MANILA -- Huawei on Thursday unveiled its P40 series of photography-focused premium smartphones in a global livestream, setting aside a glitzy launch as a third of humanity hunkered down in their homes to weather the coronavirus pandemic.

For the first time, Huawei is offering the P series in 3 mainstream variants: the P40 Pro+ with 5 cameras on the back, the P40 Pro with 4 rear shooters and the P40 with a triple camera setup.

It was second virtual reveal for new hardware for Shenzhen, China-based Huawei, after the Mate line of foldable phones, tablets and laptops in February.

Apple also earlier announced its upgraded iPad Pro via online videos. The iPad Pro works with a trackpad and has upgraded cameras similar to the iPhone 11.

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The P40 Pro+ has a 50MP main camera, a 40MP ultra-wide camera, a 8MP periscope 10x telephoto, an 8MP 3x optical telephoto lens and a TOF sensor. It can zoom up to 100x with combined optics and AI.

"It's a camera monster," Huawei Consumer Business Group CEO Richard Yu said. Like past P series smartphones, Huawei tapped German lens-maker Leica to co-engineers the cameras.

The P40 Pro and P40 have 50-megapixel main cameras on the back with improved autofocus and pixel binning, promises better image quality by combining data from multiple pixels into one.

The P40 Pro adds 3 more cameras: a 40MP ultra-wide camera, a 12MP periscope 5x optical telephoto lens and a 3D time of flight sensor for depth sensing. The vanilla P40 has 2 more rear lenses: a 16MP ultra-wide camera and an 8MP telephoto shooter.

Discover what makes #VisionaryPhotography possible on the #HUAWEIP40 Series.#Specsheet
Watch our global launch LIVE now at https://t.co/QdwooYadDM pic.twitter.com/yFKe4e2lFZ

— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) March 26, 2020

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The P40 Pro+ and P40 Pro both have a nearly 6.6-inch 2,640 x 1,200 curved OLED panel with a 90hz refresh rate. The P40 has a 6.1-inch flat 2,340 x 1,080 flat OLED panel.

The first of its kind "overflow" display in the P40+ and P40 Pro wraps around the top, bottom and sides of the phone. The pill-shaped cutout for the front-facing camera allows face unlock even in low light.

The P40 Pro+ and P40 Pro both have a 4,200 mAh battery with 40W wired fast charging while the P40 packs a 3,800 mAh cell with 22.5W wired charing. All 3 phones run on Huawei's own Kirin 990 chip with EMUI 10 based on Android 10.

The P40+ have ceramic backs, available in white and black. The P40 Pro and Pro have glass backs, available in Ice White, Deep Sea Blue, Black, Silver Frost and Blush Gold.

The P40 series will go head-to-head with Samsung's Galaxy S20 series and the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max from late 2019.

In the Philippines, pre-orders will run from April 22 to 24. Customers on Lazada and MemoXpress will get P12,285 in freebies including Huawei wireless Freebuds (P8,990), Band 4 fitness tracker (P1,890), 50GB cloud storage for 1 year (P588), GCash voucher(P70), Paymaya credits (P50), P100 discount in GMovies and a 3-month Booky Prime membership.

Lazada pre-orders for the P40 can be accessed here, while P40 Pro pre-orders are accessible on this link. MemoXpress pre-orders are available on their website.

Final payment for purchases via Lazada must be settled from April 22 to 24.

From the Shoppee Flagship Store, pre-order customers will get P10,395 in freebies including Huawei Freebuds (P8,990), 50GB cloud storage for 1 year at (P588), GCash voucher (P70), Paymaya credits (P50), P100 discount in GMovies and a 3-month Booky Prime membership for for 3 months (P597).

For the P40, Shoppee customers can pre-order here while P40 Pro customers can click here.