”