For about 500 Euros, the Huawei P40 offers a lot of photo quality. The wide angle camera is top, tele unit and digital 2x zoom are among the best in this test. Only the super wide angle camera is also achieving the grade “very good”, but it does not belong to the top ranking group. Still, overall this is a very fair offer.

Wide angle (main camera) – 1.9/6.71 mm lens

(35mm equivalent: 23 mm), 50 MP sensor, JPEG with 12 or 50 MP

The P40 offers the same 50 MP wide angle camera than the P40 Pro, which makes the results look similar too. In bright light, the 50 MP JPEGs are convincing and outperform the 12 MP images in terms of image quality. This changes when the light decreases. Thanks to pixel binning, the 12 MP JPEGs score better at dawn and at night – then they show more details. Our assessment is based on the higher overall score of the 12 MP solution.

Normal focal length – 1.9/6.71 mm lens

(35mm equivalent: 46 mm), 48 MP sensor, JPEG with 12 MP

As a digital 2x zoom, the wide angle camera again makes a very good job. The resolution is high, the Dead Leaves values are good, and only at very low light, the image quality drops significantly. For a digital system, this is very convincing and totally justifies the abstinence of an optical 2x zoom.

Tele lens – 2.4/7.48 mm lens

(35mm equivalent: 80 mm), 8 MP sensor, JPEG with 12 MP

Instead of a 35m equivalent of 125mm, the tele lens “only” offers 80 mm such as the P40 Pro – which can be more practical when shooting portraits. The sensor of the tele module has a resolution of 8 MP instead of 12 MP, which Huawei then upscales to 12 MP. Still, the resulting images score with surprisingly good values for resolution and Dead Leaves. However, Huawei also heavily enhances the edges, what does not always look good and is too hard for some motives.

Super wide angle – 2.2/2.26 mm lens

(35mm equivalent: 17 mm), 16 MP sensor, JPEG with 16 MP

The P40 cannot compete with the super wide angle camera of the P40 Pro. In darkness, the differences are less relevant, as both cameras fall off – but at more lighting, the photos from the P40’s super wide angle show less details. The results of the P40’s solution resemble the super wide angle modules of the Oneplus 8 Pro and the Xiaomi Mi Note 10. However, both competitors achieve somewhat more detailed images in bright light.

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Device	Huawei P40
Average market price	480 Euro
Functionality
Image formats	JPEG, RAW
Focusing	Phase AF
ISO sensitivity	ISO auto, man: 50-409600
Exposure control	Auto, ISO/Time Shift, M
Shutter speed, Exposure correction	auto, man: 1/4000-30 s, ±4 f-stops
White balance	auto, Presets, Kelvin
Features
Display	OLED, 6,1", 2340 x 1080 Pixels
Internal memory, Memory card, USB	256 GB, Nano-Card, USB 3.1, Type C
Video	3840 x 2160 Pixels, 60 F/s
Size, Weight, Battery capacity	149 x 71 x 8 mm, 175 g, 3800 mAh

Test results
measured at	5000 \| 200 \| 5 Lux
Wide angle (main lens)
5000 Lux - Lens, Res., ISO, Exposure	1,9/6,7 mm, 4096 x 3072 Px, ISO 50, 2 ms
200 Lux - Lens, Res., ISO, Exposure	1,9/6,7 mm, 4096 x 3072 Px, ISO 200, 20 ms
5 Lux - Lens, Res., ISO, Exposure	1,9/6,7 mm, 4096 x 3072 Px, ISO 100, 11000 ms
Image stabilization	IS
Resolution Center High/Low (LP/IH)	1624 / 1537 \| 1584 / 1564 \| 1017 / 956
Resolution Edge High/Low (LP/IH)	1547 / 1280 \| 1412 / 1287 \| 956 / 917
Resolution Corners High (LP/IH)	1520 \| 1445 \| 959
Dead leaves High/Low (LP/IH)	921 / 1016 \| 902 / 893 \| 590 / 412
Artefacts High/Low	40 / 34 \| 41 / 42 \| 24 / 28
Noise (VN)/Color accuracy (deltaE)	1 / 14,4 \| 0,9 / 10,4 \| 1,2 / 11,4
Distortion (%)/Vignetting (%)	0 / 12 \| 0,1 / 14 \| 0,1 / 16
Points	76,8 \| 75,9 \| 56,6
Score Wide angle lens	94

