Huawei set to launch dual-core Ascend P1 in May

Huawei has announced today that the Ascend P1 smartphone will be available in Australia by May, with Latin America and Europe to follow.

It will be the first top-tier Huawei smartphone to be released in Australia, with previous models from the Chinese manufacturer all fitting into the prepaid segment. The Ascend P1 sports a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, has a 4.3-inch qHD AMOLED display and runs on the latest version of Android, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich. It will also be amongst the thinnest smartphones in the market, measuring a petite 7.69mm at it slimmest point.

There is no word at this time as to which of the Aussie telcos will be supporting the release of the P1, if any, and what the price of the P1 will be. We're hoping that it offers the same value for money that we've seen with previous Huawei phones, though, like the Huawei Vision released at the end of 2011.

Huawei doesn't have the brand power with consumers to be adding a premium to its handsets yet, regardless of how feature packed they might be. It also has a number of low-cost competitors to deal with, too, including the new Nokia Lumia 800 and 710, and last year's hero products, like the Samsung Galaxy S II.