SpecEagle
SpecEagle review · Huawei

Huawei Mate 40 review: Compact Kirin 9000E flagship with 90Hz OLED and Leica triple-camera.

SpecEagle Editorial·Oct 2020·$899
Overall
80/100
Class rank
#45 of 182
Tier
Flagship
Buy?
At the right price
The verdict, up front

Why the Mate 40 mattered

The Mate 40 was the last Huawei flagship with full Kirin silicon at 5nm — sanctions later forced Huawei to use older nodes — making it a collector's milestone for fans of HiSilicon's pre-trade-ban engineering peak.

01Display

84/100

84/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2020.

TypeOLED, 90Hz, HDR10
Size6.5 inches, curved
Resolution1080 x 2376 px

02Camera

86/100

At 86/100 this is one of the strongest camera showings among flagship phones of 2020 — 8 points above the cohort average.

Main50 MP Sony IMX700 RYYB, f/1.9, OIS
Ultrawide16 MP, f/2.2
Telephoto8 MP, f/2.4, 3x optical
Selfie13 MP, f/2.4

03Performance

84/100

84/100 puts it above the 81-point average for flagship phones of 2020.

ChipsetHiSilicon Kirin 9000E (5nm)
CPU1x A77 @ 3.13 + 3x A77 + 4x A55
GPUMali-G78 MP22 (vs MP24 on Pro)

04Battery

80/100

80/100 puts it above the 77-point average for flagship phones of 2020.

Capacity4200 mAh
WiredSuperCharge 40W
Wireless40W

05Build

82/100

82/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2020.

What works
  • Kirin 9000E 5nm node a generation ahead in efficiency
  • Best-in-class low-light camera (RYYB sensor)
  • 40W wireless matched 40W wired
What doesn't
  • No GMS hurt Western sales
  • Mate 40 Pro's extra GPU cores tempted buyers to upgrade
  • IP53 only
Cross-shop it against
Galaxy Note 10+
$1099 · score 90/100

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 182-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .