New Delhi: Chinese electronics major Huawei, currently facing a disadvantage in the US as top intelligence officials have told people not to buy its devices, on Tuesday brought its flagship "P20 Pro" with world's first Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered triple rear camera system to India.
Its earlier avatar, P10, never made it to India. The last 'P' series device that arrived in the country was "P9" in 2016. Since then, Huawei has vigorously promoted its sub-brand Honor which has created a distinct space in the crowded smartphone market.
Priced at Rs 64,999, Huawei "P20 Pro" features the world's first Leica triple rear camera system which received highest overall scores by "DxOMark" in the premium smartphone segment, defeating Apple as well as Samsung devices.
"DxOMark Rankings" is a trusted industry standard for camera and lens image quality measurements and ratings.
"Huawei brand mainly works on providing state-of-the-art technology and top-of-the-line innovation. P20 Pro is the first smartphone with three cameras at the rear. We saw a great momentum on social media when we launched the device in Paris. I am confident it will appeal to our consumers in India as well," P. Sanjeev, Vice President, Sales, Huawei Consumer Business Group, told IANS.
The company also launched a lighter version "Huawei P20 lite" that will be available for Rs 19,999. Both the devices will be available on Amazon from May 3.
"This is a milestone launch for us wherein we present the best technology with the most innovative features enriching the user experience," Peter Zhai, CEO, Huawei India Consumer Business Group, told reporters here.
Zhai said that the company has been present in the country for the last 18 years and as part of its India strategy, Huawei has been consistently investing in the country to expand its footprint.
"With a clear focus on design, innovation and superior experience, Huawei is expanding its influence globally as well as in India," added Sanjeev.
Huawei P20 Pro includes AI advances to better overall smartphone experience.
P20 Pro's camera system comprises of a 40MP RGB sensor, 20MP monochrome sensor and 8MP sensor with telephoto lens for sharpness, colour accuracy, focus and contrast.
The device has 5x Hybrid Zoom for long-range photography, supports six-axis stabilisation and 960fps super-slow motion. It has 15.49cm OLED screen with ultra-thin bezels and screen-to-body ratios
Huawei P20 Pro comes with Kirin 970 processor and EMUI 8.1 based on Android 8.1 for smooth user experience. The device is embedded with a 4,000mAh battery.
Huawei P20 lite is a mid-range smartphone with 24MP front camera and a 16MP dual rear camera with an all-glass design.
P20 lite comes with a 14.83cm Full-HD Plus screen. Packed with Kirin 659 chipset, 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM, the device includes 3,000mAh battery.
In the first quarter of 2018, Huawei's sub-brand Honor entered top five smartphone brands for the first time in India, said Counterpoint Research.
Honor registered an unprecedented growth of 146 per cent owing to strong performance of its recently launched smartphones across online channels. The brand captured the fifth position with 3% market share in the Indian smartphone market.
"We will keep the momentum going and establish ourselves among the top 3 brands in the Indian market," Sanjeev told IANS.
In the US, top intelligence officials have reportedly warned Americans not to use smartphones from Chinese tech giants Huawei and ZTE over data privacy concerns.
In a statement to CNBC, the company said that "Huawei is trusted by governments and customers in 170 countries worldwide and poses no greater cyber security risk than any ICT vendor, sharing as we do common global supply chains and production capabilities".