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Huawei P9 in line for dual-camera system developed with Leica

The Huawei P9 will replace the P8, released in spring 2015

Absent from this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the Huawei P9 smartphone will instead be unveiled April 6, 2016, at a special event in London, UK. This upcoming handset is expected to stand out from other flagships with its onboard camera.

The #OO hashtag on Huawei's event invite makes pretty clear reference to the twin-camera system heading to the back of the upcoming handset, developed in collaboration with Leica. The Chinese manufacturer recently announced a partnership with the famous German camera brand, in the aim of setting itself apart from other flagship handsets with high-end image quality.

Rumors surrounding the new Huawei smartphone are growing ahead of its official presentation. Specialist websites expect specs including a 5.2-inch Full HD screen, a Kirin 950 octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM, a USB Type-C connector, a digital fingerprint reader and a 12-megapixel dual-lens camera around the back.

The Huawei P9 is expected to land in several versions. A "Lite" model will offer a smaller, less powerful and more affordable option, whereas a "Max" model will pack higher performances into a bigger version. All models will run on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow).

Rather than creating a buzz with the P9 at the recent Barcelona trade show, Huawei preferred leaving center stage for its MateBook, a slim, 12-inch Windows tablet that turns into a lightweight laptop PC thanks to its accompanying keyboard and stylus (sold separately). This is lined up as a serious contender for Microsoft's Surface Pro 4.

Research from Gartner places Huawei as the world's third-biggest smartphone seller for 2015, behind Samsung and Apple, with 104 million handsets sold.