On paper, Huawei’s latest flagship handset, the Mate 40 Pro, has it all. But it isn’t until you look closely that you realise it's not everything it’s cracked up to be. And as you might have already guessed if you’re already well-acquainted with the brand, that’s the lack of support for official Google apps.
The Mate 40 Pro is Huawei’s third flagship handset to not support Google’s much-loved software suite, so - quite frankly - we’re a little tired of having to make a disclaimer every time we write a review. It’s not always been this way, of course, but if you’re unfamiliar with the matter and want to know what happened, read our news report about it.
Still, this is something that does have a huge effect on whether you will actually buy this phone or not - so it is important that we tell you about it right away, hence this dramatic intro.
Nevertheless, what the Mate 40 Pro lacks (majorly) in one area, it sure as hell makes up in another. In this instance, it’s the camera. In true Huawei style, the company’s latest flagship flaunts a stellar cam setup that has to be one of the best we’ve ever used on a smartphone. This, alongside the epic design and screen will get you shaking your fist in the air at Donald Trump. However, if the missing Google apps aren’t a huge deal to you, you have even more reason to read on.
Design
If you’re in any way familiar with Huawei’s back catalogue, you’ll be more than aware that the company has a knack for cramming oodles of impressive hardware into a sleek design. Well, it’s gone and done it again with the Mate 40 Pro, which boasts an attractive casing and overall sexy aesthetic.
The first thing you’ll notice is the unique circular design of the camera housing, something Huawei refers to as the “space ring” due to the phone's four rear-facing cameras sitting in a UFO-style disc layout. It’s like nothing you’ll find on most modern-day smartphone releases, and it really helps the phone stand head and shoulders above the rest (we mean, it had to do something to make up for that lack of Google apps!).
Still, the phone is quite a hefty device, measuring just over 9mm thick, and weighing 212g. While this is 14g less than its predecessor, the P40 Pro Plus, it does still feel on the heavy side. The sleek, elegant design by far makes up for this, though.
We should add that the Mate 40 Pro has an IP68 rating, which basically means it’s protected against harmful ingress of static water at up to 1.5 meters, for up to 30 minutes. Definitely a handy bonus!
Display
When it comes to display, the Huawei Mate 40 Pro switches out an AMOLED screen (as seen in its predecessors) for a whopping 6.76in OLED panel, which offers up some lovely, deeper blacks for a richer-looking colour pallet.
With a resolution of 1,200 x 2,640 pixels, the overall display is nothing short of stunning. It’s also the curviest we’ve seen on an Huawei phone yet, wrapping halfway around all sides of the handset’s chassis. While this makes the phone look quite futuristic, it does annoyingly distort the app content at the edges, somewhat tarnishing the viewing experience. It also means that your finger drops at the side like it’s falling off a cliff edge if you scroll too far left or right. You do get used to this after a while, though, with it becoming less of a problem over time.
Performance and battery
As with the last few flagship handsets from Huawei, the Mate 40 Pro houses the firm's own brand of processor. This time, it’s the most recent Kirin 9000 5G chipset, a super fast processor that’s more power efficient than those seen in previous Huawei devices, equating to a better battery life.
Joining the Kirin CPU is 8GB of RAM, which isn’t so much if you consider what rival handsets have built in them these days (take Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Ultra, for instance, which touts 16GB RAM). Still, if real-life performance is anything to go by, 8GB is plenty, especially coupled with Huawei’s more efficient processor. We found the device to be exceptionally nippy, reacting to touch commands in the blink of an eye, even with multiple apps open.
So, how does the battery fare with all this power? Well, as you can expect with a 4,200mAh battery like this, very well indeed. In practice, it easily powers through a full day of intensive use before blacking out and gasping for a recharge. You might even get a day a half out of it if you’re careful.
The Mate 40 Pro also supports 40W fast charging via a USB Type-C port alongside wireless charging. For connectivity, it should come as no surprise that there is no 3.5mm headphone jack or MicroSD expansion, but it does come with 256GB of in-built storage so should still be plenty to store all the basics, like lots of songs, media files, games, etc.
Software
While everything so far sounds pretty swell, there is (like with most things in life) one huge caveat, and that is - like the last two flagships Huawei has launched - the Mate 40 Pro does not (we repeat, does NOT) have access to Google’s intricate software ecosystem of apps. This, believe it or not, means that most of the applications you’re used to powering up on your handset without a second thought - like Google Maps or Chrome - are no longer supported. If you have owned an Android device in the past, this will prove a massive pain in the butt. Especially when you consider how much this phone costs.
As a result of the Mate 40 Pro seriously lacking in terms of app access when compared to most of its rivals, it does make it hard for us to recommend this phone to any Android lovers. On the plus side, though, Huawei’s EMUI 10 user interface (which replaces Google Android skin) is nippy and responsive, ensuring switching between tasks is super easy.
If you’re wondering how you get your favourite, non-Google apps on this phone, you’ll be pleased to know that Huawei does have its own AppGallery, which comes preloaded on the device and features a nice selection of applications. There won’t be all of your favourites here but many will be, such as Spotify and the like.
We should also mention that you’ll find an app preinstalled called Petal Search. This is a fairly recent addition from Huawei and has been developed to help you search the web for compatible app .apk packages (basically it’ll find the install-files for apps made for Android without needing to go through Google’s official Play Store). A quick search here and you’ll find results from all the major players such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, helping you to install them on your device. While this works relatively well 75% of the time, you should still be vigilant when it comes to security as many of the apps on there won’t have been vetted by an official app store beforehand. Gulp!
Camera
Although the Mate 40 Pro has a sexy design, robust processor and decent battery life, the real standout feature is the six Leica camera setup.
There’s four on the rear consisting of a 50MP Ultra Vision main camera, a 20MP ultra-wide snapper with image stabilisation, a 3D depth-sensing camera and a 12MP telephoto camera that can achieve an impressive 10x optical zoom for spying on your neighbours (joking - that can land you in prison).
These cameras are capable of capturing impeccable detail - and thanks to the telephoto lens - from huge distances. So much so that it can actually leave you quite shocked just how crisp these can appear when taken from so far away.
On the front, there’s a dual camera setup with a 13MP cam joined by a 3D-depth sensor lens for depth estimation and autofocus as well as 4K video recording. The resulting images are nothing short of amazing, with exposure, colour, noise levels. However, we are a little disappointed that Huawei downgraded the megapixel count for this camera over its previous flagship release, the P40 Pro Plus, which sported a 32MP selfie snapper. While you’re not going to notice day-to-day, the images it takes don’t seem quite as clean on close inspection. Considering how much we all use selfie cameras these days (or is it just us?), we think this is an odd move.
Verdict
From a hardware point of view, the Huawei Mate 40 Pro has to be one of the most impressive smartphones available today. But the sad thing is, the software side of things is just too disappointing for it to win us over completely.
If you’re well and truly baked into Google’s Android services, it would be super hard to just give them up - even for a phone with such an amazing specs sheet. Yes, the camera setup is incredible, but without the convenience of Google Pay, Maps and the Play Store, it just becomes a glorified digital camera (a bloody great one at that!)
If you truly think you can live without them, though - please, be our guest. After playing around with it, it’s hard not to fall in love with the Huawei Mate 40 Pro. And while, yes, you might have a hard time getting all the apps you know and love, at least you’ll be the proud owner of one of the best smartphones (hardware-wise) that you can buy right now
The Huawei Mate 40 Pro is available now in either black or mystic silver via most major network operators, or can be bought SIM-free for £1,099.
