Huawei P50 Pocket, a new alternative to Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3

27/12/2021

Huawei has officially unveiled the Huawei P50 Pocket, and it seems the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 has some competition as the most stylish foldable phone

The Huawei P50 Pocket closely resembles Samsung’s impressive effort, with the same kind of clamshell form factor and an even more pronounced fashion-friendly design. However, it reduces the gap between the sides when closed to zero. It’s also skinnier in this closed position at just 15.2mm thick, whereas the wedge-shaped Flip 3 ranges from 15.9mm to 17.1mm.

Once unfolded, the Huawei P50 Pocket packs a 6.9-inch 1,188 x 2,790 OLED with a 120Hz refresh rate. There’s a familiar side-mounted fingerprint sensor house in the power button.

The stand-out feature of this phone is the two circular elements positioned on the outer case – one for the camera module, and the other a 1.04-inch 340 x 340 display for heads-up notifications and widgets. It’ll also show discrete turn-by-turn directions while navigating.

Also notable is the glitzy textured finishes that it comes in. There’s a Diamond White model and a golden leaf-imbued Premium Edition made in conjunction with designer Iris Van Herpen.

One element that appears to be a notable progression from the Galaxy Z Flip 3 is the camera. While the latter disappointed in the photographic department, the Huawei P50 Pocket goes with decent-sounding 40MP f/1.8 main camera, together with a 13MP f/2.2 ultra-wide.

Most intriguing is a third 32MP f/1.8 “super spectrum” camera, which enables you to capture fluorescent shots that pull out typically unseen details from shots.

You also get a hole-punch front camera, but the P50 Pocket’s foldable nature and external display makes it relatively easy to use that main camera for selfies.

It’s powered by a Snapdragon 888 SoC, so it’s nice and fast, but also set to look a little outdated in just a few weeks as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 starts to hit devices. This is also the 4G version of the chip, so there’s no 5G connectivity.

You also get a 4,000mAh battery, which isn’t huge for a phone of these specs.

With prices starting from ¥8,988 (about SGD $1913.19) for the 8GB of RAM / 256GB storage model, and moving up to ¥10,988 (about SGD $2338.91) for 12GB of RAM and 512GB, this is a premium foldable that comes in a little dearer than its Samsung rival.

It’s launching in China today, but ongoing US sanctions against Huawei mean that it’s unlikely to launch in many other territories.