Huawei P40 Pro vs Mate 40 Pro: Either One or Neither One?

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Photo by Guillaume Bolduc on Unsplash

Luis Silva (December 2020, updated: March 2021)

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Introduction

In November of 2020, Huawei launched its Mate 40 Pro. The P40 Pro, however, has seen the light of day in April of 2020.

In this article, we see how the P40 Pro and the Mate 40 Pro compare to each other to help you decide and see which one of these is the right one for you.

If you have the time, click here to skip the spoilers and continue to the full comparison.

The price round is no contest. The P40 Pro sounds like a bargain compared to the Mate 40 Pro. Keep this in mind when comparing both Huaweis.

You'll also see down below a "Tek-Score" for every section that we analyze. We even assessed the worth of all specifications to make it easier for you to perceive the difference between them. The global score will help you compare them to other phones because you'll probably have other phones in mind.  ? 

This score is consumer-based from research done by Globalwebindex.com about the most desired smartphone features by consumers.

For additional information regarding our smartphone comparisons, check this FAQ.

Some features have a colored bar next to them. That can help you understand how they relate to the ones from similarly priced smartphones.  ? 

Here is their competitors' full list: i  but basically, we include every smartphone within a 20+20% price range, up and down.

Some items are underlined, and you can tap to access our corresponding eight top 10 listings for every budget.

Price*			vs.
Device	P40 Pro	Mate 40 Pro
Release Date	2020, April	2020, November	0y.
OS Updates	2 years	2 years	0y.
Security Updates	2 years	2 years	0y.

*Reference: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

Performance

Inside the Mate 40 Pro is the Hisilicon Kirin 9000 SoC, while on the P40 Pro, there's the Hisilicon Kirin 990 chipset.

Now about the graphics chipset, while the former has a Mali-G78 MP24, the latter features a Mali-G76 MP16.

On the multicore portion of Geekbench 5, which measures overall performance, the Mate 40 Pro was, on average, 16% quicker while finishing its tests. On a day-to-day basis, it won't be that noticeable.  ? 

By the way, you can define both of them as high-end.

They both feature the Android 10 and EMUI 10 OS.

Some users did install the Google Play Store on recent Huawei phones, but please be aware that officially you won't get Google apps, and some essential apps may be missing too on both of them.

Performance*			vs.
Features	P40 Pro	Mate 40 Pro
SoC	Hisilicon Kirin 990	Hisilicon Kirin 9000
Graphics	Mali-G76 MP16	Mali-G78 MP24
Geekbench 5 Score	3197	3704	507
OS	Android 10 and EMUI 10	Android 10 and EMUI 10
Tek-Score	7.3	8.2	0.8

*Reference: Apple iPhone 12.

Display

The P40 Pro has a 6.5-inch AMOLED screen, which is slightly smaller than the Mate 40 Pro's 6.7-inch AMOLED display. Which one would you choose? AMOLED has perfect contrast and viewing angles, but its whites do hurt the battery life.

The Mate 40 Pro has a higher-resolution 1344x2772 Quad HD display, and the P40 Pro makes do with a 1200x2640 Full HD panel.

Screen bezels are shrinking in size almost every passing day, so be aware: You may have to add tempered glass to your next phone because none of these have Gorilla Glass or anything like it.

If you're looking for the Always-On-Display feature, rest assured: it's here on both.

If you're looking for the brightest display, the P40 Pro will deliver 605 nits, while the Mate 40 Pro does 807 nits.  ? 

Most phones from this price range average at 782 nits, but the P40 Pro stays at 177 nits below that.

Both phones support HDR10 video formats.

If high refresh rates are the future, then these two can do 90hz.

Considering the P40 Pro, you should know that 95% of its rivals can play HDR content. Plus, all of them have an AMOLED screen, 91% have an Always-On display, and 82% have Gorilla Glass 6 or better.

Compared to the Mate 40 Pro, as a reference, all of its rivals can play HDR content, have an AMOLED screen, and have Gorilla Glass 6 or better, and 78% of them offer you more than 60hz of refresh rate and have an Always-On display.

