The best camera phone you (probably) won't own: The Huawei Pura 80 Ultra
10x zoom shot taken with the Pura 80 Ultra | Image by Huawei
The Huawei Pura 80 Ultra comes equipped with a potent camera system—it features a 1-inch, 50MP main sensor with TCG triple-real-time fusion technology (boosting dynamic range and clarity) and the first dual-lens telephoto system.
This dual-lens system features a 50MP sensor with two separate lenses mounted on top of it. One offers 3.7x zoom (83 mm), and the other one can do 9.4x (200 mm). This unique and innovative telephoto is accompanied by a 40MP ultrawide camera, offering one of the best (if not the best) camera systems in a smartphone.
The main camera also features a variable aperture covering the f/1.6-4.0 range at 16 stops.
Huawei Pura 80 Ultra cameras:
Wide (main): 50MP (1.0"), f/1.6-4.0, 23mm, OIS; 4K@60fps
Telephoto: 50MP (1/1.28"), 83mm f/2.4; 12MP 212mm f/3.6, OIS; 4K@60fps
Ultrawide: 40MP, f/2.2, 13mm, autofocus; 4K@30fps
Front camera: 13MP f/2.0, 21mm; AF; 4K@60fps
Low-light sample taken with the Pura 80 Ultra | Image by Huawei
It's a technological masterpiece that, sadly, no one outside China would buy. There are several reasons why. But first, a piece of backstory. What happened to Huawei?
The US ban made things difficult for Huawei on the global scene | Image by PhoneArena
In 2019, the US government placed Huawei on the "Entity List," restricting its access to US technologies and components, including Google's Android operating system.
This led to severe restrictions in the following years, hitting sales hard and halting the rapid growth the company had been experiencing back then.
The global profit of the company shrunk from 136.7 billion USD to 93.5 billion in just two years. For a smartphone company operating at the top level, this is huge.
There are many conspiracy theories about the reasons for the harsh sanctions, but we may never learn the truth. The version peddled by the US government back then was that Huawei was spying on the US for the CCP (Communist Party in China).
Another angle is that in 2018, Verizon was in talks with Huawei to stock smartphones and sell them in the US under its name. Some say Apple and Samsung got scared and pushed the government to act in the matter. Huawei Pura 80 Ultra—the best camera phone that no one would buy
A technological masterpiece that no one would buy | Image by Huawei
Sadly, despite Huawei building some really clever and high-tech smartphones in the past couple of years, the company is still struggling outside China.
The Huawei Pura 80 Ultra most likely won't change anything to remedy that. There are several reasons why.
First, a bad reputation. Even before we get to the software and hardware situation, there's been bad rep surrounding Huawei ever since the US ban.
The company is viewed by many as this sort of a bad communist spy entity, trying to steal your data or worse. Many people are suspicious and tend to stay away from Huawei phones.
I've spoken with many people about this in the past couple of years, and the predominant reason was that they didn't feel safe. It's not the software and hardware limitations that bother them; it's the potential that China is doing something malicious with their data.
But this brings us to the software and hardware. Huawei phones don't come with Google services on board, and it has to make its own silicon because of sanctions.
The Kirin 9020 is not on par with flagship Qualcomm silicon | Image by Huawei
The Huawei Pura 80 Ultra features the same Kirin 9020 chip as the one found in the Huawei Mate X6. This silicon felt dated then, and it's currently not on par with even midrange chipsets from Qualcomm.
The preliminary tests of the Pura 80 Ultra returned Geekbench 6 scores of around 1200 points in single-core and 3600 in multicore performance, respectively. The 3DMark score of around 1800 is also abysmal. That's Galaxy A36 territory—a phone that costs $399.
Add the complicated software situation to the equation, and you'll filter the people willing to go through the nuisance to get a Huawei phone even further.
Yes, you can use the web versions of most Google apps (and there are workarounds that will let you install the actual apps), but very few people would go through the trouble, not to mention that some of these methods are borderline illegal.
So, is Huawei finished, and what is the fate that awaits the interesting and innovative phones the company still stubbornly makes? What's next for Huawei—is there a glimmer of hope?
Huawei is huge in China but still struggling worldwide | Image by PhoneArena
First of all, Huawei is huge in China. I had the chance to visit Shenzhen and see what's going on there. Huawei is everywhere, not just inside people's pockets in the form of smartphones. There are Huawei smart home devices, TVs, home appliances, and even cars.
Given the sheer volume and magnitude of the Chinese economy, Huawei won't go out of the game anytime soon.
This mostly reflected strong Mate 60 sales in China, where the company returned to the top spot, but is there a glimmer of hope for global sales? What about the Huawei Pura 80 Ultra?
The Huawei Pura 80 Ultra starts at around USD 1,390 which is not cheap | Image by Huawei
The Huawei Pura 80 Ultra is doing rounds inside our test lab, so expect a full review soon. But what's clear even now is that the company has managed to find a way to be interesting and innovative once again.
The dual-lens telephoto camera is very interesting, and the overall look and feel of the phone is premium. I personally don't think that the Pura 80 series will change much on the global scene, but if it does, I'd be pleasantly surprised.
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