The Huawei P40 will be the first major competitor to Samsung's Galaxy S20. Even in its basic form, the S20 has a great camera. The triple array on the back and one front sensor took many high-quality photos in tests of the recently announced phone. We had expected Huawei's next P series to appear at the end of March, but we have already seen it in disguised form.

Digital Trends managed to get a sneak preview of the Huawei P40, along with photos of the handsets that will replace the P30 and P30 Pro. However, if you read the text on the phone, you will see that technically this is not a Huawei phone, but a "Polarie" phone with a lens by "Blink" rather than Huawei's longtime photography partner, Leica.

This is actually a basic P40, not a P40 Pro, so what you're looking at would be comparable to the Galaxy S20; the P40 Pro, depending on the exact specs Huawei decides to give the new device, would probably be the S20 Plus and S20 Ultra would fit somewhere in between.

Housed in a handsome reflective blue body, as seen on the back of the phone, and stacked vertically in the upper left corner of the phone are the three main camera lenses and a small sensor on the side. It is not too much to assume that these will be the main camera, a telephoto camera, an ultra-wide angle camera, and a time-of-flight sensor that will help determine depth to apply blur-like image effects. The megapixels for these three cameras are rumored to be 52MP, 40MP, and the telephoto sensor is 8MP. The last one is considerably smaller than the 64MP sensor used by the S20, but that won't matter if Huawei improves the optical zoom factor so that you don't need as large a sensor to take good zoom photos.

Like the P30, this P40 prototype features a curved back, but the corners appear to be more rounded for greater comfort when holding the phone or carrying it in a pocket. On the bottom is the ubiquitous USB-C port, but unfortunately, the headphone jack that was present on the standard P30 is now gone. The display is not shown in any of the photos, but we are told that, like the P30 Pro, the screen is curved, but not as dramatically, unlike the "Horizon" display that Huawei uses on the Mate 30 Pro. In other words, the P40 looks less impressive, but hopefully a bit easier to use. This preview model is thicker than the P30, so hopefully that means more internal upgrades, including a new Kirin 990 5G-compatible CPU, a larger battery, etc.

Some aspects of this design could change before the March 26 launch event Huawei is planning for the P40. We expect at least the P40 and P40 Pro to be unveiled here, but there are also rumors of a P40 Pro Premium Edition, perhaps a model that will go up against the Galaxy S20 Ultra. Huawei is also in the habit of releasing "Lite" versions of its P series, but we may have to wait a few months before those appear.

However, the P40 has two major problems. First, it has not yet been released. Second, unless Huawei and the U.S. government reach a settlement in the very near future, the P40 series will be a tough sell for many users, as it will be launched without Google apps. Therefore, if you want an excellent Android phone with the expected apps, plus a great display, great camera, and good battery life in a compact frame, the Samsung Galaxy S20 is still an excellent phone.