Huawei unveiled V20 yesterday in Hong Kong, the latest flagship model of its sub-brand Honor. Although the model is still in prototype stage, its key selling points have been announced: in-screen camera, a 48-MP rear camera, and Link Turbo technology. The model will be officially launched in December 26th in China and hit in global market in early 2019.
V20 will be the world first smartphone equipped with in-screen front camera, claimed by Huawei. The new model shared the similar “hole-design” with A8s the model which is launched by Samsung couple hours later. With the in-screen front camera, V20 has a hole significantly smaller than A8s. Despite of the improved screen-to-body ratio, it remained to be seen how the new design will affect front camera’s performance.
V20 will feature a 48-MP rear camera based on Sony’s IMX586 sensor. Together with Huawei’s Kirin 980 chipset, V20 intends to offer an ultra-clarity photography experience. This reminds us of Nokia’s PureView 808 model which featured a 41MP rear camera and was launched 6 years ago. The Symbian-based model created a wow effect at that time, but it was too early to generate significant volume. As the time goes by, the 48-MP rear camera is likely to be the standard for the premium models launched in 2019.
V20 will adopt Link Turbo technology, which promises a more stable and smoother online experience particularly in gaming and in high-quality video-consumption contexts. Back by AI, the technology intelligently combines WIFI and LTE connections to fit different scenario. This new technology has been partly used in Magic 2.
The other features and the retail price of V20 have not been unveiled yet, indicating Huawei’s hurry to be the “first” one on the latest technology. We expect to see more premium models coming with hole-design and 48-MP rear camera in 2019.
