Huawei P10 launches with AI touch technology and multi-purpose fingerprint sensor

The 5.1-inch handset is intended as a direct rival to the iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy S7

The home, back and recent apps commands all live within the fingerprint scanner below the screen

Huawei has unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the P10.

The 5.1-inch handset is intended as a direct rival to the iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy S7, featuring high-end specs and a number of unusual tweaks.

The P10 comes with a 5.1-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 screen, 64GB of storage, a 3,200mAh battery and a Hisilicon Kirin 960 processor, paired with 4GB of RAM.

The P10 Plus, which has launched alongside it, instead features a 5.5-inch, 2,560 x 1,440 display, 128GB of storage, a 3,750mAh battery and 6GB of RAM.

Both phones support Huawei Supercharge through the USB Type-C port, which promises a full day of battery life from 20 minutes of charging.

They also run Android 7.0 Nougat, but Huawei has tinkered with the operating system by laying its own EMUI 5.1 software over the top of it.

The company’s also decided to ditch the phone’s soft keys.

The home, back and recent apps commands all live within the fingerprint sensor below the screen. Users have to tap it once to go back, hold it to go home and swipe it to view the recently used apps screen.

Huawei says that maximising the usefulness of the display was the reason behind the move, but we’re not sure users will be too thrilled about having to learn a bunch of new gestures, albeit simple ones.

The smartphone also features something called Ultra Memory, which uses a machine-learning algorithm to optimise memory use, something Huawei claims will make apps open faster.

Ultra Response, meanwhile, enables the phone to predict which areas of the screen the user’s fingers will next touch.

The P10’s camera system is also somewhat unusual, combining a 12-megapixel colour sensor with a 20-megapixel mono sensor.

Huawei calls the system the Leica Dual Camera 2.0 Pro Edition, and says the Portrait Mode included in the P10’s camera app will optimise the lighting in scene to help users capture more “artistic” shots.

The P10 will be available in a wide number of colours, including Ceramic White, Dazzling Blue, Dazzling Gold, Prestige Gold, Graphite Black, Mystic Silver, Rose Gold, Greenery.

Huawei hasn't announced UK pricing yet, but the P10 will cost €649 and the P10 Plus will cost €699 when they go on sale in March.