Huawei Debuts HUAWEI P30 and HUAWEI P30 Pro at Paris Event; Features Breakthrough Sensor, Lens and Design

During an exclusive launch event today at the Paris Convention Center, Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG) unveiled the HUAWEI P30 and HUAWEI P30 Pro. The HUAWEI P30 Series builds on the HUAWEI P Series DNA in design and photography and is the company’s most advanced series of smartphone cameras. These devices feature the innovative HUAWEI SuperSpectrum Sensor, an optical SuperZoom Lens, a new HUAWEI Time of Flight (ToF) Camera, and enhanced optical and AI image stabilization technology. With these revolutionary technologies, the HUAWEI P30 and HUAWEI P30 Pro capture incredible photos and videos in every scenario.

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer BG, said, “the HUAWEI P30 Series is a fundamental breakthrough after decades of digital camera technology development; it will rewrite the rules and reshape everyone’s perception of mobile photography. Innovations such as the HUAWEI SuperSpectrum Sensor and SuperZoom Lens allow us to push the envelope of both photography and videography—a frontier long overdue for disruption. The HUAWEI P30 Series will set the pace for the next generation of smartphones by empowering people to capture the true beauty of the world around them through a device that fits in the palm of their hands.”

Rewriting the Rules of Photography for Stunning Professional-grade Pictures Every Time

The HUAWEI P30 Series will change users’ expectations of smartphone photography. Achieving a record-high overall DxOMark score of 112, the HUAWEI P30 Pro is equipped with a new Leica Quad Camera System, including a 40MP main camera with the HUAWEI SuperSpectrum Sensor, a 20MP ultra-wide angle camera, an 8MP telephoto camera, the HUAWEI ToF Camera and a 32MP front camera that takes selfies to a new level.

The 1/1.7-inch HUAWEI SuperSpectrum Sensor looks at light in a fundamentally new way. The RYYB HUAWEI SuperSpectrum Sensor deviates from the traditional RGGB Bayer filter by replacing green pixels with yellow pixels, yielding a high maximum ISO rating of 409,600 on the HUAWEI P30 Pro and 204,800 on the HUAWEI P30. This fundamental shift in sensor technology, combined with HUAWEI AIS, OIS and the HUAWEI P30 Pro’s f/1.6 wide aperture, delivers extraordinary photography and videography experiences across a wide range of scenarios and lighting conditions—including extreme low light—producing images with enhanced detail, color and clarity.



The new SuperZoom Lens unlocks a superior level of zoom photography in a slim-line device design. Through a new periscope design, the SuperZoom Lens supports high fidelity magnification of 5 times optical zoom, 10 times hybrid zoom and 50 times digital zoom. A prism element in the telephoto camera bends light at a 90-degree angle to maximize focal length while minimizing camera height, without disrupting device design.

The HUAWEI ToF Camera unleashes the imagination. Unique to the HUAWEI P30 Pro is a HUAWEI ToF Camera that captures depth-of-field information to deliver accurate image segmentation. Precise distance measurement allows for the simulation of multiple levels of bokeh. The Super Portrait feature captures even the smallest details, such as individual strands of hair. It combines depth information and proprietary algorithms to produce outstanding images with defocused backgrounds and highlights the subject of the image in any scenario.



Huawei AI helps users bring it all together into the perfect shot. AI HDR+ enables the front and rear cameras to combine multiple photos taken in quick succession to eliminate overexposed and backlit images.



Redefining Smartphone Videography



The HUAWEI P30 Series is a smartphone camera with cinematic capabilities. The HUAWEI P30 Series ushers in a new era of studio-grade videography. The HUAWEI SuperSpectrum Sensor enables spectacular low-light video capture so night scenes appear bright and highly detailed. HUAWEI AIS and OIS support stabilization for all video capture settings, resulting in a perfect, steady shot. Additionally, the SuperZoom Lens allows for crisp close-ups, while the AI Video Editor enables users to add background music and special effects to their videos, turning the HUAWEI P30 Series into a mobile production studio.



Two views are better than one. HUAWEI Dual-View Video[1] can capture two perspectives of the same scene at the same time by using multiple cameras simultaneously. The HUAWEI P30 Series provides a full view of a scene while also capturing a close-up of a subject, unleashing new and exciting possibilities for video.



A Heritage of Stunning Design



Deriving inspiration from nature and technology to achieve a stunning design and beautiful colors. The HUAWEI P30 Series design, created with a nine-layer nano optical color finish, is inspired by the unique color palette and pristine look of salt flats. The 6.47-inch HUAWEI P30 Pro and 6.1-inch HUAWEI P30 come in Breathing Crystal, Amber Sunrise, Aurora, Pearl White and Black. The FHD+ (2340x1080) Dewdrop Display features a tiny notch, providing maximum display area. The near bezel-less front glass houses an In-Screen Fingerprint sensor for quick and secure identity authentication. The HUAWEI P30 Pro also features HUAWEI Acoustic Display Technology that enables it to deliver high-quality audio through a sound emitting display.



Ultimate Innovation



Innovation is core to Huawei’s DNA. The HUAWEI P30 and HUAWEI P30 Pro are packed with industry-leading features that set them apart in power, performance and efficiency:

·The HUAWEI P30 Series is powered by the 7nm Kirin 980 processor, which delivers ultimate performance, top-class efficiency and faster image recognition through its Dual-NPU AI processing power.

·The HUAWEI P30 Series features an Extendable Read-Only File System (EROFS) that improves system responsiveness. The latest EMUI 9.1 also supports HUAWEI Share OneHop for seamless file sharing between Huawei smartphones and Huawei laptops.

