A beautiful phone becomes a beautiful problem
The Huawei Mate 40 Pro arrives in late 2020 as a device of genuine craftsmanship — elegant in form, capable in hardware — yet constrained by a geopolitical reality no engineer can design around. US sanctions have severed the phone from Google's ecosystem, leaving a premium instrument without the digital infrastructure that modern life depends upon. It is a reminder that in our age, a product's worth is measured not only by what it contains, but by what it can reach.
- A phone built with exceptional care — vivid display, refined camera, enduring battery — arrives hamstrung by forces entirely outside its hardware.
- US government sanctions strip the device of Google Play, Gmail, Maps, and Chrome, cutting off the arteries through which most smartphone life flows.
- Huawei's workaround — a growing app store and APK sideloading — asks users to navigate a web of deceptive download sites and unverifiable software, trading convenience for real security risk.
- The camera shows genuine promise in optical zoom and stabilization, but aggressive HDR processing and autofocus drift reveal software still catching up to its ambitions.
- Huawei's ecosystem is expanding incrementally, but the gap between its app store and Google Play remains wide enough to make this phone a poor fit for anyone who needs the full range of modern digital life.
The Huawei Mate 40 Pro is, by almost any physical measure, a premium device. Its 6.76-inch display renders text with print-like sharpness, its pearlescent back shifts through colors that seem engineered more as art than engineering, and its Kirin 9000 processor handles demanding tasks without hesitation. Hold it and the quality is unmistakable.
But the phone exists under a constraint that design cannot resolve. US government sanctions bar Huawei from Google's services — not just Gmail and Maps, but the Play Store itself. Without it, obtaining apps means navigating third-party websites cluttered with deceptive download buttons and unverifiable APK files. For a reviewer, this is an inconvenience. For someone whose phone holds banking credentials, work correspondence, and years of personal data, it is a genuine risk.
Huawei's own app store has made real progress — major apps are present, and a maps service is coming — but it remains a fundamentally limited marketplace compared to Google Play. The camera, meanwhile, shows real capability in its 5x optical zoom and smooth stabilization, though heavy-handed HDR processing undermines both stills and video in ways that software updates could plausibly fix.
The Mate 40 Pro benchmarks below rivals like the OnePlus 8T and iPhone 12, though the gap is not ruinous. What is ruinous — or at least disqualifying for most buyers — is the absence of Google's ecosystem. The hardware earns admiration. The circumstances surrounding it make it very difficult to recommend.
Huawei's Mate 40 Pro arrives as a phone caught between two worlds. On one side sits a device of genuine technical accomplishment—a 6.76-inch display so bright and sharp that text reads like print, a camera system with optical zoom that pulls distant subjects into focus with remarkable clarity, and a processor that handles demanding games without hesitation. The back of the phone shifts through colors that seem to exist between orange and blue and purple, a pearlescent finish so carefully engineered that it feels less like a phone and more like an object someone spent months perfecting. Hold it in your hand and there's no question: this is a premium device.
But the Mate 40 Pro exists under a constraint that no amount of design excellence can overcome. The US government has barred Huawei from accessing Google's services—not just Gmail and Maps and Chrome, but the Google Play Store itself, the digital marketplace where billions of people download the apps that make their phones useful. Without it, a beautiful phone becomes a beautiful problem.
Huawei has built its own app store to fill the gap, and the company has made real progress. Major names like TikTok, Snapchat, and Amazon are there. Facebook and WhatsApp can be downloaded as APK files directly from their makers' websites. But the experience of obtaining apps this way is nothing like browsing a proper store. The websites hosting these files are mined with deceptive advertisements—massive "Download Now" buttons that lead nowhere, with the actual installation link buried below in type so small you have to hunt for it. Installing software from these sources carries genuine risk. There's no way to verify whether an APK is current, whether it's been tampered with, or whether it contains malware. A reviewer testing a device can afford to take that chance. Someone storing banking information, work emails, and years of contacts on their phone cannot.
The camera system deserves its own accounting. The main sensor balances exposure well and renders colors with accuracy. The 5x optical zoom produces images with impressive detail, and even at 10x magnification the clarity holds. But the ultra-wide lens struggles—it produces shots with muted contrast and sometimes visible shifts in white balance, likely the result of aggressive HDR processing. Video recording shows similar tension between ambition and execution. The stabilization is genuinely excellent, keeping footage smooth even during fast movement. Yet the HDR mode in video is so heavy-handed that it crushes highlights and lifts shadows to the point of distortion, and the autofocus drifts noticeably when shooting at 5x zoom. These are software problems, not hardware ones. A few updates could transform the camera from good to great.
The Kirin 9000 processor inside delivers speed without lag. The phone easily manages a full day of mixed use and stretches into the next, and fast charging means a quick boost before heading out is always an option. On benchmark tests, though, it scores 7,827 on the 3D Mark Slingshot test—below the OnePlus 8T at 9,802 and the iPhone 12 at 10,988. The gap is real but not catastrophic.
Huawei is working to expand its app ecosystem. The company has created a system where users can register interest in apps not yet available, and if enough people do the same, Huawei will prioritize bringing them to the store. A maps service is launching soon. But these are incremental improvements to a fundamentally limited marketplace. For someone who wants the latest games, the newest services, the full range of what modern smartphones can do, this phone simply isn't built for them. The design is exceptional. The hardware is solid. But the absence of Google's services remains the fact that matters most, and no amount of beauty can change that equation.
Notable Quotes
Huawei has its own app store, but it's nowhere close to rivalling Google's and it makes this phone difficult to recommend over any of its rivals.— CNET review
Installing apk files from unknown sources is inherently risky. Because they don't come from official sources, you don't know if they're even up to date or if they're loaded with malware.— CNET review
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does the Google Play Store matter so much? Huawei has its own app store now.
Because the Play Store is where billions of people expect to find apps. Huawei's store is improving, but it's still relatively bare. More importantly, getting apps outside an official store means downloading APK files from websites full of fake download buttons and malware risks. It's technically possible but practically unsafe for most people.
So the phone itself is good hardware?
The hardware is genuinely impressive. The display is bright and sharp, the camera has excellent optical zoom, the processor is fast. The design is beautiful—that pearlescent finish shifts through colors depending on the light. It's a premium device in every physical sense.
Then why can't Huawei just solve this with software updates?
Some of it could be solved that way. The camera's HDR processing is too aggressive, and that's fixable. But the core problem isn't software—it's that the US government has blocked Huawei from using Google's services. No update changes that.
Who is this phone actually for, then?
Someone in a market where Google services aren't essential, or someone willing to accept the friction of sideloading apps. But for most people in the West who rely on Gmail, Google Maps, and the Play Store, it's difficult to recommend over an iPhone or Samsung phone.
Is the camera really that good?
It's good with real limitations. The main sensor and zoom lenses are strong. But the ultra-wide lens produces muted colors, and video stabilization gets confused by bright skies moving through the frame. It's capable but not exceptional—a few software tweaks could make it great.
What about battery life?
Based on real-world use, it gets through a full day comfortably with charge to spare into the next day. Fast charging helps too. That's solid, not exceptional.