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HUAWEI P10 reportedly ships in different memory configurations: are some users getting a raw deal?

Gizmochina suggests that the devices could come with LPDDR3 or LPDDR4 RAM, and UFS 2.1, UFS 2.0, or eMMC 5.1 storage.
By
April 18, 2017

Update, April 20: HUAWEI responds to the accusations that it’s shipping HUAWEI P10 with different memory configurations. Read the coverage here.

Huawei has reportedly been shipping its latest flagship phone, the HUAWEI P10, in different memory configurations which affect overall performance. This would mean some customers are being short-changed with regards to the latest flagship, as it could arrive with any combination of LPDDR3 or LPDDR4 RAM, and UFS 2.1, UFS 2.0, or eMMC 5.1 storage.

These smartphone components affect how fast information can be read or written to device storage. LPDDR4 RAM and UFS 2.1 are at the upper end of the performance scale and, as such, devices which house this configuration are usually preferred to devices which house eMMC 5.1 storage and LPDDR3 RAM.

Gizmochina says that HUAWEI P10 owners in China have taken to forums to discuss the multiple variations of the flagship phone, but we don’t yet know if this is the case in other markets too. The website has posted some screenshots of various P10 benchmarks, which display the read and write speeds of different HUAWEI P10 units from the AndroBench benchmarking tool.

Now, benchmark results always differ slightly depending on the device, its current state and what’s installed. But the differences should not be so stark as is seemingly occurring with the HUAWEI P10. The disparity between the lowest and highest performing P10s, as shown in the left and centre screenshots below, is particularly worrying:

The results of our own P10 units indicate that we have the P10 with LPDDR4 RAM and UFS 2.1, most similar to the centre screenshot. We received the devices from HUAWEI for review purposes.

With all of this in mind, HUAWEI doesn’t appear to make any specific claims about the particular storage specs of the P10 on its official website: there may not be a “standard” configuration. Further, internal components often differ depending on the market, like receiving a Snapdragon or Exynos processor in a Samsung flagship. These do not perform the same – one is marginally better than the other – so it’s not like this would be a completely new idea for manufacturers, if HUAWEI is actually supplying different P10 configurations.

Though the real world effects of these discrepancies, in the end, might not account to very much, nobody should be unknowingly paying more for a lesser product. If this is what’s happening, it needs to stop.

We’ve reached out to HUAWEI for comment on this story and will update it should we hear back.