·The HUAWEI P30 Pro features a 4200mAh battery (typical value) and 40W HUAWEI SuperCharge that charges a device from zero to 70 percent in 30 minutes, keeping the device powered for more than a full day of intensive work.

·The HUAWEI P30 Pro features HUAWEI SuperCool technology to improve thermal performance, keeping the phone cool even during heavy use.

·The HUAWEI P30 Series is equipped with a suite of advanced wireless communications capabilities supporting Dual SIM and Dual VoLTE connectivity[2].



Huawei also launched the HUAWEI WATCH GT Active Edition and Elegant Edition, outdoor smart watches featuring ultra-long battery life; HUAWEI FreeLace wireless earphones, which support HUAWEI HiPair for easy pairing and fast charging; and HUAWEI X GENTLEMONSTER EYEWEAR, new smart glasses co-designed with renowned eyewear designer GENTLE MONSTER.



Pricing and Availability

The new HUAWEI P30 and HUAWEI P30 Pro are immediately available globally with pricing information as follows:


Model

Version

Price (Tax Included)

HUAWEI P30 Pro

8GB RAM + 128GB ROM

EUR 999

8GB RAM + 256GB ROM

EUR 1,099

8GB RAM + 512GB ROM

EUR 1,249

HUAWEI P30

6GB RAM + 128GB ROM

EUR 799


The HUAWEI P30 Pro is also available in a Special Edition Gift Box. This premium set includes a Breathing Crystal or Pearl White HUAWEI P30 Pro and a Pearl Pink Glamorous Case encrusted with Swarovski® crystals.

HUAWEI P30 PRO FLAGSHIP REVIEWS

Huawei P30 Pro review: A long-distance relationship

How do you definitively say something subjective, like the quality of a photo, or song, or piece of art, is the best? Our culture has been trying to do it for years, rewarding and awarding the most popular or acclaimed tenets of each category, as fact. Because people like certainty, and they increasingly rely on experts to tell them what to watch, read, listen to — and buy.

In the smartphone world, the iPhone has benefited most from that marriage of acclaim and pop culture acceptance; it's a great phone, yes, but it's also the default phone in much of the West. Hollywood celebrities use the iPhone, even when they're paid not to — with embarrassing consequences.

But in the rest of the world, the iPhone is a footnote. An aspirational product that, yes, has an outsized effect on product and software design, but a footnote nonetheless. In the rest of the world, people buy Android phones, and the company they increasingly patronize is Huawei.

With the P30 Pro, Huawei has released by far its best phone yet, and it's not a particularly difficult leap to make that it's going to be incredibly successful outside of the U.S.

Down Periscope
Huawei P30 Pro

The good
Incredibly versatile camera system
Delightful, space-optimizing design
Unmatched battery life and charging options
EMUI is finally free of huge usability issues

The bad
Lower resolution display than most flagships
Loses a speaker over the P20 Pro
Not officially available Stateside

About this review
This review was written after spending two weeks with an unlocked version of the European Huawei P30 Pro (L29). It was used in Paris, France on the SFR network, and in Toronto, Canada on the TELUS network. It received one update during the review period, to EMUI 9.1.0.124, which purportedly improved camera quality in select situations.

Huawei P30 Pro The Hardware

The 6.47-inch OLED display is very good, and with a bit of tweaking it can be both rich and color accurate. By default, it's tuned to the DCI-P3 color gamut, but I found the white balance to err on the warm side so I changed the color temperature to hew bluer and it was fine.

I then enabled the Vivid mode, which doesn't adhere to any calibration standard but it is nonetheless the one my eyes prefer — oversaturated colors that pop off the screen. Still, compared to the Mate 20 Pro's lackluster display, this one feels much closer to what you'd expect from a flagship.

The downside is that the 2340x1080 resolution is relatively low compared to the Galaxy S10 and other 1440p phones, but I'd challenge anyone to tell the difference. I'm certainly not defending Huawei's decision — I'd rather have a higher-resolution panel, especially on a phone this pricey — but I'd also rather have a rich, accurate, and responsive 1080p panel over a crappy, sharper one.

In some markets (though not in Canada), the P30 Pro comes with a clear case in the box, just like its predecessor — that's a welcome inclusion because, as most other glass-backed phones available today, this phone is slippery. At 192 grams, it's also heavier than most, accelerating its potential descent as it slips off a table and hurtles towards the unforgiving ground. I hate clear TPU cases so I quickly purchased my own, a colorful, textured option from Anccer, but there are plenty of great cases from well-known brands like Spigen already available.

The P30 Pro loses its front-facing speaker in favor of a smaller notch. I think the trade-off was worth it.

As mentioned, the P30 Pro uses its OLED display as a speaker, directing audio through the OLED membrane and aurally transparent Gorilla Glass. The trick works — surprisingly well, in fact — with phone call audio coming through nice and clear. Huawei also anticipates a bit of confusion for newbies, so it actually directs users to place their ears in a certain spot on the screen. Unfortunately, the area doesn't work so well as a speaker, so you lose the stereo separation of the P20 Pro.

The single bottom-firing speaker is better tuned than its predecessor's — it's clearer and doesn't distort as easily — but it also lacks warmth and that little bit of low-end afforded by a deeper cavity. The trade-off is worth it given the reduction in notch size, but only slightly in my opinion. Also, no headphone jack, nor any adapter in the box, but there is a decent pair of USB-C headphones included, which is appreciated.