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This is it. Honor has finally taken the wraps off its first smartphone since Huawei sold its sub-brand to a state-owned consortium led by phone distributor Digital China and the Shenzhen government.

(Update, February 23: There’s an indication that the Honor V40 is finally ready for a global release — and with Google services at that.)

The Honor V40 has gone official for the Chinese market, launching alongside products like the Honor MagicBook 14 and MagicBook 15 2021 laptop models powered by an 11th-generation Intel Core chip and the Honor GS Pro x Discovery smartwatch.

The V40 is priced at ¥3,599 (around P26,687 or $555) for the base unit with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The version with 256GB of storage retails at ¥3,999 (P29,653 or $617).

SEE ALSO: MediaTek beats Qualcomm to become top chipmaker in Q3 2020

Most of the leaks were right all along. The phone is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ 5G chipset, not a Kirin SoC. It features a 1/1.56-inch 50-megapixel RYYB main camera, a 16-megapixel dual selfie sensor, a 6.72-inch curved OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, and 4,000mAh battery that supports 66-watt wired and 50-watt wireless charging. It also gets a GPU Turbo X acceleration engine for gaming purposes.

Honor V40 official product video

Will the Honor V40 ship with Google Mobile Services globally?

Then there’s the elephant in the room: Will its global version — supposedly called the Honor View 40 — finally have Google Play Store and apps because it’s not already tied with U.S.-sanctioned Huawei?

Unfortunately, we don’t have an answer yet, as Honor hasn’t announced details of the V40’s international availability. But there’s an encouraging development. Reuters has reported that the company already confirmed signing partnerships with major chip suppliers such as Intel and Qualcomm. Technology firms AMD, MediaTek, Micron Technology, Microsoft, Samsung, SK Hynix, and Sony were also mentioned.

READ ALSO: US govt adds Xiaomi to investment blacklist and Here’s the easiest way to run Google apps on a Huawei device

What’s more, one of Reuters‘ supplier sources said “Honor becoming a separate entity from Huawei was enough for suppliers to supply components.”

There’s no mention of software entities, however, so we’re tempering our expectations. It’s still an interesting development, though, and we can’t wait for the global launch of the Honor V40 — or Honor View 40 — to find out if things are really looking up for Huawei’s former sub-brand.

Honor V40 specs

• 6.72-inch curved OLED with dual punch-hole display, 2,676 x 1,236 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 300Hz touch-sampling rate
• 7nm octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ processor with 5G
• Mali-G77 MC9 GPU
• 8GB RAM
• 128GB/256GB storage
• Triple 50-megapixel (main), 8-megapixel (ultra wide), 2-megapixel (macro) rear cameras
• Dual 16-megapixel, secondary front cameras
• Fingerprint reader (under-display)
• 4,000mAh battery with 66-watt fast wired charging, 50-watt fast wireless charging
• Magic UI 4.0 based on Android 10
• Colors: Magic Night Black, Titanium Silver, and Rose Gold

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