Huawei P40 Pro Teardown Is Almost Too Boring

Like a metaphorical rollercoaster ride, smartphone designs rise and fall in terms of interesting new fads and features. Of course, the same can be said for the internals that make those design changes even possible. After several innovations, it seems that smartphones are again settling down on more standard patterns and components. That seems to be the case, at least, with the Huawei P40 Pro which might make it harder to sell its self against a rather similar and more accessible Huawei P30 Pro from last year.

The Huawei P40 Pro might be as normal as you can get this year. Aside from the usual upgrades in terms of hardware specs, especially with the cameras, there are no new standout features on Huawei's early 2020 flagship. It is a phone that almost says "business as usual" in the face of many questions and doubts about the company's future.

That does make JerryRigEverything's teardown easier. No nasty surprises hiding in corners, especially if you can read Chinese warning labels, and no difficult removal or overly complex mechanisms to wrestle with. Despite that, there are some interesting design choices here and there, but nothing that makes it a radically different phone from its predecessor.

That was the point the YouTuber makes, especially when you consider that the Huawei P40 Pro is one of the most expensive "normal" phones this year and doesn't even have Google Play Store. The latter might be an immediate deal breaker for some outside of Chinese markets, no matter how good the cameras are.

Of course, some live and die by a phone's camera performance but it is increasingly becoming less of a selling point for Huawei as other OEMs start nibbling at its market share. At least when it comes to the insides, the Huawei P40 Pro may be too similar to the P30 Pro that makes that advantage almost negligible.