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Huawei will announce the Ascend P8 smartphone at global media event in London Reuters

Huawei will announce its new Ascend P8 flagship Android smartphone at a media event in London on 15 April.

The event will see the Chinese company reveal its competitor to other top-end handsets from the likes of Apple, Samsung, HTC and Sony - but in keeping with tradition set out by its P6 and P7 predecessors, we expect the P8 to undercut the competition in terms of price. Huawei is live-streaming the event on its YouTube channel from 15:00 BST, which you can watch on IBTimes UK right here:

Nothing is known for sure, but rumours and leaks suggest the Ascend P8 will have a 5.2in display with a Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080. The body will be slim at 6.5mm (for context the iPhone 6 is 6.9mm), and the phone will be powered by a Huawei-made octa-core processor with 3GB of RAM. This will join 32GB of storage, plus a microSD card slot to extend space further.

Around the back, Huawei is believed to be using a 13-megapixel camera, joined by an 8MP sensor on the front, which is higher than much of the competition. Rumours suggest the phone will come in black, white, silver and gold. Huawei says the P8 will be "unlocking a new chapter of light," which suggests there will be an emphasis on the camera - possibly improved low-light performance with the use of optical image stabilisation.

A leaked image claiming to be of the P8 shows a handset with a metal chassis with chamfered edges, a glass front and a ceramic back replacing the glass rears of the P6 and P7. The phone will be expected to run Android 5 Lollipop with Huawei's own software, called Emotion UI, over the top.

Less certain, but something being whispered by the rumour mills, is the possibility of an Ascend P8 Lite model, which will have a smaller screen, less powerful processor and a lower price.

We will also be keen to hear more about the Huawei Watch, which was announced at Mobile World Congress in February but doesn't yet have a price or release date.

IBTimes UK will be attending the event, and will report back with our hands-on first impressions of the Ascend P8 soon after it finishes.