Summary

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Despite Huawei's setbacks with the USA, some of the brand's smartphone models remain interesting. Here are our recommendations for finding the best Huawei phone.

The best Huawei smartphones

Life without Google7 /10

Huawei Mate 40 Pro

The test €1,199Top of the range7 /10

Huawei P40 Pro

The test 949 €

Let's not beat around the bush: Huawei is doing badly. From a challenger who was about to become an equal to Samsung or Apple, the Chinese firm is reduced to fighting for its survival after three years of American sanctions. To the point that the firm is no longer even in the world's top 5.

Admittedly, progress has been made, notably with the introduction of Petal Search for research and Petal Maps for mapping, but we are still far from parity with Google. We therefore necessarily recommend these new terminals without Google with much more reluctance. The most hackers can try to reintegrate Google services themselves, but not everyone will want to go through these more or less reliable solutions that can affect the security of your data.

These services have become too essential to be able to do without them without significantly degrading the experience. And if some older models like the excellent P30 Pro are still sold, they clearly show the weight of the years and a price today too high for what they offer.

Note that Honor, the brand's former subsidiary, recently became independent. More affordable and aimed primarily at young people, the latter offers alternatives to Huawei's top of the range at a good price-quality ratio. To see over time how it will evolve away from the parent company, especially since it is already in the sights of certain American politicians. You will find the best Honor models here.

Huawei Mate 40 ProLife without Google

7 /10Product sheetSee the Huawei test €1,199Available at €1,199 on Huawei

A year after the Mate 30 Pro, the Mate 40 Pro is the brand's latest very high-end model designed to do without Google services. It was therefore expected at the turn, in particular to see the progress made on the software side.

Let's get rid of the hardware part right away: at this price, Huawei had to do a flawless job and the contract is fulfilled. The design is polished and the finish impeccable, be careful all the same, it is very large with its 6.76-inch OLED panel. The latter offers a refresh rate of 90 Hz and very good brightness. Only the color calibration is a bit behind.

As for the processor, the Kirin 9000 competes without worries with the Snapdragon 865, with the added bonus of autonomy that exceeds two days and ultra-fast charging thanks to the 66 W charger delivered! 5G is also obviously part of it.

The Huawei Mate 40 Pro in hand // Source: Arnaud Gelineau – Frandroid

As for the photo, it ranks among the best of the moment without any worries, with the only small defect of oversaturated colors that sometimes turn into a caricature.

But beyond this technical excellence, it is the software part that had to convince and unfortunately on this point things are not yet at the level. If Huawei Mobile Services have made great progress, it is difficult to replace the Google ecosystem with the same level of quality.

Whether it's Petal Search or Petal Maps mapping, Huawei's services aren't ridiculous. But we have to admit that they cannot yet compete with their Google equivalents.

The most annoying point is probably the store: even accepting that the AppGallery focuses on the most popular apps, we see that they are not all there. This is simply not acceptable for such an expensive smartphone. The most handy among you will be able to go through third-party applications to install Google services, but we remain at the mercy of unknown developers.

This is where the problem lies, the Mate 40 Pro is a very good phone, but the absence of Google is still not filled and the efforts required are difficult to justify given the price...

We dig deeper into the Mate 40 Pro in our full review.

Where to buy the Huawei Mate 40 Pro at the best price?

Huawei P40 ProThe top of the range

7 /10Product sheetSee the Darty test €949Available at €949 on Darty

We are continuing the Huawei P40 Pro. Released in the spring of 2020, this new flagship is very interesting in terms of hardware, but it still does not have Google services.

Huawei P40 Pro // Source: Frandroid

It's a shame, a shame even, because between its excellent 6.58-inch AMOLED screen, its impeccable design, its performance provided by a SoC Kirin 990 and above all its photo module with four very high quality sensors, the P40 Pro has everything to please. Add to that a very satisfactory autonomy and you get an almost perfect smartphone.

In other words, on all technical criteria, Huawei is almost flawless. Unfortunately, the software, without the support of Google, is amputated by far too many functions and applications for us to be able to recommend it. We will therefore prefer the former flagship that is the P30 Pro on the high-end segment. You can read our Huawei P40 Pro review to convince yourself.

Where to buy the Huawei P40 Pro at the best price?See more offers

Before buying a Huawei smartphone

🤔 Who is Huawei?

To put it simply: Huawei is a Chinese telecommunications giant and today one of the largest companies in the country with a turnover that exceeded 120 billion dollars in 2019. If it is best known to the general public for its smartphones, tablets and PCs, it also designs 4G and 5G telecommunications antennas, and competes on this point with Ericsson and Nokia in particular. It also has many subsidiaries, including HiSilicon, which notably designs the processors integrated into the brand's telephones.

🇺🇸 What happened between the USA, Donald Trump and Huawei?

What is nicknamed "the Huawei affair" is a long story that can be summarized very quickly as follows: Huawei was suspected of wanting to spy on Americans. The Americans, at the instigation of President Trump, have decided to sanction Huawei by prohibiting it from installing Google services (among others) on its – new – smartphones. There have of course been many ups and downs, but we are there as far as telephones are concerned. For all the details, we invite you to consult our detailed recap of the Huawei case.

↗️ Will my Huawei smartphone be updated?

A priori yes. Despite the US measures, Huawei still has access to AOSP, the open source version of Android, which continues to be updated by Google, both in terms of security and functionality. However, this will not allow you to benefit from Google services again if they are not present. The case is not over, however, and we are not immune to new developments.

📲 What apps are available without Google services?

To compensate for the absence of Google services and the Play Store, Huawei offers “AppGallery”. This app store has a few essentials, but the proposition is very — very — far from living up to the Play Store. Also affected by the retaliatory measures, companies like Netflix, Facebook or Snapchat cannot offer their apps on the Chinese store. It's unfortunate to say the least, but there are still web interfaces for some of them. Some European applications, such as Spotify for example, are present.

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