Huawei P40 vs Huawei P40 Pro

Huawei's popular P Series is back for 2020, with the flagship P40 range. Following tradition, you can expect an array of outstanding cameras and features in the range, alongside plenty more cutting-edge tech.

We place the Huawei P40 and the Huawei P40 Pro side-by-side, to help you figure out which Huawei handset is right for you.

Huawei P40 vs Huawei P40 Pro Design and Display

Crafted from a combination of metal and glass, and sporting an elegant refractive matte finish, an eye-catching design is guaranteed whether you choose the Huawei P40 or the Huawei P40 Pro. At first glance, the two smartphones look very similar, but there are a number of notable differences to consider.

First up, the display. Both the Huawei P40 and the P40 Pro have an on-screen fingerprint scanner, as well as punch-hole notch on the top-left corner that discreetly houses the front-facing camera. By removing physical buttons and minimising screen interruptions, Huawei ensures a fantastic screen-to-body ratio on either phone. The P40 Pro, however, has an Overflow Display - if you look closely, you'll notice the screen curves right the way around the edges, offering an even more cinematic viewing experience with seamless barely-there bezels.

There's a difference in display size too. The P40 is the smaller of the duo, with a 6.1-inch screen while the P40 Pro has a larger 6.58-inch screen. Both use OLED technology and feature a Full HD resolution, but the P40 Pro has a faster 90Hz refresh rate (compared to the P40's 60Ghz) - which means even faster response times for gamers.

Both handsets are splash, water and dust resistant, making them durable as well as stylish. The P40 has an IP53 rating, while the P40 Pro has an IP68 rating - meaning you can submerge it in water that's up to 1.5m deep for 30 minutes without incurring any damage.

The final difference is weight. As you'd expect, the smaller P40 is lighter at 175g while the P40 Pro weighs 209g - both are sure to feel great in the hand.

Huawei P40 vs Huawei P40 Cameras

In true Huawei tradition, you can expect a lot from both cameras. Starting with the premium P40 Pro, you'll find an Ultra Vision Leica Quad Camera on the rear, which showcases an impressive 50MP SuperSensing main camera, 40MP ultra-wide Cine Camera, 12MP telephoto camera and a 3D Depth Sensing camera.

The Huawei P40 Pro's quad-lens camera setup has everything you need to shoot with absolute clarity, be it day or night. The 50MP main camera includes an innovative 1/1.28-inch sensor that's designed to take in an impressive amount of light, ensuring the finest details are captured even in the darkest conditions. The 40MP Cine Camera is unique to the P40 Pro too, and can do so much more than take pictures with an ultra-wide field of view. The camera is key for delivering ultra slow-motion video, alongside telephoto video and the P40 Pro's 4K timelapse video feature.

The third lens - the 3D Depth Sensing Camera - is an essential for recreating a professional bokeh effect too, especially in Portrait mode, and the final 12MP telephoto camera is responsible for the handset's brilliant zoom abilities: you'll find a 5x Optical Zoom, 10x Hybrid Zoom and huge 50x Max Zoom on board. Even if you're shooting at a distance, you can rest assured the P40 Pro quality will be second-to-none.

The more affordable Huawei P40 has an Ultra Vision Leica Triple Camera installed, and while it loses the 3D Depth Sensing Camera, it shares many of the P40 Pro's best features. This includes an identical 50MP main camera with a 1/1.28-inch sensor and an ultra-wide lens, which measures a slightly lower 16MP. The P40's 8MP telephoto lens is also designed to offer 3x Optical Zoom, 5x Hybrid Zoom and 30x Max Zoom.

Whether it's four or three lenses you'd prefer, you will be able to benefit from Huawei's exciting AI Golden Snap editing features on both the P40 and P40 Pro. Golden Snap AI Best Moment will take a live photo for you, before selecting the best one to three frames for you to choose as your final image, while Golden Snap AI Remove Passersby can quite literally remove people and unwanted objects from the background of an image. Golden Snap AI Remove Reflection operates in a similar way, utilising the P40 range's ability to capture images with multiple layers to rid shots of pesky light reflections.

As for selfies, the Huawei P40 features a single-lens 32MP front-facing camera, while the P40 Pro has an additional IR depth camera to upgrade the P40 Pro's bokeh offering - if portraits are your thing, the advanced upgrade is certainly worth considering.

Huawei P40 vs Huawei P40 Pro Power

Whether you go for the Huawei P40 or the Huawei P40 Pro, you'll be getting your hands on a 5G-ready handset. Ensuring you can make the most of ground-breaking download and network speeds, alongside reduced latency times, both handsets can connect to the 5G network whenever it's in a supported area.

The core of the P40 and P40 Pro is essentially identical: you've got a cutting-edge Kirin 990 5G chipset, Mali-G76 MP16 GPU (an advanced graphics processing unit) and the Huawei XD Fusion Engine, which promises an efficient and powerful performance, even when you're carrying out demanding tasks - like making the most of the P40 and P40 Pro's AI camera features. The only real difference comes down to internal stroage: you'll have 128GB on the P40 and 256GB on the P40 Pro. However, with a microSD card (sold separately), you can bump the storage by an up to an additional 256GB.

Huawei P40 vs Huawei P40 Pro Features

You'll also find EMUI 10.1 on both phones, which is based on Android 10. You won't find any Google features here however, Huawei has its own app store for you to use, alongside a huge selection of Huawei-exclusive features and a minimalistic interface.

One of Huawei's biggest features arriving on the P40 and P40 Pro is Celia - Huawei's new intelligent assistant. Celia is there to help with anything you need, whether it's sending a text hands-free, searching the web for a recipe for dinner or just checking the weather.

When combined with the P40 or P40 Pro's camera, however, you'll discover a whole new variety of Celia capabilities. You can translate text into a language of your choice, learn more about an object (be it a plant, restaurant or anything else you can think of) and so much more.

You'll also find MeeTime across both phones, which ensures you can make HD video calls even if you're facing weak network conditions or a low-light environment. Huawei Share, meanwhile, makes transferring files between Huawei phones, laptops, tablets and third-party printers simple (all you need to do is tap a compatible device).

Huawei P40 vs Huawei P40 Pro Battery

All-day power isn't an issue for the Huawei P40 or the Huawei P40 Pro - they're built with batteries that'll last. The P40 arrives with a 3,800mAh battry with 22.5W fast charging, while the P40 Pro has an even bigger battery of 4,200mAh with 40W fast charging to ensure it can fully support the handset's larger screen and quad-lens camera system.

Both phones can also be powered up wirelessly, however you'll need a Huawei Wireless Charging Case (sold separately) to do this with the P40. The case isn't required on the P40 Pro - just pop it onto any Qi-compatible charger.