Huawei has confirmed its presence at the upcoming MWC 2018 event in Barcelona, promising new products, but the bigger announcements are reserved for later in March, when the company is going to launch the flagship P20 series at a separate event in Paris on March 27.
We've already heard quite a bit about the Huawei P20 and P20 Lite, but there's new evidence that a Plus variant of the flagship is in the offing. Called Huawei P20 Plus, the third variant of the flagship will take cues from the P20 while offering some upgrades like a bigger screen and battery.
Courtesy of prominent mobile tipster @OnLeaks, we now have an idea of how the P20 Plus is going to look like. The prolific tipster shared a 360-degree CAD design of the unannounced Huawei flagship, which aligns with what Huawei is teasing in its invites with three large "O" symbols beside the Eiffel Tower.
Based on the leaked renders of the Huawei P20 Plus [VIDEO], it's natural to expect a tri-camera setup at the back, identical to Huawei P20. But the third lens in the rear camera setup is not grouped with the other two sensors, which leaves some room for speculation. It's safe to assume that the two grouped lenses are RGB and monochrome, but the third lens is likely a telephoto or something entirely new.
And now comes your very first look at the #Huawei P11/P20 Plus/Pro (name TBC) and its unique rear camera setup! As usual, 360° video + dimensions, on behalf of @tigermobiles... https://t.co/lEJrA4Esd0 pic.twitter.com/9HHsf7jCBS
— Steve H. (@OnLeaks) February 9, 2018
On the front of the device, there is an iPhone X-style notch to house the important sensors, selfie camera and earpiece. The display is going to be in a bezel-less form with 18:9 aspect ratio. There is no indication of a 3.5mm headphone jack in the device, but a USB Type-C port surrounded by two speaker grilles take up space at the bottom.
The headphone jack isn't the only thing missing from the P20 Plus. The renders do not show a fingerprint scanner, which could only mean that Huawei is either going for under-display fingerprint sensor or 3D facial unlocking like the iPhone X.
Tiger Mobiles, which released the CAD images of the P20 Plus with @OnLeaks, gave a thorough rundown of the potential specs. The P20 Plus is expected to have a 5.7-inch display, three 40MP lenses at the back and a 24MP snapper for selfies.
The handset is to be powered by a Kirin 970 chip and a Neural Processing Unit, which improves the overall performance of the phone by anticipating tasks to be performed. The NPU also enhances photo quality and battery life in the smartphone. It goes without saying that the P20 Plus will run Android Oreo out of the box.
Given these high-end specifications, it is likely that the P20 Plus will cost the top dollar — much in the range of the iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy Note 8. Stay tuned for updates as the mystery unfolds next month.