Display Density (DPIs)*			vs.
Features	P40 Pro	Mate 40 Pro
Size	6.5	6.7	0.2
Screen Type	AMOLED	AMOLED
Resolution (px)	1200x2640	1344x2772	557568
Refresh Rate	90hz	90hz	0
Dots per Inch	446.14	459.80	13.65
Always-On-Display	Yes	Yes
Notch	Hole	Hole
Peak Brightness	605 nits	807 nits	202
HDR	HDR10	HDR10
Sub Tek-Score	8.7	9.2	0.4
Protection	-	-
Tek-Score	3.1	3.2	0.2

*Reference: Sony Xperia 1.

Cameras

What about its shooters? Together, a whopping 50 MP sensor, an aperture of f/1.9, a 23mm wide-angle lens, one flash LED, HDR capabilities, and Optical Image Stabilization makes up the P40 Pro camera set. Adding to that, you'll still get the ability to record videos at up to 2160p.

You'll also find two other cameras, one with 12 MP, an aperture of f/3.4 and an astounding 125mm telephoto lens. And another with 40 MP (f/1.8) with an 18mm ultra-wide-angle lens, plus a depth sensor.

Just so you know: You can take a 50 Megapixels photo, zoom in and crop, and get 2x of optical zoom: by trimming it into a 12 Megapixels photo.

The P40 Pro and the P30 Pro share the same ability to do 50x hybrid zoom. It isn't an optical zoom, but (thanks to AI) it is much better than digital zoom.

Its selfie camera features a generous 32 MP sensor with an f/2.2 aperture and a 26 mm wide-angle lens.

DxOMark has rated this camera with a score of 137. If you add the telephoto and wide-angle lenses, it'll get 153 points. For a thorough review, click here.

I hope this helps: you should know that all of its rivals can record videos in 4K or more, have an ultra-wide-angle lens, and feature Optical Image Stabilization. On the other hand, only 5% of them feature a macro lens.

As you're about to see below, the Mate 40 Pro pretty much has the same 50 MP shooter. You'll also get two additional sensors, one with 12 MP, an aperture of f/3.4 and an astounding 125mm telephoto lens, and another with 20 MP (f/1.8) with an 18mm ultra-wide-angle lens.

For your information: If you zoom in and crop a 50 Megapixels photo, you can get the same results as you'd get on a 12 Megapixels 2x optical zoom camera, just like the P40 Pro.

You can get selfies with 13 MP Megapixels. It has a lens with f/2.4 of aperture and a 18 mm ultra-wide-angle lens.

DxOMark's gurus gave this shooter a score of 140. Plus, combining with the telephoto and wide-angle lenses, this score goes up to 156 points. If you want to know more about every tidbit, click here.

Last (but not least), just so you know, just like the other device, all of its rivals can record videos in 4 or 8K, feature a telephoto lens, have an ultra-wide-angle lens, and feature Optical Image Stabilization. Regardless, none of them feature a macro lens.

Looking at DxO's ranking, one can conclude that the P40 Pro is approximately 33% above other competitors in its class. However, none of these stand out.

If you're not a numbers person, we can tag these two as high-end.

Picture Quality*			vs.
Primary Camera	P40 Pro	Mate 40 Pro
Megapixels	50	50	0
Aperture	1.9	1.9	0.0
Lens	23mm	23mm	0
Lens Type	Wide-Angle	Wide-Angle
Flash	1	1	0
HDR	Yes	Yes
OIS	Yes	Yes
Video	2160	2160	0
Score	153	156	3

*Reference: Huawei Mate 40 Pro.

Extra Camera(s)	P40 Pro	Mate 40 Pro	vs.
Megapixels	12	12	0
Aperture	3.4	3.4	0.0
Lens	125mm (5.4x zoom)	125mm (5.4x zoom)	0
Lens Type	Telephoto lens	Telephoto lens
Megapixels	40	20	-20
Aperture	1.8	1.8	0.0
Lens	18mm	18mm	0
Lens Type	Wide-Angle	Wide-Angle
Score	16	16	0

Selfie Camera	P40 Pro	Mate 40 Pro	vs.
Megapixels	32	13	-19
Aperture	2.2	2.4	0.2
Lens	26mm	18mm	-8

	P40 Pro	Mate 40 Pro	vs.
Tek-Score	9.0	9.2	0.2

Body

The P40 Pro comes at 158x72 mm (6.23x2.84 inches). The Mate 40 Pro came out 0.16 inches (4 mm) taller and 0.12 inches (3 mm) larger.

