A new phone's in town: the Huawei P10. It comes in green, if you want. It also comes in a Plus-sized and more powerful model: the Huawei P10 Plus.
So what, exactly, is the difference between these two models and which one will best suit your needs?
Huawei P10 vs Huawei P10 Plus: Screen size
- P10: 5.1-inch 1,920 x 1,080 resolution IPS LCD
- P10 Plus: 5.5-inch 2,560 x 1,440 resolution IPS LCD
The first and most apparent thing about the phones is that they're physically different sizes.
The P10 has a 5.1-inch screen with Full HD resolution, while the P10 Plus opts for a larger 5.5-inch display and higher resolution WQHD panel.
Huawei P10 vs Huawei P10 Plus: Core power
- Both: Kirin 960 chipset, octa-core (4x 2.4GHz, 4x1.8GHz)
- Both: Mali G71 MP8 GPU, Vulkan API
- P10: 4GB RAM, 64GB storage
- P10 Plus: 6GB RAM, 128GB storage
The P10 has matching specs to the Mate 9: it's a powerful setup, with the latest Kirin chipset paired with 4GB RAM and Mali graphics, which ought to make for a fluid experience.
The P10 Plus pushes things up a notch, with 6GB RAM paired ot the same chipset.
Both models offer microSD card expansion (if you're not using the slot for a second SIM). The P10 comes with 64GB flash on-board storage, while the P10 Plus comes with 128GB.
Huawei P10 vs Huawei P10 Plus: Dual cameras
- P10: 'Leica Dual Camera 2.0' (f/2.2 aperture Summarit lenses)
- P10 Plus: 'Leica Dual Camera 2.0 Pro' (f/1.8 aperture Summilux lenses)
- Both: 20MP B&W and 16MP colour sensors
- Both: New 'Portrait mode', 'Highlights' reel (in Gallery)
A staple of the latest Huawei phones is the dual camera setup. The P10 has the dual iteration with the latest Leica software. Its f/2.2 aperture lenses are the same as you'll find in the Mate 9 and Honor 8 phones.
The P10 Plus is the most advanced Huawei camera setup to date. It ups the ante with brighter, faster lenses: both are f/1.8 Summilux optics.
Both phones also host a Leica front-facing camera for the first time. And both phones add in a new Portrait mode for face-tracking exposure perfection, and Highlights reel for auto-tagging and video generation in the Gallery (which only implements when the phone is charging, to ignore any CPU intensity).
Huawei P10 vs Huawei P10 Plus: Plus only
- P10 Plus only: Infrared (IR) controller
- P10 Plus only: 4x4 MIMO (up to 600Mbit download speeds)
- Both: 2x2 MIMO Wi-Fi
The P10 Plus can also squeeze in 4x4 MIMO for faster download speeds (up to 600Mbit/s) due to its larger shell and double antenna capacity compared to the standard P10. Both phones offer speedy 2x2 MIMO Wi-Fi, however.
The P10 Plus also comes with an IR blaster control, which the standard model lacks. Again, it's down to available space and design.
Huawei P10 vs Huawei P10 Plus: What's new?
- EMUI 5.1 software
- Front-placed fingerprint scanner
- 8 colour options (not all territories)
- Hyper diamond cut finish
Compared to the earlier P9 and P9 Plus models, the P10 and P10 Plus introduce some new features. The software is EMUI 5.1, which is the next notch up the company's reskin over Android 7.1.
Colour options are another obvious point, with eight colours total available: dazzling blue, greenery (based on Pantone colour of the year 2017), dazzling gold, graphite black, rose gold, white ceramic (not actual ceramic, it's polished metal), mystic silver and prestige gold.
The fingerprint scanner is also now on the front, rather than the back, acting as a haptic-feedback control key. By default there are no Android softkeys (home/back/apps) on the screen - but these can be actioned from within the settings.