Huawei P20 Pro review: best Android phone of 2018 so far with 2-day battery, sophisticated ergonomic design, great rear camera that is exceptional in low light
If you've been waiting for a phone that can upset the Apple-Samsung duopoly, this is it — I've spent every waking moment …
Context & Ripple Effects
This review lands two weeks after Huawei's March launch of the P20 Pro with its 40MP triple-camera system and 4,000mAh battery, and it is the verdict that launch was waiting for: The Verge names it the best Android phone of 2018 so far, explicitly framing it as a credible challenger to the Apple-Samsung duopoly.
The praise is consistent with Huawei's trajectory through 2018 — the earlier Mate 10 Pro review already flagged exceptional battery life alongside buggy software, and the later P30 Pro review repeats the same formula a year on: class-leading low-light camera and battery, software still the weak point.
First-order effects
- Buyers weighing an Android upgrade get a new default recommendation over Samsung's flagships, directly pressuring Samsung at the moment the P20 Pro hits shelves.
- Huawei gains its strongest reviewer validation yet for the camera-first strategy it committed to at the March launch, validating the triple-camera bet against Apple and Samsung's dual-camera lineups.
Second-order effects
- Samsung and Apple face pressure to match the low-light camera and multi-day battery benchmarks the review sets, accelerating the camera-specs arms race into their next flagship cycles.
- Huawei's recurring software criticism — flagged again here and in the Mate 10 Pro and P30 Pro reviews — hands rivals a clear differentiation angle: match the hardware, beat it on software polish.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds across the Mate 20 Pro and P30 Pro generations, Huawei consolidates a position as the hardware innovator of Android while software quality caps its premium-brand ambitions — and the Mate 20 Pro's lack of US availability shows market access, not just specs, gating the duopoly challenge.
- Annualized camera leaps (triple cameras in 2018, best zoom by the P30 Pro) point toward imaging becoming the primary axis of flagship differentiation, displacing screens and processors as the headline spec.
The trend: Huawei's yearly flagship cadence is turning smartphone competition into a camera-and-battery arms race that chips at the Apple-Samsung duopoly, with software quality as its persistent ceiling.