Huawei P20 Pro -
- Exp. release 2018, April 6th
180g, 7.8mm thickness
Android 8.1
128GB storage, no card slot
92% 874,262 hits
235 Become a fan
6.1" 1080x2244 pixels
40 MP 2160p
6 GB RAM Hisilicon Kirin 970
4000 mAh Li-Po
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Boasting the first triple lens camera in a smartphone, alongside cutting edge specs, the Huawei P20 Pro has been attracting a lot of attention. It’s an impressive Android smartphone from a Chinese manufacturer that has shown a flair for high-end devices. Can it compete with Apple’s stylish flagship? Which is better: The P20 Pro or the iPhone X? That’s what we’re here to find out.
Specs
Huawei P20 Pro Apple iPhone X Size 155 x 73.9 x 7.8 mm (6.1 x 2.9 x 0.3 inches) 143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7 mm (5.65 x 2.79 x 0.30 inches) Weight 174 grams (6.14 ounces) 174 grams (6.14 ounces) Screen size 6.1-inch OLED display 5.8-inch Super Retina AMOLED display Screen resolution 2,240 x 1,080 pixels (408 pixels-per-inch) 2,436 x 1,125 pixels (458 ppi) Operating system Emotion UI 8.1 (over Android 8.1 Oreo) iOS 11 Storage space 128GB 64GB, 256GB MicroSD card slot No No Tap-to-pay services Google Pay Apple Pay Processor Kirin 970 A11 Bionic RAM 6GB 3GB Camera Triple lens 40MP, 20MP, & 8MP rear, 24MP front Dual 12 MP rear, 7MP FaceTime HD front Video 2160p at 30 frames per second, 1080p at 30fps, 720p at 960fps 2160p at 60 fps, 1080p at 240 fps Bluetoothversion Bluetooth 4.2 Bluetooth 5 Ports USB-C Lightning Fingerprint sensor Yes No Water resistance IP67 IP67 Battery 4,000mAh 2,716mAh App marketplace Google Play Store Apple App Store Network support T-Mobile, AT&T AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint Colors Black, Blue, Pink Gold, Twilight Space Gray, Silver Price 899 euros (around $1,100) $1,000 Where to buy it Huawei AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Apple Review score Hands-on review 4.5 out of 5 stars
Performance, battery life and charging
The P20 Pro has Huawei’s Kirin 970 processor inside. It also boasts a Neural Processing Unit (NPU), which deals with artificial intelligence (A.I.) tasks so the processor can get on with whatever it’s doing. This is backed up by 6GB of RAM. Apple’s iPhone X has its A11 Bionic chip inside, backed by just 3GB of RAM. In most benchmarks, and in real world use, the iPhone X is faster. You can argue about how much RAM a smartphone needs, but Android and iOS handle memory management differently, so directly comparing them here doesn’t tell us anything.
The Huawei P20 Pro offers 128GB of storage, and there’s no MicroSD card slot for expansion. The iPhone X comes in 64GB or 256GB varieties, and once again, there’s no room for a MicroSD card.
Dipping into battery life, the P20 Pro has a 4,000mAh battery, while the battery in the iPhone X is only rated at 2,716mAh. We need to spend some time testing the P20 Pro to be sure, but we’ll be surprised if it doesn’t have more stamina than the iPhone X. Unfortunately, there’s no wireless charging support for the P20 Pro, though it does offer Huawei’s SuperCharge fast charging via a cable. The iPhone X does support wireless charging and it can charge quickly, but you’ll need to buy a charger and cable capable of fast charging, whereas you get one in the box with your P20 Pro.
Winner: Apple iPhone X
Design and durability
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends
We love the curved glass design of the P20 Pro, particularly the twilight finish, with its mix of green, blue, and purple. Huawei has chosen to put the fingerprint sensors on the front, in the old traditional spot beneath the screen, but the thing you immediately notice about the front is the notch. We’re not convinced about the notch trend right now — it’s not the only viable design, especially if you have space for a fingerprint sensor at the bottom. It will inevitably invite comparison, but the notch in the P20 Pro is much smaller than the iPhone X’s notch.
In the iPhone X the screen extends all the way to the bottom and is only broken by the notch at the top, which houses the Face ID cameras. There’s no fingerprint sensor at all. The back is also finished in glass, though the colors are less adventurous than the P20 Pro. The camera modules are pretty similar. Interestingly, both phones weigh exactly the same, but the iPhone X is significantly smaller in hand.
