“There was a brand called Huawei
Whose name was pronounced Wah Way
In India, it tended to be a bit of a loner
Preferring to focus on its sister Honor
But we think that’s gonna change in a big way…”
Let’s get this out of the way, darlings. A Huawei flagship could be coming to India soon – and I do not mean a flagship from its sister brand, Honor, but actually Huawei. The big etch itself! I kid you not. Am I excited? Of course, I am, even though some say it is bad for me at my age (the excitement, darlings).
Those darlings at Huawei, sweeties. They are the second biggest phone brand in the world but in India, they have so far been limited to an Honor-able mention. Extremely Honorable. So able and yet so devoted to Honor. Or at least that seems to have been the case in recent times. I remember that there was a Huawei phone that was launched in India sometime in 2014, dearies – the Huawei Honor 6. And a very impressive device that was too, for that time, you know. But the time after that has seen them focus mainly on their Honor sister brand in India, although the Nexus 6P and P9 were launched in India. Both phones were excellent but considered slightly overpriced by “budget flagship” standards, as those cutiepies, Xiaomi and OnePlus, had already fiddled with price expectations. In fact, most of us were thinking that in India, Huawei would stick to following the Honor-able path, especially as a number of high profile Huawei devices did not head India-wards (the P10, for instance, darlings).
Well, that could be changing.
A little bird – actually, three little birds, all in areas of retail (so many birds there, online and offline) – have all but confirmed that the next big Huawei flagships, the big, bad (“bad” means good, like Michael Jackson, dearies) P20 is headed for the Indian market. Now, darlings, for those of you who do not know, the P20 is the flagship from Huawei that everyone was expecting initially at the Mobile World Congress, but which is now expected to be announced next week. And like all Huawei flagships, it will “pack quite a punch” (is that for the fist or the drink, I wonder. Such cliches) both in terms of design and hardware. It is expected to be super slim, run on the latest, powerful HiSilicon Kirin chip that Huawei itself makes and of course, will come with all the bells and whistles that you would expect on an Android flagship these days – a big 18:9 aspect ratio display, stacks of RAM and storage, big battery and most interestingly, that Leica camera again, or rather Leica optics. We are hearing of 12 and 20 megapixel cameras on rear (those sweeties at Huawei had dual cameras in India way back in 2014 – remember the Honor 6 Plus, dearies?), and a 24 megapixel selfie snapper too. And of course, there will be so many shooting modes and settings to play with. And this with Android 8.1, I am old – Oreo with EMUI 8. And I can bet it will look good too (I still swoon when I see that HANDSOME Honor 8, babies). Even though it has a notch, I am told. Some consider it a beauty mark, some a blot. There is a Pro variant also, with better specs (and more cameras), but my sources are not so sure if that too will come to India.
Quite a handful, no? The big challenge is not, however, the performance of the phone, which everyone is telling is amazing, but the pricing. Because from what I have been hearing, the P20 could some with a premium price tag – the sort you see on the Samsung Galaxy S series, darlings. So I have been told to keep my smelling salts handy when the price is announced – anything in the region of Rs 50,000 is what some people are saying, although there are some who point to how those darlings have kept prices of other devices relative lower than their international prices (remember the Honor V10?). My own hope is that it won’t be TOO north of the OnePlus 5T because that is going to be its biggest headache (ooh, won’t that cute Carl be mad at me for calling his phone a headache, but still, the truth is the truth).
When is it coming? My friends say it could go the Amazon way and come towards the end of April, darlings. The cynical ones say that the later it comes, the lower the price is likely to be. But then, sweeties, Huawei has been surprising us with the pricing of its Honor devices, so perhaps it is possible that we could see the device early AND at a price that is jaw-dropping in a nice way – one of my sources even hinted at Rs 39,990 tag. You know, THAT would make it VERY interesting sweethearts, but yes, the more north it goes of Rs 40,000, the more it will have to prove. And yes, if it does not quite set the market on fire, there is an outside chance that Huawei might prefer to retreat once again into its Honorable shell.
But all this is mere rumor and speculation, darlings. I just hope they bring that phone to India. Variety is the spice of life after all. To be Honorable is good indeed, but to be Huawei also, is better!