Huawei launched its latest flagship smartphone series, the P60 series, in Shanghai on Thursday. The series features a new back design, an upgraded camera system, and a unique bi-directional satellite messaging feature.

However, the P60 phones use 4G technology and a last-generation system-on-a-chip made by U.S. chip maker Qualcomm.

No two phones are alike. The P60 series has an array of color options, among them a new white color featuring a unique rococo-style design.

"Each rococo white P60 is unique," said Eric Yu, head of Huawei's consumer department. "To make the new design happen, we introduced a new material to smartphones."

Additionally, the new series includes a new member called the P60 Art, with an irregular-shaped camera module inspired by islands. The model also comes with an upgraded ultra-wide camera.

To enhance the new phones' photographic functions, Huawei equipped the P60's wide-angle camera with a periscope lens, OIS, and other features usually only found on main cameras.

Yu said P60's telephoto camera can get 448 percent more incoming light than Apple's iPhone 14 Pro Max. "We not only designed the new lens by ourselves but also manufactured them by ourselves," he said when introducing the P60 at a press conference.

Huawei is under strong sanctions from the U.S. government and therefore has to develop a lot of its features by itself.

The gallery app was also upgraded, enabling users to search pictures with text using a "ChatGPT-like" AI language model, Yu said.

Huawei also upgraded its satellite messaging feature to support two-way text chat through China's Beidou satellites.

Satellite messaging was first introduced in the Mate 50 series, which only supports sending messages through the Beidou system. Apple later introduced a similar feature using GPS satellites.

The new Huawei phones can also receive satellite messages getting replies from rescuers. It is "more assuring" if users get trapped in the middle of nowhere, Yu said.

Huawei also released other products at the conference, including its seventh foldable phone Mate X3, a high-end smartwatch and a pair of water drop-shaped wireless earbuds.

(Cover: A render of Huawei's P60 smartphone. /Huawei)