The top left corner of the display has a pill-shaped cutout for the front-facing camera and ambient/proximity sensors; it also accommodates the infrared face unlock system on the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+.

A rectangular module houses the rear cameras, which protrudes slightly from the back panel.

Like the P30, the wide lens uses a "SuperSpectrum" image sensor, whose color filter array uses yellow sub-pixels instead of green.

Huawei stated that this would allow more light to be captured, and enhanced absorption of red and green colors.

The cameras benefit from an XD Fusion Image Engine which enables advanced computational photography, as well as an "Octa" phase-detection autofocus system for faster autofocus and improved white balance sensors on the P40 Pro+.

The software is also improved with a new Golden Snap feature that takes a burst of HDR+ photos and automatically picks the best shots.

[8] Due to the ongoing United States sanctions against Huawei, international models of the P40 did not ship with, or support, Google Mobile Services—the proprietary software suite (including Google Play-branded software) shipped on certified Android devices.

[10] The P40 series introduces a new in-house voice assistant, Celia, in selected markets, which also includes integration with the device's AI Lens features.