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Live image allegedly gives us our first look at the Huawei P60 Pro
Huawei's P60 series is expected to be unveiled next month (possibly alongside the Mate 60 series if the rumors are legit). The P series phones are Huawei's photography-focused flagship models while the Mate series has the latest and most innovative technology. In years past, the P series would be released during the first quarter of the year while the Mate line would hit the shelves during the fourth quarter of the same year.
In recent years, with the U.S. restrictions against Huawei obtaining cutting-edge chips impacting the company, the manufacturer was forced to alternate between each flagship series every year. For example, in 2021 the Huawei P50 line was released. Last year, the Mate 50 series was launched to long lines and heavy demand.
The P60 Pro live image has a completely different looking camera setup than seen on the previous renders
Recently, renders of the P60 Pro along with the phone's specs were leaked by various tipsters. However, a live image allegedly of a P60 Pro test device was shared on social media site Weibo (via Huawei Central) and the rear camera setup looks completely different than what we saw on the previous renders. The photo shows a rectangular camera module mounted in the top left corner of the phone's rear cover with two rings inside the module.
A USB-C charging port is on the bottom of the device along with a single speaker grille and the camera bump and the phone itself are pure white. You might be thinking to yourself that the rear camera setup on the P60 Pro live image looks very much like the one used on the P50 Pro. But there is a difference. The module on the latter was oval-shaped and the module on the P60 Pro test unit is rectangular.
The main camera on the P60 Pro will have the variable aperture feature that was employed on the Mate 50 Pro. This allowed the aperture to vary between f/1.4 to f/4 in order to adjust the blur and the depth of field. Once again, Huawei's in-house XMAGE photography system will be used. The 50MP primary camera will reportedly feature a Sony IMX888 sensor while a 50MP Sony IMX858 sensor could be behind the ultra-wide camera. The telephoto camera (employing a periscope lens) is believed to be driven by a 64MP OmniVision OV64B sensor.
The P60 Pro will be equipped with the latest version of HarmonyOS
The latest 3.1 version of Huawei's homegrown HarmonyOS will be pre-installed and under the hood, you will find either a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 4G chipset, or the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 4G SoC. Huawei's 88W fast charger could debut with the P50 Pro or with the Mate X3 foldable. Other previously rumored specs include a BOE-produced 6.6-inch AMOLED display sporting a 120Hz refresh rate and a QHD+ 1440 x 3200 resolution.
Recently the U.S. announced that it was going to stop approving even more export licenses needed for shipments to Huawei. And this means that Huawei won't be able to obtain the 4G-only Snapdragon chipsets that it had been able to use on recent devices. Huawei is in a tough spot when it comes to sourcing chipsets thanks to the U.S.
The only hope that it has is a patent application it filed for a light source component for an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine. These machines are needed to etch extremely thin circuitry patterns on silicon chips. The lines it produces are thinner than human hair and are necessary to manufacture chips that could rival those made by top foundries like TSMC and Samsung.
But there is only one company that makes this machine and this Dutch firm, ASML, has been banned from shipping this product to China. But if Huawei can develop its own EUV system, it would be a major breakthrough for Huawei and China.
