Huawei Mate 40 first official image reveals crazy new camera design

(Image credit: Huawei)

published 17 October 2020

When it comes to introducing new smartphones as of late, many flagship devices introduce gimmicks. The LG Wing features an incredibly fascinating swivel design, for instance. Folding phones have all but taken over the tech space. If you want to stand out, you have to innovate, it seems.

It appears that manufacturer Huawei is looking to do just that with its upcoming Mate 40 smartphone. At a glance, it resembles any other upcoming device on the market, but an official teaser has revealed a unique twist.

Huawei executive, He Gang, took to Chinese social network Weibo with a very surprising photo of what appears to be a radically different form factor for the upcoming phone.

The photo, which shows off a phone mostly shrouded in shadow, appears to have an octagonal camera array. The eight-sided block is centered on the back of the phone, which denotes a very interesting design choice.

Additional details revealed in the photo include what appear to be physical buttons -- perhaps a volume rocker and a power button. Huawei has previously doffed physical buttons with models like the Mate 30 Pro.

While we've heard that the camera bump will be sizeable this time around, none of the usual tipsters pegged its shape as anything other than circular, so the official image will be a surprise to them as well.

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As far as the camera array, we can likely expect the same triple threat usually seen on Huawei phones: standard, zoom, and ultra-wide lenses. As we previously observed, it appears an additional sensor, the use for which doesn't immediately seem apparent, is included on the phone. This may be an evolution of the depth sensor seen on the Huawei Mate 30.

It's difficult to discern additional details based on this shadowy reveal, but there should be an official series of announcements coming down the pipeline soon enough. There isn't a specific date just yet as to when Huawei is expected to bring forth a reveal for the Mate 40, but there should be an announcement arriving sometime before October ends. Until then, we've got this intriguing octagonal setup to puzzle over.