Recent reports have indicated that Huawei will seriously re-think its smartphone business in the face of supply lines, most pressingly those for SoCs, that remain closed in its face. This, apparently, will mean the OEM might have to switch its focus to the mid-range in 2021, possibly even concentrating on phones that are 4G/LTE-only.
The first sign of this partial down-sizing might already have emerged on the online Chinese market, in the form of the P40 4G. It is more or less a refresh of this 2020 flagship - 6.1-inch FHD+ OLED display, triple rear camera with a 50MP main sensor and all - just without 5G.
Therefore, it has the Kirin 990 4G rather than the slightly more premium version of the same CPU. This might suggest that Huawei may already have taken drastic steps to conserve its higher-end component stocks while still trying to drive sales.
Accordingly, the P40 4G/LTE has just 1 8GB/128GB SKU, in 2 gray or dark blue colorways, set at a price of 3988 yuan (~US$510), whereas the P40 5G starts at 4988 yuan (~US$638) on JD. On the other hand, this might be a new take on the OEM's normal campaign, by which it makes "Lite" flagship variants in an apparent effort to hit every tier possible with the same general series name.