There’s nothing to divide these phones on the durability front, as they both score an IP67 rating. That means they can be submerged in up to a meter of water for up to half an hour.
Overall we prefer the look of the iPhone X, particularly from the front, but the P20 Pro is definitely the sort of phone that will draw admiring glances.
Winner: Apple iPhone X
Display
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends
The Huawei P20 Pro boasts a 6.1-inch OLED screen with a 2,240 x 1,080 pixel screen resolution. The Apple iPhone X has a 5.8-inch AMOLED with a resolution of 2,436 x 1,125 pixels. They’re both great screens, employing essentially the same tech. Apple’s iPhone X screen is sharper at 458 pixels-per-inch compared to 408ppi in the P20 Pro, but the P20 Pro has a slightly larger screen. We’re giving a narrow win to the iPhone X here.
Winner: Apple iPhone X
Camera
Smartphone cameras have improved by leaps and bounds in recent years. Huawei is trying to take things to the next level with the P20 Pro by packing in three lenses: There’s a 40-megapixel main lens, an 8-megapixel telephoto lens, and a 20-megapixel monochrome lens. This is a seriously versatile shooter that should have no trouble in low-light conditions, be capable of stunning portraits with blurred backgrounds, and capture an incredible level of detail. We just need more time with it to see what it can do. The Pixel 2 and 2 XL, our current top picks for best smartphone camera, prove that more camera lenses aren’t necessarily the path to better camera performance, but we do expect the P20 Pro to deliver something special.
By contrast, the iPhone X combines two 12-megapixel lenses. We know it gets good results, particularly in the optical zoom and bokeh department. As cameras continue to improve, it’s getting harder to objectively pick the best, but the iPhone X stands up well in direct comparisons with phones like the Galaxy S9 Plus and Pixel 2 XL. Only time will tell if it can stand up to the P20 Pro.
The P20 Pro has a front-facing camera rated at 24-megapixels, while the iPhone X makes do with a 7-megapixel selfie camera.
Winner: Huawei P20 Pro
Software and updates
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends
You’ll find the latest Android 8.1 Oreo on the P20 Pro, with Huawei’s EMUI 8.1 user interface on top. Stock Android fans and minimalists might not like it, but there are a few handy extras in there. Unfortunately, the presence of EMUI means that Android updates will not roll out to the P20 Pro as soon as they’re released. The schedule for updates will depend on Huawei. Apple’s iPhone X runs iOS 11, which is slick and accessible. It will continue to be updated to the latest version as soon as it rolls out. We’re not getting into Android vs iOS, but because it will benefit from the latest security and feature updates immediately, we’re giving the iPhone the win.
Winner: Apple iPhone X
Special features
The standout feature of the P20 Pro is clearly that triple lens camera, but we’ve already covered that. The iPhone X has Face ID and animojis to take full advantage of that front-facing camera array. Both work extremely well. There is a face unlock option on the P20 Pro that uses 2-D mapping to authenticate users in only half a second, but it’s not as secure as the iPhone X’s Face ID, so you can’t use it for payments. Neither phone offers any other unique special features that the other doesn’t possess, so we’re calling this round a tie.
Winner: Tie
Price
There was definitely a bit of uproar about the price of Apple’s iPhone X when it first landed. There’s no doubt that $1,000 is a lot to spend on a phone. However, the Huawei P20 Pro costs 899 euros (around $1,100).
The phones are available globally now, but sadly the P20 Pro will not be released through carriers in the U.S. after they were pressured to drop Huawei phones by Republican politicians with security concerns about the Chinese manufacturer. The iPhone X is available from all the major carriers.
Winner: Apple iPhone X
Overall winner: Apple iPhone X
The Huawei P20 Pro is definitely something special. It has that impressive triple-lens camera and a bigger battery, but we prefer the design, display, and performance of the iPhone X. Truth be told, these are both excellent phones — they should be at these prices. If you’re used to Android and the camera is your main focus, then the P20 Pro is the better choice for you, but everyone else should probably pick the iPhone X.
Huawei P20 and P20 Pro Singapore availability, pre-order details, and pricing announced!
