Lite versions of Huawei phones are usually sold in a limited number of countries, and the firm has decided to soft-launch the P40 Lite in Spain a few weeks before the main P40 launch event in Paris.
There’s probably a good reason for the lack of fanfare: the P40 Lite is essentially a rebranded Nova 6 SE, a phone that launched in China in December 2019.
The rebrand is neither here nor there: the P40 Lite looks to be a solid choice for a sub-€300 phone with a nearly all-screen display with a punch-hole selfie camera and a four-lens arrangement at the back reminiscent of the Mate 20 Pro (a setup which clearly inspired Apple to use on the iPhone 11 Pro).
Here are the P40 Lite’s main specs:
- 4in LCD display, 2310×1080 pixels
- Kirin 810 (Mali-G52 GPU)
- 6GB RAM + 128GB storage
- 48Mp main camera, 8Mp wide-angle, 2Mp macro, 2Mp depth sensor
- 16Mp selfie camera
- Side-mounted fingerprint scanner
- Android 10 + EMUI 10
- Huawei Media Services
- 4200mAh battery + 40W SuperCharge
- 7mm, 183g
- 3.5mm headphone jack
There are slight differences between the P40 Lite and the nova 6 SE, including 6GB rather than 8GB of RAM and no 5G version. But you wouldn’t expect those features at this price.
The phone will be available to pre-order from Huawei’s online store and if you do so you’ll get a free pair of Freebuds 3 true wireless earbuds. As they cost €189 alone, this is a great pre-order deal. It will begin shipping 2 March.
There are three colour options: Sakura Pink, Crush Green and Midnight Black.
It’s unlikely the P40 Lite will be sold in the UK, and remember that it although it has Android 10, it does not ship with Google services. Also note that the P40 Lite can’t shoot 4K video: it tops out at 1080p at 30fps.
Huawei has announced Lite versions of flagship phones before the main launch event in previous years, and it has also rebranded nova models to Lite as well: the nova 4e became the P30 Lite in the UK and US.
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Author: Jim Martin, Executive Editor
Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.