Huawei’s latest flagship phone is already up for pre-order in some European countries, such as France and Italy.
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Huawei’s latest flagship smartphone, the P40 Pro+, sporting what is currently the best smartphone camera in the world, is already available in some European markets, such as France. The device is also up for pre-order in Italy. The P40 Pro+ should also go up for pre-order in other markets in the coming days, such as Spain and the UK, with both branches having already started doing some advertisement for it and prepared the product pages.
Pricing-wise, there are no surprises, with the phone costing 1399€ in both markets, although the pre-order promotions widely differ, with France’s being surprisingly generous while Italy’s is less interesting.
Before going any further, the P40 Pro+ shares most of the specifications of the regular P40 Pro, but is only available in two colours, white and black, with the back cover being made of ceramic, instead of glass. Furthermore, the x5 optical zoom has been switched by a x10 telephoto lens, the first of its kind in the smartphone industry, allowing users to zoom up to x100 with a good enough quality. The differences don’t stop there, with the manufacturer having, somehow, managed to fit a fifth camera on the phone, with this one giving a x3 optical zoom, instead of x5.
Lastly, the wireless charging has been upgraded from 27W to 40W, matching the regular 40W wired SuperCharge charging, with this being the first and currently only smartphone commercially available supporting this wireless charging speed. Of course, users will have to buy a new wireless charger, with currently only Huawei selling a compatible model, costing, surprisingly, 129.99€, which is rather pricey, especially when taking in account that the original 10W Porsche Design wireless charger used to cost 89€, and that the following wireless chargers from the manufacturer, both the 15W and 27W, cost 60€.
If we now come back to the P40 Pro+, in France, both the black and white versions are available, costing 1399.99€ for the only RAM/memory configuration available, being 8GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage (and not 256GB, as the product listing claims).
Promotions-wise, Huawei France is offering a 100€ discount with a product code, together with the FreeBuds 3i, worth 99.99€. Furthermore, those purchasing the phone between the 15th June and the 30th September 2020 will be able to claim, separately, a Watch GT2e, which currently retails for 159.99€, bringing the total of the gifts’ value to 359.98€, leaving the phone at around 1040€, making it a lot more interesting than the regular P40 Pro.
In Italy, we also find the white and black versions, costing 1399.90€ for 8GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage. Here, contrary to France, the product is up for pre-order, with shipping starting on the 22nd of June.
Promotions-wise, Huawei Italy is gifting three products, the FreeBuds 3i, worth 99€, the Huawei Mini speaker, for 29.99€, and the 40W SuperCharge wireless charger stand, costing 129.99€. These gifts are worth 259.98€ in total, 100€ less than in France. However, users do not have to go through the hassle of claiming them separately, with these gifts being included with the phone, which some customers might find more interesting. In this case, the device ends up costing 1140€, which still remains quite interesting if compared with the regular P40 Pro, especially for those interested in the x10 optical zoom.
However, we can’t help but feel that Huawei is being less generous with this device than with the P40 and P40 Pro, by switching the FreeBuds 3 with the FreeBuds 3i, which are cheaper, or by not gifting the Watch GT2/2e in general, and instead replacing this one by other products depending on the country, or even by not giving a protective case for this relatively expensive smartphone.
The P40 Pro+ comes without Google Mobile Services and the Google Play Store, instead using Huawei’s AppGallery and Huawei Mobile Services. These have been developing at an impressive speed, with the manufacturer releasing new updates on a nearly weekly basis, and with new major applications launching on AppGallery every week.
Here are some more product images of the P40 Pro+ in black:
And here are some product images of the P40 Pro+ in white:
While we are talking about the 40W wireless charger, this product is quite weird, costing 299 yuan in China, the equivalent of a bit less than 40€ in Europe. While technology ends up being more expensive in Europe due to taxes and import fees, in this case, the price has literally tripled, which is hard to justify. Furthermore, the box only includes the wireless charging stand, meaning customers have to get their own charging cable. While previous wireless chargers from the brand could be used at full potential with the smartphone charger, in this case, to be able to get the full 40W, it is necessary to use a 65W charger, which is mostly used for Huawei MateBooks, or for the Mate Xs, representing a supplementary expense, as most users do not have a MateBook/65W charger with them. Regardless, here are some more pictures of the stand:
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