Leaked Huawei P40 Pro renders show an attractive two-tone camera module

With CES 2020 behind us and Samsung Unpacked and MWC 2020 not too far away, it’s easy to forget Huawei is winding up for a huge release, too. The Huawei P40 range is coming, and while there are some questions about the fate of Android on the new range, there’s little doubt the Chinese company will release an absolutely stunning phone. New renders from experienced leaker Evan Blass have given us a better look at the upcoming Huawei P40 Pro, and if these renders are correct, we may be in for a distinctive and attractive two-tone camera module.

The renders show us the device from a number of angles, including the front and back. The P40 Pro’s front is minimalist to the extreme, with very thin bezels at the top and bottom and curved edges to the sides. The two front-facing selfie camera lenses are contained within a punch-hole to the top-left. There’s a USB-C port at the bottom of the device, next to a single speaker grill, and the antenna lines can be found on the top and bottom of the phone. As expected, there’s no headphone jack.

But it’s the back side of the phone that has really caught our attention. Flagship phones are adding even more camera lenses to the rear camera modules, and it’s leading to increasingly large camera modules. Making a long, thick oblong on a long, thick oblong stylish is a challenge, and Huawei has risen to the occasion. If these renders are correct — and Evan Blass is usually spot-on — then we can expect an attractive two-tone design on the P40 Pro’s large camera module. The first three lenses, which include a telephoto periscope zoom lens, are highlighted with a chrome accent, helping the other lenses to fade more into the background. The design doesn’t hide the second line of lenses as well on the white model though, and the side view shows how large the module bump is expected to be. Slap a case on it to balance that out.

But the Huawei P40 range’s biggest problem is likely to be in its software, rather than its hardware. At the moment, it seems likely the Huawei P40 and P40 Pro will ship without Google Play services like Goggle Maps and the Google Play Store — which could be a fatal in the western markets where Huawei has found success in recent years. This issue has roots in the U.S.-China trade war, and is unlikely to be resolved any time soon, which means Huawei’s newest flagship will launch effectively crippled.