The Huawei Mate 9 only came out a few months ago, but in the smartphone race that might as well be ancient history. As a result, all eyes were set on Huawei’s next flagship smartphone which was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. And as is more increasingly common, there are two variants, the Huawei P10 and the Huawei P10 Plus.
“As culture and technology continue to intersect in every aspect of our world, we want to deliver new products and experiences that ultimately improve and enhance life. Our impressive new HUAWEI P10 and HUAWEI P10 Plus weave together the exceptional imaging capabilities of Leica and our stand-out design and hardware innovations to bring users a powerful device experience.”
– Richard Yu, CEO, Huawei Consumer Business Group.
Both, the P10 and the P10 Plus, share the same design and colour schemes. Both phones reportedly take more than 8 minutes per unit for the diamond-cut finish. The Hyper Diamond-Cut finish will be available in Dazzling Blue and Dazzling Gold. Greenery, Rose Gold, Mystic Silver, Graphite Black and Prestige Gold will be available with a sandblast finish, and Ceramic White will be available in high gloss. Naturally, the ceramic white option is merely a colouring scheme and does not actually include ceramic.
The fingerprint sensor is in a new place, the front and just below the display compared to the back of the smartphone, which is where Huawei normally place their fingerprint sensors.Meanwhile, both the P10 and the P10 Plus feature latest Corning Gorilla 5 Glass protection and narrow bezel edges.
They begin to differ when it comes to size, specifically display size. The P10 employs a Full HD (1920×1080) 5.1-inch panel, delivering 432 pixels per inch. Meanwhile, the P10 Plus offers a WQHD (2,560×1,440) 5.5-inch panel, delivering a more resolute 534 pixels per inch. Both panels are IPS LCD, which is a shame since AMOLED would have been more rich, at the cost of being more pricey.
The Leica partnership is still going strong as was seen with the Huawei Mate 9 and that same partnership is seen today with the P10 and the P10 Plus. The Huawei P10 will have a Leica Dual Camera 2.0 (28mm equiv. f/2.2 Summarit lenses). Meanwhile, the Huawei P10 Plus will feature a Leica Dual Camera 2.0 Pro Edition (28mm equiv. f/1.8 Summilux lenses). The Summilux-H lenses have a larger F/1.8 aperture and higher optical capability. As a result, the lenses on the P10 Plus can capture sharp close-ups, quick actions shots and more light in low-light conditions. Both versions feature a 20MP monochrome sensor as well as a 12MP colour sensor, with the monochrome sensor injecting more detail into images. Both smartphones also have a new portrait mode that uses precise 3D facial detection technology, built-in optical image stabilisation and, for the first time ever, a front-facing Leica-engineered camera.The front lens has an 8MP sensor and a F/1.9 Aperture.
When it comes to performance, the Huawei P10 and the Huawei P10 Plus both mimic the Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro. Both smartphones utilise Huawei’s Kirin 960 octa-core chipset, (4x 2.4GHz, 4x 1.8GHz) that comes with a Mali-G71 MP8 GPU. The P10 comes with 4GB of RAM as well as 64GB of storage while the P10 Plus comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. As is expected, battery size is larger on the P10 Plus; 3,750 mAh compared to the P10’s 3,200mAh battery. A USB Type-C port allows for fast charging capabilities. The OS meanwhile is Huawei’s revamped EMUI 5.1.
The P10 Plus has additional features including an IR blaster and 4×4 MIMO connectivity for support of 4.5G networks.
Both smartphones will go on sale in the beginning of March. The Huawei P10 will be available for 649 Euros, while the Huawei P10 Plus (6GB RAM+64GB Storage) will sell for 699 Euros. Meanwhile, the 6GB RAM+128GB Storage variant of the Huawei P10 Plus will ship for 799 Euros.
