The Huawei P series is a line of high-end Android smartphones produced by Huawei. The P series was formerly marketed as part of Huawei's larger Ascend brand, but this has since been dropped. Under the company's current hardware release cadence, P series phones are typically directed towards mainstream consumers as the company's flagship smartphones, refining and expanding upon technologies introduced in Mate series devices. The P series has featured a strong emphasis on camera functionality; since 2016, and beginning with the Huawei P9, Huawei has been in a co-engineering partnership with the German manufacturer Leica.
The Huawei Ascend P7 was announced on May 7, 2014 and released on June 7, 2014. It was the last phone to carry the Ascend name.
P8 lite, P8 and P8 Max
The Huawei P8 was released on April 2015. The phone has a light painting function. The P8 Max was the sibling of the P8 in terms of phone size.
P9 Lite, P9 and P9 Plus
The Huawei P9 and P9 Plus were the first phones from Huawei to receive a Leica Dual Camera from Leica AG, the P9 lite is the last smartphone in the series to have a single main camera. It was revealed on April 6, 2016 in Battersea Park.
P10 lite, P10 and P10 Plus
The Huawei P10 and P10 Plus were launched in Mobile World Congress 2017 on February 26, 2017 at Barcelona, Spain. It has a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor and a 12-megapixel RGB, in which the camera position was retained the same as the P9. Huawei partnered with the Pantone Color Institute in implementing their Color of the Year 2017 named Pantone Greenery into the P10, including 7 more color options.
Huawei P20 and P20 Pro were launched in Huawei's Special Event in Paris on March 27, 2018. Both of them received a high rating from DXOMark, with the P20 having 102 and P20 Pro having 109. They both also have a short notch while retaining the home button for the finger-print sensor. The pro version has a Leica triple camera setup featuring a 40 MP RGB sensor, 5X Hybrid Zoom, and an AI Scene and Object Recognition sensor capable of detecting 19 scenes. Over 10 million Huawei P20 and P20 Pro units were sold globally.
P30 lite, P30 lite 2020, P30 and P30 Pro
The P30 and P30 Pro were unveiled in Paris during a media event on 26 March 2019 which features a main RYYB subpixel array that is very sensitive to light making it able to shoot photos in very low lighting conditions. The P30 Pro also has a telephoto camera that utilises a triangular prism reflecting light giving it the ability to have 5x optical, 10x hybrid and 50x digital zoom.
P40 lite, P40, P40 Pro and P40 Pro+
The P40, P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ were unveiled in Paris on 26 March 2020. All P40 models have a new 50 MP "Ultra Vision" wide sensor with Leica optics. The P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ are the first P series phones to feature a 90Hz display and infrared face unlock. The software is also improved with a new Golden Snap feature that takes a burst of HDR+ photos and automatically picks the best shots. The P40 Pro+ has two telephoto lenses at 3x and 10x optical zoom, the latter of which is a periscope lens. These models do not have Google mobile services installed.
