Huawei P9 launch amidst Hollywood stars and renowned photographers

HOLLYWOOD STARS & WORLD RENOWNED PHOTOGRAPHERS JOIN HUAWEI TO REINVENT SMARTPHONE PHOTOGRAPHY AT THE LAUNCH OF THE HUAWEI P9.

On 1st April, at an exclusive launch event at London’s Battersea Evolution, Huawei Consumer Business Group unveiled the much-awaited Huawei P9 series, destined to reinvent smartphone photography.

At the global technology brand’s star-studded event, Hollywood actor Henry Cavill, who features in the Huawei P9 campaign alongside Scarlett Johansson (both global product ambassadors for Huawei P9 series), was joined by a host of world-renowned photographers including Mary McCartney and National Geographic World Press Photo Award winning photographer David Guttenfelder.

The event was attended by over 1000 media and guests – including Huawei UK Board members Sir Andrew Cahn and Dame Helen Alexander and business leaders from around the world including: Jim Egan, CEO BBC News; Jonathan Newhouse, Chairman and Chief Executive Condé Nast International; and Anita Chang, Publisher Vogue China.

The Huawei P9 is the first smartphone from the collaboration between Huawei and the global iconic camera brand Leica, resulting in a stunning dual-lens camera in a smartphone, which sets a new benchmark in smartphone camera technology, with more light and better clarity, to capture brilliant colour and striking black and white images in true Leica style.

Images from the ground-breaking dual-lens camera are brought to life on a 5.2 inch full HD display. The P9 is powered by Huawei’s latest Kirin 955 chipset and runs Android Marshmallow 6.0.

The Huawei P9 family fuses cool, sleek design and precision detail with state-of-the art technology to change the way we see the world. It continues Huawei’s legacy of premium mobile devices that have set the industry standard for elegance and performance.

Richard Yu, CEO, Huawei Business Group, comments: “We believe in cultural technology, born out of people’s curiosity and desire to be creative by changing the way they experience the world around them. With the P9, working with Leica, we have challenged the norm of what was possible in lens technology – a game-changer for smartphone photography.

“Our launch city of London is renowned globally for cultural excellence. We see the P9 – coupled with our iconic partners, who are equally renowned for their determination to look beyond what is possible, whether in the field of creative arts, design or engineering – as the next step in a visual revolution.”

“As technology changes the way we capture and enjoy photography, we are excited to work with a like-minded partner such as Huawei, equally committed to a cultural, visual future,” commented Oliver Kaltner, CEO of Leica Camera AG. “Huawei’s passion for pushing boundaries of innovation, matched with our proven expertise in camera and lens engineering, has made for a beautiful collaboration in creation of the P9.”

Hollywood stars and faces of the campaign, Henry Cavill and Tony award-winner Scarlett Johannson, will appear in a new TV commercial shot in Shanghai and New Zealand by famed director Baillie Walsh from RSA, which will air internationally from mid April. Where both stars are normally the subjects of the camera’s gaze, here we see them putting the Huawei P9’s amazing camera technology to the test to capture, share and compete for the best shot…but who will win? The exciting preview trailer of the TV commercial was aired at the event: showcasing the tantalizing meeting of two Hollywood stars; Shanghai with Hollywood; Leica with Huawei; and black and white with colour.

Henry Cavill comments: “I have a genuine passion for technology, so I’m excited by the opportunities created by the P9 dual lens. I’m impressed by the partnership of Huawei and Leica in their engineering of a true high performance smartphone camera. They’ve done this and managed to package it into a fantastic device as well.”

Sending a message from the set of her latest film Scarlett Johansson comments: “The art of photography really resonates with me. It was exciting to see Huawei is partnering with world’s iconic camera brand Leica to create the amazing device.  I was delighted to work with Huawei on this project as I love the way it invites us to feed our curiosity and share new perspectives.”

Huawei also partnered with a number of high profile professional photographers to support the launch of Huawei P9 including iconic fashion photographer, Mario Testino, who shot the campaign visuals. Other renowned creators involved in the project include: Mary McCartney; National Geographic photographer, David Guttenfelder; Reuben Krabbe, from extreme sports community, Banff; and Zhu Yinghao, Conde Nast Traveler magazine; and the renowned photographic community, Eye Em. Each photographer collaborated by shooting a collection of images with the P9, inspired by and to showcase the ground-breaking new capabilities of the smartphone.

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The P9 is available in four colours:

• Rose Gold,
• Prestige Gold,
• Titanium Grey and
• Mystic Silver,

with the P9 Deluxe version available in

• Haze Gold and
• Ceramic White.

The P9 Plus, with a 5.5-inch display, is available in Haze Gold, Quartz Grey and Ceramic White.

Huawei P9 key features

The 5.2 inch full HD display included in the P9 uses the Hollywood movie colour gamut, allowing the display to cover 96 percent of the colour spectrum.

The dual-lens 12MP camera features RGB and BW sensors, as well as laser-assisted focus. This makes the camera 200 per cent more sensitive than predecessors and allows it to provide 300 per cent more detail.

The P9 is powered by Huawei’s latest Kirin 955 chipset, which is based on the TSMC 16nm FinFET Plus chip technology. CPU performance is 100 per cent faster than the P8 and 3D graphics are improved by 125 per cent.

Running Android Marshmallow 6.0, the P9 uses the Huawei Emotion UI 4.1 interface, adding hundreds of user experience tweaks and improvements.

The P9 supports the latest reversible USB Type-C Connector technology.

Efficient Conferencing

The P9 features “Super Hands-Free 3.0” technology, which enables hands-free operation of the phone in a variety of locations. Whether you’re in the car, a conference room or at a crowded party, users can enjoy clear conversations from up to three meters away. With a 120-degree range of audio pick up and directional noise reduction, conference calls are crisper and clearer than ever before, no matter where they take place.

Globally Connected

The P9 has built-in dual-SIM, dual-standby and dual-connectivity support. It supports 33 mainstream frequencies in more than 100 countries, LTE (Cat 6) and connectivity speeds of up to 300Mbps, making the P9 a true global smartphone for frequent travellers.