Huawei already has three generations of foldables under its belt. But what it hasn’t done yet is a foldable in a clamshell design. Until now, that is. The Huawei P50 Pocket, which we’ve seen in this fashion editorial for Harper’s Bazaar China, has now been officially unveiled by the company in its home turf.
As with devices like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 or the resurrected Motorola Razr, the Huawei P50 Pocket stands out because of its pocketable design. And that sets it apart from Huawei’s older foldables. It does inherit something from its predecessors, though. It gets Huawei’s patented hinge mechanism, which means you can’t see a visible gap when the phone is closed. Theoretically, that can help protect the display.
The P50 Pocket gets a 6.9-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 300Hz touch sampling rate, tall 21:9 aspect ratio, and 2,790 x 1,188 resolution. Huawei says it comes with an anti-reflective top layer to reduce glare and reflection by up to 56%. It doesn’t try to hide its 10.7-megapixel under the display. Instead, there’s a cutout for it at the top of the screen.
The phone’s outer shell carries over the design language of the P50 series with those large circular patterns. But it also gets a distinctive look with the custom-made 3D structured glass design. The special edition gold has this art deco feel, while the white gets a diamond pattern. There is also a more subdued black version for those who prefer that subtle design approach.
You’ll probably want to talk more about the circular cutouts for the cover screen and the camera module. That design is not for everyone, but each has its own purpose.
The 1-inch cover screen under the camera module shows you time, date, and notifications. But it also gets service widgets for first- and third-party apps like maps, music players, and QR codes. As GSMArena noted, you can start navigating on that big screen, close the phone, and then see the directions on the cover screen.
When it comes to the cameras, the Huawei P50 Pocket inherits the P50 Pro’s Dual Matrix camera system. It combines a 10-channel multi-spectrum sensor, Huawei XD Optics, and XD Fusion Pro. This means that these cameras should get better image clarity and a high dynamic range. There are three cameras at the back, including a 40-megapixel main, 13-megapixel ultrawide, and a 32-megapixel ultra spectrum camera. That last one is expected to improve color rendering.
The Huawei P50 Pocket runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 4G chipset with 8GB or 12GB of RAM, 256GB or 512GB of storage, and HarmonyOS. It also gets a 4,000mAh battery with support for 40W wired charging, so topping this up shouldn’t take too long.
The standard version is the 8GB + 256GB configuration, and it retails for CNY 8,988 (around USD 1,411 or PHP PHP 70,624). While the special edition gold has the 12GB + 512GB trim, and it goes for CNY 10,988 (USD 1,725 or PHP 86,339). It goes on sale in China today, but Huawei hasn’t revealed any plans for international release yet. It is expected to roll out in some markets, though.
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