Huawei's P9 and P9 Plus flagships come with dual Leica cameras
It's no secret that dual rear camera smartphones are "in" right now -- LG's G5 is one, plus Apple's upcoming iPhone 7 is rumored to have similar technology -- and Huawei is not one to be left behind.
At an event in London on Wednesday, Huawei launched its new global flagship smartphones: the 5.2-inch Huawei P9 and the slightly more powerful 5.5-inch Huawei P9 Plus.
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Both phones come equipped with dual, 12-megapixel Leica-branded cameras on the back, but Huawei is trying something different: One camera "specializes" in capturing color, while the other is best at taking monochrome photos. The result, according to Huawei, are photos that have vivid colors, as well as great depth and detail, even in low-light conditions.
We've heard the spiel about amazing smartphone photos before, but Huawei has several tricks up its sleeve beyond the dual lenses and the Leica signature (we've contacted Huawei about the exact nature of its partnership with Leica, but have not yet heard from them).
UPDATE: April 6, 2016, 3:46 p.m. CEST A Huawei spokesperson told us the two companies have "co-engineered" the lenses.
The company claims it's the first to have incorporated a dedicated depth measurement chip into a smartphone, and it also touts its proprietary hybrid-focus technology. We'll know more about how all this works in practice when we test the new phones, but, for now, Huawei's approach sounds pretty fresh.
As far as other specifications go, the new devices are powerhouses. They boast Huawei's latest Kirin 955 octa-core chip, full HD screen, fingerprint scanner on the back and Android 6.0, coupled with Huawei's own EMUI 4.1 user interface.
The differences between the two are slight: Both phones come with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, but the smaller P9 can also be had with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. Both have an 8-megapixel selfie camera on the front, but only the P9 Plus comes with autofocus. Finally, the battery on the P9 Plus is slightly bigger: 3,400mAh versus P9's 3,000mAh.
Both devices will become available in select European and Middle East markets as well as China on April 16. The price for the 3GB version of the P9 is €599 ($680), while the 4GB variant costs €649 ($736). The larger P9 Plus costs €749 ($850).
Along with the new phones, Huawei also launched the TalkBand B3, a new iteration of its wearable smartphone companion that doubles as a fully functional headset. Priced either €169 ($192), €199 ($226) or €249 ($283) depending on the materials and color variant, it has a curved PMOLED display with an 80x128 pixel resolution, a 91mAh battery and is dust and water resistant. It syncs with your phone, tracks your health, and lets you make calls by talking directly into its dual microphones.
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Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