Huawei's new P20 and P20 Pro smartphones will be arriving in Singapore sooner this week! Pre-orders for both phones commence today, and will continue until 4th April. The phone will be officially released on 7th April (this Saturday).
The phone will be available to purchase from all three telcos, as well as Huawei's own concept store at Plaza Singapura and all major consumer electronics stores. Huawei's official store on Lazada should also be carrying the phone. N.B. For M1 customers, only those who have already pre-registered their interest in the P20/P20 Pro will receive an email and/or SMS to pre-order.
The P20 will be available for S$898 in Black, Midnight Blue and Pink Gold, while the P20 Pro will cost S$1,148 and will be available in Black and Midnight Blue, with Twilight to be released at the end of April. These prices make the phones significantly cheaper here than in Europe. The P20 will have 4GB RAM and 128GB storage, while the P20 Pro has 6GB RAM and 128GB storage.
Huawei has also informed us that the Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS will be coming to Singapore in May, however pricing has not been announced yet.
For more information on the P20 and P20 Pro, check out these features:
The Chinese handset maker will only bring the 128GB variant for both models to the local market though, and prices will start from S$898.
SINGAPORE: Those looking to get their hands on Huawei’s latest P series smartphones will be able to from Apr 7 onwards, the Chinese tech company said on Monday (Apr 2).
The smartphone maker unveiled its P20 and P20 Pro devices during a glitzy launch event held in Paris, France, late last month when its Consumer Business Group chief Richard Yu shared details about the latest features including the triple-camera set-up for the higher end model.
Mr Cheng Jiangfei, managing director of Huawei’s Consumer Business group in Singapore, said in a media briefing the P20 will be available in only one variant: 4GB RAM and 128GB memory.
It will have three colours - Black, Midnight Blue and Pink Gold - and will retail for S$898, Mr Cheng said.
As for the higher-end P20 Pro model, it will come with 6GB of RAM, 128GB of memory space and three colours: Black, Midnight Blue and Twilight. Twilight, with the touted gradient colour finish, will only be available from May, the executive pointed out. The company clarified on Monday that the model will be available from end April.
The P20 Pro will retail for S$1,148, which is cheaper than other flagship competitors currently in the market, including Samsung’s recently launched Galaxy S9+, which costs S$1,348 (64GB) and S$1,498 (256GB).
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Apple’s iPhone X, which was unveiled last September, currently tops the price chart, retailing from S$1,648 for the entry-level 64GB model.
Huawei’s P20 and P20 Pro will be available for pre-order from 10am on Apr 2, and this will run till Apr 4, Mr Cheng said.
This can be done via the three local telcos - Singtel, StarHub and M1 - as well as its official online store and third-party e-commerce sites like Lazada, he added.
Consumers will then be able to start getting the handsets from Apr 7, and they will be available on shelves at the same time. Singapore is in the first wave of the company’s global launch strategy, Mr Cheng said.
AI IN SMARTPHONES JUST THE BEGINNING
During the launch of the latest P series phones, Mr Yu also noted how Huawei's artificial intelligence-enabled Kirin 970 chipset works towards enhancing the photo-taking experience for consumers.
Mr Eric Zhou, planning director for Huawei Technologies' Wireless Terminal Chipset Platform, told Channel NewsAsia in an interview after the Paris launch event that innovations like predictive focus and improving picture quality is "just the beginning" when it comes to how AI will be applied in the future.
Photo of a plant taken with the P20 Pro's predictive Greenery setting.
For instance, the smartphones have the ability to identify 19 different scenarios and objects and apply the right technical settings to take the best possible photos, the company touted. And this has room to grow, the executive said.
"Right now, there are settings for Cat and Dog. In future, we could train the machine learning models to include specific breeds of dogs, like Chihuahua - and send these models to people's phones through over-the-air updates," Mr Zhou explained.
He added that the Kirin chipset's AI smarts will not be confined to smartphones either. It could be included in connected cars, smart homes as well as retail, for example.
The company is also looking to expand its Hi AI - the name of its software development kit (SDK) - developer base, which currently numbers more than 200 internationally, Mr Zhou pointed out.
One example of this is its HiKey 970 AI development board, which was introduced in Hong Kong in March. The single-board Linux computer board is one that developers can use to write and test applications, and Mr Zhou said this will be available from middle of April at US$299.