Normal lens (2x zoom)
5000 Lux - Lens, Res., ISO, Exposure	1,9/6,70 mm, 4096 x 3072 Px, ISO 50, 3 ms
200 Lux - Lens, Res., ISO, Exposure	1,9/6,70 mm, 4096 x 3072 Px, ISO 200, 20 ms
5 Lux - Lens, Res., ISO, Exposure	1,9/6,70 mm, 4096 x 3072 Px, ISO 100, 11000 ms
Image stabilization	IS
Resolution Center High/Low (LP/IH)	1561 / 1510 \| 1506 / 1362 \| 650 / 586
Resolution Edge High/Low (LP/IH)	1562 / 1393 \| 1449 / 1265 \| 598 / 583
Resolution Corners High (LP/IH)	1511 \| 1413 \| 595
Dead leaves High/Low (LP/IH)	765 / 662 \| 692 / 504 \| 348 / 249
Artefacts High/Low	39 / 37 \| 34 / 46 \| 31 / 17
Noise (VN)/Color accuracy (deltaE)	1 / 14,8 \| 0,9 / 11,8 \| 1,4 / 15,0
Distortion (%)/Vignetting (%)	/ 12 \| / 10 \| / 17
Points	73,1 \| 69,2 \| 40,2
Score Normal lens (2x zoom)	84

Tele lens
5000 Lux - Lens, Res., ISO, Exposure	2,4/7,50 mm, 4096 x 3072 Px, ISO 50, 7 ms
200 Lux - Lens, Res., ISO, Exposure	2,4/7,50 mm, 4096 x 3072 Px, ISO 320, 30 ms
5 Lux - Lens, Res., ISO, Exposure	1,9/6,70 mm, 4096 x 3072 Px, ISO 100, 11000 ms
Image stabilization	IS
Resolution Center High/Low (LP/IH)	1586 / 1419 \| 1348 / 1121 \| 426 / 404
Resolution Edge High/Low (LP/IH)	1390 / 1302 \| 1278 / 1035 \| 423 / 403
Resolution Corners High (LP/IH)	1313 \| 1162 \| 411
Dead leaves High/Low (LP/IH)	1023 / 1046 \| 719 / 514 \| 256 / 212
Artefacts High/Low	33 / 32 \| 31 / 39 \| 25 / 11
Noise (VN)/Color accuracy (deltaE)	1 / 13,4 \| 1 / 9,7 \| 1,2 / 13,8
Distortion (%)/Vignetting (%)	0,2 / 8 \| 0,2 / 11 \| 0,2 / 15
Points	70,3 \| 57,9 \| 27,5
Score Tele lens	79

Super wide angle lens
5000 Lux - Lens, Res., ISO, Exposure	2,2/2,30 mm, 4608 x 3456 Px, ISO 50, 8 ms
200 Lux - Lens, Res., ISO, Exposure	2,2/2,30 mm, 4608 x 3456 Px, ISO 400, 40 ms
5 Lux - Lens, Res., ISO, Exposure	2,2/2,30 mm, 4096 x 3072 Px, ISO 200, 6000 ms
Image stabilization	–
Resolution Center High/Low (LP/IH)	1546 / 1489 \| 1458 / 1347 \| 902 / 825
Resolution Edge High/Low (LP/IH)	1431 / 1240 \| 1327 / 1070 \| 815 / 659
Resolution Corners High (LP/IH)	1143 \| 1087 \| 657
Dead leaves High/Low (LP/IH)	998 / 845 \| 678 / 536 \| 387 / 257
Artefacts High/Low	42 / 51 \| 46 / 59 \| 25 / 23
Noise (VN)/Color accuracy (deltaE)	0,8 / 11,5 \| 1,2 / 10,8 \| 1,7 / 11,6
Distortion (%)/Vignetting (%)	0,9 / 14 \| 0,9 / 19 \| 0,9 / 19
Points	69,2 \| 60,7 \| 43,5
Score Super Wide angle lens	79

Score 5000 \| 200 \| 5 Lux	95 \| 87 \| 54
Overall score camera qb	85