Huawei is the third-largest
smartphone manufacturer in the world, but you’d hardly know it in the
West. That could all be about to change though, as the company is slowly
but surely stepping out of the shadow of its rivals with impressive
phones like the Huawei P9, which combined high-end specs with an innovative camera and a pleasantly low price.
Next
year the company is expected to follow that up with the Huawei P10, and
based on early rumors this could be a no-compromise handset with truly
top-tier specs.
We’re collecting everything you need to know about
the phone below, including the likely price and release date, to give
you the clearest possible idea of what to expect from Huawei’s next
flagship.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? Huawei's upcoming flagship phone
- When is it out? Probably April 2017
- What will it cost? It's going to be expensive, but may undercut rivals
Huawei P10 release date
Huawei
announced the P9 in early April 2016, and the phone hit stores in
mid-April. Roughly a year between models tends to be the way of things
in smartphone world, so April 2017 is our best guess for now, especially
as the Huawei P8 also launched in April.
Huawei's
marketing director for sub-Saharan Africa, Hawa Hyath, has also
confirmed the P10 will be the next focus for the company suggesting a
2017 release date is on the cards.
Huawei P10 screen
Hottest leaks:
- A 5.5-inch screen
- A QHD resolution
- A curved screen
The
screen is one of the few ways in which the Huawei P9 doesn’t quite feel
like a flagship, as it has a 1080 x 1920 display, where many high-end
phones now have QHD ones.
But it looks like the Huawei P10 could be falling in line with rivals, as a leaked benchmark
points to a 1440 x 2560 screen. It could also be set to grow, from 5.2
inches on the P9 to 5.5 inches, if the benchmark is accurate.
One leaker also reckons the Huawei P10 will have a curved screen, much like the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, or the company's own Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design.
It's also possible that the Huawei P10 will launch in both flat and curved varieties, if the leaked image above, spotted on Weibo, is accurate. This shows the curved version, but a flat model was shared by the same source, suggesting we could see both.
TechRadar’s take:
A jump to QHD would make sense to help the P10 stand out from its
predecessors and stand up to rivals, while 5.5-inch displays have become
the new normal, so a jump in size is also likely, and Huawei has
already launched a curved phone, so there's every chance it will add
curves to its flagship.
Huawei P10 design
Hottest leaks:
- An all metal body
- A fingerprint scanner on the front
- A redesigned antenna band
We
can do more than talk about the Huawei P10’s design, we can even show
you pictures, albeit leaked ones of an alleged prototype, which may or
may not reflect the final design of the phone.
Still,
assuming they are accurate the Huawei P10 is set to look a lot like the
P9, with a slim metal shell, shown here in pink (or rose gold as it
will probably be called).
But there are a couple of key
differences, the biggest being the placement of the fingerprint scanner,
which has moved from the back of the phone and now looks to be embedded
below the screen.
There’s a fair chance that’s accurate, as
front-facing scanners are more common than rear ones and arguably more
convenient, since you can still use them when the phone is placed on a
surface.
Huawei also put a fingerprint scanner on the front of the
recent Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design. It’s also a rumor that first
appeared back in June, as reported by Mobilissimo, quoting a Weibo tipster, and has been echoed again more recently.
On
the other hand, a leaked render (shown above in the screen section),
shows a home button on the front but a fingerprint scanner on the back,
so don't count on the scanner moving - though having a home button and
not building the scanner into it seems an odd choice, so we're more
inclined to believe these leaked real world shots.
The other big change to the design shown in these images (also leaked on Weibo)
is the placement of the lower antenna band, which on the P9 runs
straight along the back of the phone, but here curves along the bottom
edge, making it slightly less visible and a lot more like the iPhone 7.
TechRadar’s take:
These leaked P10 images look believable – but as they’re seemingly
prototypes they could be subject to change. Regardless, we’d expect a
similar design to the P9, with just a few changes and refinements.
Huawei P10 camera and battery
Hottest leaks:
- A dual-lens snapper
- 12MP rear camera and an 8MP front-facing one
- Fast and wireless charging
The
dual-camera was one of the Huawei P9’s standout features, so we’d
expect a similar snapper to arrive on the P10 and early rumors suggest
that’s exactly what we’ll get.
First there’s a leaked benchmark,
pointing to a 12MP rear camera and an 8MP front-facing one – there’s no
mention of dual-lenses, but those megapixel counts are the same as the
P9.
Then, there’s the leaked shots, which you’ll see above in the
design section, clearly showing a dual-lens camera on the back, with an
altogether similar design to the P9, including what looks to be a
dual-LED flash.
We’d be surprised if the camera doesn’t get an
upgrade of some kind though, so despite what the benchmark says it’s
possible that it will fall in line with the Huawei Mate 9, which has a 20MP and 12MP camera pair on the back.
Whatever
the megapixel count, it’s likely that the camera will work much the
same here as on the P9, with one lens taking monochrome shots and the
other used for RGB (color).
Most of the time you’ll be combining
the two sensors, to capture more detail in images, but you can also
choose to just use the monochrome sensor for black and white shots.
There’s
no news on how big the battery will be, but the P9 has a 3000mAh one
while the massive Mate 9 has a 4000mAh one, so perhaps Huawei will split
the difference and give us a 3500mAh juice pack?
It’s likely to plug in via USB Type-C, given that the P9 does, and according to a Weibo source it will support fast charging, while another source claims the P10 will support wireless charging.
TechRadar’s take:
We’d be very surprised if the Huawei P10 doesn’t have a dual-lens
camera, but some improvements are likely, whether they take the form of
more megapixels, optical image stabilization or something else entirely.
Huawei P10 OS and power
Hottest leaks:
- 6GB of RAM
- A powerful Kirin 960 processor
- Up to 256GB of storage
According to both a leaked benchmark and a Weibo post,
the Huawei P10 will have a Kirin 960 processor. That’s an octa-core
chip, and it has already been used in the Huawei Mate 9, a phone which
we found to offer slick performance, but not quite match the
Exynos-powered Samsung Galaxy S7 in benchmarks.
It
looks like the Huawei P10 could come in two variants though, one with
6GB of RAM (highlighted by both current specs leaks) and one with 4GB of
RAM (mentioned just by the Weibo post).
Where
the two leaks don’t line up at all is in storage capacities though,
with the benchmark suggesting a massive 256GB built in, while the Weibo
leak points to either 64GB paired with 4GB of RAM or 128GB coupled with
6GB of RAM.
As for the OS, that’s likely to be Android Nougat,
assuming an April launch, and indeed that’s what the benchmark lists.
Of course, you’ll also get Huawei’s Emotion UI over the top.
TechRadar’s take:
The Kirin 960 is likely and a jump to 6GB of RAM is believable, though
Huawei’s flagships often don’t quite match rivals, so there may also be a
4GB version.
Huawei P10 other features
The main features
of the Huawei P10 are likely to include a dual-lens camera and a
fingerprint scanner. We wouldn’t expect anything over the top, as the
company is likely to try and keep costs down.
Huawei P10 price
Our
best guess for the Huawei P10’s price is to look at the launch price of
the P9, which started at $530/£449/AU$799 SIM-free. Not cheap then, but
less than flagships from the likes of Samsung, HTC and Apple.
But
if anything the P10 could cost more than the P9, given the boost in
specs and the unexpectedly high price of the Huawei Mate 9.
TechRadar’s take:
The P10 could be pricier than the P9, but we’d be surprised if it
topped $650/£550/AU$900 – a price which would likely put it in line with
rivals.
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