Latest report says 5G Huawei P50 series might remain unofficial until June

Traditionally, the Huawei P series, the company's first flagship phone of each year, is released in the March-April time frame. The handsets focus on their cameras (no pun intended), and are followed up in the fourth quarter with the launch of the Huawei Mate line. The latter is made up of the company's most technologically advanced handsets each year. This year, with Huawei battling restrictions placed on it by the U.S., the word out of China is that the Huawei P50 line might not see the light of day until June.

About a week ago, we told you about a report that called for a May unveiling for the three phones that are expected to make up the P50 line: the P50, P50 Pro, and the P50 Pro Plus. Before that report, there was speculation of a late March introduction for the trio. If the P50 models are pushed back to June, it would be the latest introduction for the series which started with the P10 in 2017. The cause of the delay is believed to be issues with Huawei's supply chain due to U.S. restrictions. In 2019, Huawei was placed on the U.S. Commerce Department's Entity List which banned the manufacturer from accessing its U.S. based suppliers (including Google). Exactly a year to the day in 2020, the U.S. changed an export rule forcing foundries using U.S. tech to manufacture chips to obtain a license to ship these components to Huawei.

The P50 is expected to sport a mostly flat 6.1-inch panel while the P50 Pro should carry a 6.6-inch waterfall display. The P50 Pro Plus could come with a 6.8-inch quad curved display. All of the screens will be AMOLED and might feature a refresh rate up to 120Hz. Under the hood will be the 5nm Kirin 9000 chipset. One rumor concerning the camera array on the back of the phone calls for a 50MP primary, an 8MP periscope Telephoto camera with 10x zoom, an 8MP second telephoto camera, and a 40MP ultra-wide camera.

Additionally, a Huawei executive revealed on Weibo that an event being held next month will introduce Huawei's home-grown HarmonyOS 2.0. The third beta version of the software is reportedly in the process of being tested. HarmonyOS 2.0 is expected to be pre-installed in the Huawei P50 series. Due to its placement on the Entity List, Huawei is not allowed to use the Google Mobile Services version of Android on its phones. This means that Google's Android apps like Search, Maps, YouTube, Gmail, Google Play Store, Photos, Drive and others are not allowed on the manufacturer's phones. This doesn't make a difference on Huawei's domestic models since Google is mostly banned in China, but it does impact the international variants of its handsets.

Huawei developed its own ecosystem called Huawei Mobile Services and it has gone over big in China. Huawei also has its own app storefront called AppGallery which includes an app called Petal Search. With this app, users can type in the name of an app that they want to install. If that app isn't found in the AppGallery, Petal Search will scan third-party app stores until it finds one that offers the app and will install it on their Huawei phone. Even apps based in the U.S. such as Amazon, Snapchat, Speedtest.net, and AccuWeather can be discovered by Petal Search and downloaded for Huawei users. The company, discussing Petal Search, says, "Petal Search puts the world in the palm of your hand. Search for your favorite Apps for your phone with our state of the art technology."

The app also delivers "daily weather forecasts and top news; live sports scores and schedules; video, image, and music searches; and financial news and stock market updates." It will also "search millions of hotels worldwide and book rooms; and check flights and travel info for top global destinations."