These two have about the same thickness: 9 mm (0.35 inches).

A front and back glass body does make these phones look premium on your hands. With both Huaweis weighing about 209 g. (7.37 oz) there isn't much to consider here. But because screen size also matters, the P40 Pro has a "weight to screen size" score of 3.1, showing it's kind of weighty for its screen size. The Mate 40 Pro, on the other hand, has 3.4, which suggests it's considerably hefty too.  ? 

You can have the P40 Pro in Silver Frost, Deep Sea Blue, Blush Gold, Ice White, and Black. And you can compare that with the Mystic Silver, Black, White, Green, and Yellow, which comes with the Mate 40 Pro.

If the P40 Pro is big enough for you, then excellent. Otherwise, the other one is more or less the same here.

Is the lack of a fingerprint scanner a deal-breaker to you? It doesn't matter because both have one.

The P40 Pro truly is water-resistant. It can be submerged 1 to 3 meters deep, on par with the Mate 40 Pro. But remember: it's for a maximum period of half an hour, and it's standby mode only. So don't take photos underwater.

Looks*			vs.
Body	P40 Pro	Mate 40 Pro
Size	158 x 72 x 9 mm (5.57 x 2.54 x 0.32 in)	162 x 75 x 9 mm (5.71 x 2.65 x 0.32 in)	6966
Weight	209 g. (7.37 oz)	212 g. (7.48 oz)	3
Build	Front and back glass	Front and back glass
Colors	Silver Frost, Deep Sea Blue, Blush Gold, Ice White, and Black	Mystic Silver, Black, White, Green, and Yellow
Screen To Body Ratio	90.26%	93.57%	3.31
Disp.Size To Weight Score	3.1	3.4	0.3
Looks	10.0/10	10.0/10	0.0
Waterproof	IP68	IP68
Biometrics	Under Display Fingerprint	Under Display Fingerprint and Face ID
Tek-Score	6.9	6.8	-0.1

*100% = 4+ colors + front and back glass + S2BR: 86+%.

Battery

Looking at these numbers, the Huawei Mate 40 Pro, with its battery capacity of 4400 mAh, should be a winner. But how does that reflect day-to-day usage? If you do a full charge and run these tests, that's how the P40 Pro performs:  ? 

• From 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you'll be at 83% of the battery charge.
• After 1 hour of talking, 3 hours of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, this phone should end up with 70%.
• By talking for 1 hour, browsing the web for 1 hour, and playing videos for 3 hours, you'll likely end up with 72% of the battery charge.

And these are Mate 40 Pro's patterns:

• By talking for 1 hour, browsing the web for 1 hour, and playing videos for 1 hour, you'll have 83% of the battery remaining.
• From 1 hour of talking, 3 hours of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you'll still have 69% left for the rest of the day.
• From 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 3 hours of video playback, you'll likely end up with 71% of the battery charge.

I think this isn't surprising at all, but there's no real difference here.

Both phones support fast-charging. You can charge the P40 Pro at a maximum of 40w/hour and the Mate 40 Pro up to 66w/hour.

It's good to know that both Huaweis support wireless charging at up to 27w vs. 50w.

You can wirelessly charge any compatible device from these smartphones. How cool is that?

The Mate 40 Pro does charge quicker. Its competitors usually sit at nearly 31w.

Mate 40 Pro's Quick wireless charging is likewise snappy. That's something you rarely see at this price range.

Battery*			vs.
Features	P40 Pro	Mate 40 Pro
Capacity (mAh)	4200	4400	200
1h Talk + 1h Web + 1h Video	83% left	83% left	0
1h Talk + 3h Web + 1h Video	70% left	69% left	-1
1h Talk + 1h Web + 3h Video	72% left	71% left	-1
Bat. To Phone Size Score  ?	5.3	3.7	-1.7
Sub Tek-Score	7.5	7.4	-0.1
Fast Charging	40w	66w	26
Wireless Charging	27w	50w	23
Reverse Charging	27w	5w	-22
Tek-Score	7.8	8.6	0.8

*Reference: Samsung Galaxy A31.

Storage

Huawei put 8GB of RAM and 128GB of built-in storage on the P40 Pro. It isn't an issue because there's always the Nano Memory card expandable storage solution.

