Huawei has just officially unveiled its first foldable clamshell smartphone, the Huawei P50 Pocket. It has serious arguments to become the best clamshell smartphone on the market and dethrone the Galaxy Z Flip 3.
Huawei lifted the veil this morning on its Huawei P50 Pocket, its new foldable smartphone. The announcement was not totally a surprise, since we had already seen the design of the smartphone a few days ago before its official presentation.
Design side, the Huawei P50 Pocket uses the codes of other P50 smartphones of the same series. We thus find at the rear a circular photo module with three sensors, as well as a second circle which houses it. 1 inch external screen. The latter allows you to view information such as the date and time, but also serves as a video feedback if you want to take a picture of yourself with the rear cameras.
A giant screen for a clamshell smartphone
The smartphone adopts a clamshell design with a large 6.9-inch screen, compared to 6.7 inches for that of its main competitor, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 3. The screen offers a definition of 2790 x 1188 pixels a little higher than FHD +, a refresh rate 120 Hz, a 21: 9 ratio and a 10 bit color depth. On the battery side, the smartphone offers a 4000 mAh battery compatible with 40 W fast charging. It is therefore much more than the Galaxy Z Flip 3, which is content with a 3300 mAh accumulator with 15 W fast charging.
Despite this giant screen, the smartphone is rather compact. Huawei announces a width of only 75.5 mm, against 78.1 mm for an iPhone 13 Pro Max. The smartphone would offer a only 7.2mm thick when unfolded, and 15.2 mm when folded. Finally, the Huawei P50 Pocket is quite light, with only 190 grams on the scale.
A Snapdragon 888, but no 5G
The Huawei P50 Pocket will be powered by a high-end Snapdragon 888 SoC. However, just like the Huawei P50 and P50 Pro, the latter is not compatible with 5G networks because of the American sanctions suffered by the Chinese manufacturer. Huawei could also soon bypass the American embargo by launching its own 5G chips for its smartphones, but it will probably take a few more years to see them arrive.
We can regret the absence of the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 from Qualcomm, which will however equip high-end Android smartphones from 2022. The Huawei P50 Pocket remains one of the most powerful foldable smartphones on the market. For its part, OPPO had also chosen to settle for a Snapdragon 888 for its new foldable Find N, probably to lower the price.
The P50 Pocket promises to shine in photos
Unlike other foldable clamshell smartphones which are generally satisfied with the minimum in photos, the P50 Pocket promises good photo performance, in line with what the other devices in the series offer. Indeed, the smartphone is equipped with a photo configuration with three cameras, against only 2 on the Galaxy Z Flip 3.
We find a 40 MP main sensor (f / 1.8), a captor 13 MP ultra wide-angle (f / 2.2) and a 32 MP “broad spectrum” sensor (f / 1.8) which will improve the quality of the pictures. The smartphone is also equipped with a “fluorescent” photography mode, which promises extraordinary results. For selfies, the smartphone will use a 10.7 MP sensor (f / 2.2) housed in a punch.
Pricing and availability
The Huawei P50 Pocket is available in China in three colors: Crystal White, Shining Stone Black and Art Limited Edition. The latter is a special edition, sold a little more expensive. It is necessary to count 8,988 yuan (1247 euros) for the classic versions with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage, and 10,988 yuan (1,524 euros) for the golden edition with 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage.
For now, the smartphone is reserved for the Chinese market, so we should not see it arrive in France. As you have probably noticed, the smartphone is noticeably more expensive than the Galaxy Z Flip 3 (1059 euros in Europe). It would therefore be difficult to find a place in our market, especially since it is not compatible with Google services.