Check out these renders of Huawei's first 2021 5G flagship phone line
Traditionally, Huawei's first flagship phone of the year has been its photography based "P" series (P stands for photography, of course). And each year the Huawei "P" series would usually be unveiled during the first quarter which runs from January to the end of March. For example, last year's P40 line was introduced on March 26th.
But with all of the changes impacting Huawei thanks to the restrictions placed on it by the U.S., the P50 series has been delayed. Today, Twitter tipster Teme (@RODENT950) disseminated renders of the new models which will be known (from top down) as the P50 Pro Plus, P50 Pro and the P50. The P50 series will be the first flagship line shipped by Huawei without licensed or unlicensed Android.
More renders of the Huawei P50 series 2021 flagship phones surface
As many of you know, Huawei cannot use the Google Mobile Services (GMS) version of Android because that requires the operating system to be licensed by Google. And with Huawei still on the Entity List, the company cannot access its U.S. supply chain without a special license. Also limiting Huawei is the change in U.S. export rules put into effect last year that prevents Huawei from receiving chips produced by foundries using American-made tech.
And here is the exclusive first look at the Huawei P50 Series.#HuaweiP50Pro#HuaweiP50ProPlus#HuaweiP50Series#HuaweiP50pic.twitter.com/piL3IYqriI
— Teme (特米) (@RODENT950) May 12, 2021
Huawei has its own mobile ecosystem called Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) that is growing at a rapid pace. Not only is it attracting a rapidly growing number of users, it also has been attracting a fast growing number of developers.
This new export rule, announced last year exactly on the one-year anniversary of the Entity List announcement, means that Huawei is unable to acquire large numbers of its own 5nm Kirin chipset that it itself designed through its HiSilicon unit, and had manufactured by TSMC. Huawei ended up selling its Honor sub-unit reportedly for $15 billion so that the latter would not be guilty by association and lose access to software and hardware.
As a result, instead of finishing the year as the number one smartphone provider in the world, which would have happened otherwise, the U.S. actions will drop Huawei to seventh or eighth place among the world's top smartphone providers.
The P50 series is expected to be powered by Huawei's HarmonyOS, an operating system developed by Huawei that can be used on various devices. Huawei has also unveiled the sequel to its foldable phone earlier this year, the Mate X2. (You can read our review of that model right here). And later this year Huawei should release its most technologically advanced models, the Mate 50 line.
We should point out the new renders are quite similar to P50 series renders that we showed you back in March. The P50 Pro is rumored to feature a 6.6-inch OLED curved edge panel with a resolution of 1440+ and a 120Hz refresh rate. The P50 display is expected to weigh in at 6.3-inches and will be flat. We could see it carry an FHD+ resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate.
Both models might be powered by variants of the home-grown Kirin 9000 chipset. The P50 Pro units could be equipped with the flagship Kirin 9000 SoC that debuted on last year's Mate 40 line. The P50 is expected to feature a slightly lower spec'd version of the chip, the Kirin 9000E.
Some executives at Huawei had hoped that when the Biden administration moved in the White House, the new administration would make it a priority to reverse the moves made against Huawei by the Donald Trump regime. So far, there has been nothing said or done by those currently in power to lead anyone to expect that to happen.
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