The Mate 40 Pro offers 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. You can also add a Nano Memory card if you want. You may already know, but you can get more RAM but less storage by picking any rival at that price range. 11Gb for RAM and 156Gb for storage, on average.

Storage*			vs.
Features	P40 Pro	Mate 40 Pro
RAM (GB)	8GB	8GB	0
Internal (GB)	128GB	256GB	128
Micro SD	Nano Memory (shared SIM slot)	Nano Memory (shared SIM slot)
Tek-Score	7.5	10.0	2.5

*Internal Storage + 256GB Memory Card (Max: 512GB).

Connectivity

Each one has its Bluetooth version: The P40 Pro has 5.1, and the Mate 40 Pro has 5.2. Both phones have NFC.

About the 3.5mm jack: Now may be the time to consider moving to wireless earbuds. Want a piece of advice? Forget about adapters and go for the wireless buds. Luckily, you can still get it on other phones if you don't mind searching for them. The Sony Xperia 1 II can give you a headphone jack.

You can connect the P40 Pro to (LTE and) 5G networks.

Connectivity			vs.
Features	P40 Pro	Mate 40 Pro
Network	5G	LTE
Bluetooth	5.1	5.2
NFC	Yes	Yes
3.5mm jack	No	No
Tek-Score	5.1	5.1	0.0

Price

The Huawei P40 Pro surely wins over its sibling in this round. That, of course, depends on the place and the deals that you'll eventually find. If you're going for the Mate 40 Pro, you'll end up paying a bit more, but I believe that it shouldn't come as a surprise at all.

Let's see if it really worths it or not.

Here are the best deals on some major online stores:

I earn a small fee from qualifying purchases. It doesn't affect the price you pay nor my opinions, but it will mean a lot if you click on one of these buttons before purchasing your next phone. You'll be helping to take this to the next level.

Prices on eBay are in $US but Europe-based. You can click to check the prices in your country.

Prices marked with ! are from renewed/refurbished/carrier-locked phones (except eBay prices that, as a last resort, can be from bids or used devices).

How much of a "phone" can your money buy?
That's how much "score" you can get with $100 based on the global score that you'll see in the next section (higher is better).

Have you found better prices elsewhere? The formula is simple: score/price*100.

Value for money	P40 Pro	Mate 40 Pro	VS
Amazon	0.88	0.62	-0.26
eBay	0.90	-	-
Best Buy	-	-	-
Walmart	-	-	-

Also, don't forget to check the latest deals from these four stores, and the state of the art on mobile technology, if you don't want to overpay on your next smartphone.

Related articles:

Best smartphone deals

The Best Unbiased Smartphones For All Budgets

Smartphone Specs Statistics: The State Of The Art (Q1 2021)

Want to know about that global rate? For reference purposes, I'll tell you where most of its rivals average. They're at 7.3 (for the P40 Pro) and 7.6 (for the Mate 40 Pro).

Verdict: What Makes the Huawei Mate 40 Pro Stand Out?

If you can afford the Mate 40 Pro, my advice is to just ignore the P40 Pro. The former is an improvement in every way.

Indeed, the P40 Pro should be good enough for most people, but the Mate 40 Pro takes it to another level.

Did you notice how fast it can charge? Not only with a wired charger, but also wirelessly. Although the P40 Pro can reverse fast charge other phones (providing they support fast wireless charging).

The Mate 40 Pro also has a higher peak brightness (+202 nits), much more internal storage (256GB vs. 128GB), and Bluetooth 5.2.

These are their main differences.

Be aware, though, that none of them has any decent glass protection, nor they have Google services.

Pros	P40 Pro	Mate 40 Pro
#1	Performance	Performance
#2	AMOLED	AMOLED
#3	Always-On-Display	Always-On-Display
#4	Cameras	Cameras
#5	Battery Life	Battery Life
#6	Fast Charging	Fast Charging
#7	Wireless Charging	Wireless Charging
#8	MicroSD Slot	MicroSD Slot
#9		Storage

Cons	P40 Pro	Mate 40 Pro
#1	Weight	Weight
#2	3.5mm Jack	3.5mm Jack
#3	Price	Price
#4	Glass Protection	Glass Protection

Relative Score*			vs.
Global Score	P40 Pro	Mate 40 Pro
Gaming Score	7.0	8.0	1.0
Tek-Score	6.92	7.75	0.83

*Reference: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

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