HUAWEI all but confirms three main cameras on the P20 and P20 Plus

Flagship smartphones, and even some mid-range offerings, sport dual cameras that are used for everything from wide-angle to portrait images. HUAWEI’s P20 and P20 Plus, on the other hand, might have the honor to be the first smartphones with three main cameras.

Prior reports alluded to HUAWEI’s pair of flagship smartphones sporting three cameras, but the company sent us an invite to its March 23 press conference that all but confirms those reports.

The invite shows an image of three circles overlapping the Eiffel Tower in Paris. HUAWEI even got a little smart and asks us to “see mooore with AI.” Apart from being a blatant misspelling, the word “mooore” also contains three O’s.

HUAWEI is just playing with us at this point, but this all points to the P20 and P20 Plus sporting three main cameras. Leica is expected to co-develop the setup, which might come in at 40 MP with 5x hybrid zoom. That would beat the pants out of the OnePlus 5 and iPhone X, which go up to 2x optical zoom with their cameras.

In related news, the P20 Lite swung by the FCC with an iPhone X-like notch at the top. The P20 Lite’s notch might house the front-facing camera, earpiece, and other hardware, though the certification documents did not say more on this front.

The documents did also unveil the P20 Lite’s dimensions. They add up to approximately a 5.8- to 6.0-inch display with a 2,280 x 1,080 resolution and 19:9 aspect ratio. That is an uncommon aspect ratio to go with, since even content with an 18:9 aspect ratio will have black bars on either side.

Finally, the vertical camera setup around back means the P20 Lite might feature two main cameras.

We will learn more about the P20 family on March 27 in Paris, France.