Huawei P50 Pro and P50 Pocket get a wider release with obvious omissions

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The Huawei P50 Pocket folds up like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip series.

Huawei / CNET

Following their unveiling in China last year, Huawei’s foldable P50 Pocket and flagship P50 Pro will go on sale this month in the UK and across Europe for around £ 1,090 and £ 1,005 respectively (converted from their official prices of € 1,299 and € 1,199). Due to ongoing struggles between Huawei and the US government, the phones won’t go on sale in the US, but those prices convert to around $ 1,470 and $ 1,355. This places the phones squarely in luxury territory alongside the Galaxy S21 Ultra and iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Although both phones run Android at their core, due to US sanctions neither of the phones use Google’s services (including Gmail, Chrome, or the Google Play Store), and despite their high price point, neither phone has 5G. It is increasingly unusual for a phone not to include some degree of 5G compatibility as networks increase around the world, especially in this price range.

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The P50 Pocket is Huawei’s answer to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip, with a clamshell design that folds into a small square. Visually it is very similar to the Samsung phone, although there are two large circles on the outside, one with a triple camera unit and the other that acts as a convenient external display to show incoming notifications.

The P50 folding pocket.

Huawei / CNET

When open, the phone has a 6.9-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate, slightly larger than the Z Flip 3’s 6.7-inch open screen. There’s a 4,000mAh battery underneath. The hood and camera, which features a 43-megapixel main sensor and a 13-megapixel superwide, uses the company’s XD Fusion Pro Ultra Spectrum Image technology (seriously), which Huawei says results in better HDR and more colors. natural.

The P50 Pro, meanwhile, is the company’s most usual flagship phone, with a high-resolution 6.6-inch display, 4,360mAh battery, and 66W wired fast charging. Based on the images, the The P50 Pro has a rather attractive design, echoing the two-circle design of the P50 Pocket.

The P50 Pro is particularly photography-oriented with a 50-megapixel main camera, a 40-megapixel monochrome camera (which Huawei says adds better detail and contrast to color images), a 13-megapixel ultrawide camera, and a 64-megapixel telephoto lens that offers up to 200x zoom (including digital zoom). It also incorporates image processing technology similar to that of the P50 Pocket, promising improved color, detail and low-light performance.

The P50 Pro in gold and black color options.

Huawei / CNET

Inside is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip which, based on the performance of last year’s Galaxy S21 Ultra (US version), should be extremely capable at most of the tasks you’d likely throw at it.

However, these phones continue to face the barrier of a lack of Google services, which specifically means not downloading apps or services from the Google Play Store. While Huawei has been expanding its app store in recent years, many big names aren’t on its shelves yet. The lack of 5G is also against these phones. While 5G is not yet readily available everywhere, networks are expected to build up substantially over the two to three years that a customer is likely to keep a phone.

As a result, these phones will have to seriously impress from a hardware standpoint, including photography, screen, and fast-charging capabilities, to make up for the high price, lack of Google services, and lack of 5G. We will have more thoughts once we put these phones to the test.

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