Huawei P30 series launched, focuses on mobile photography
Huawei’s new P30 and P30 Pro smartphones attempt to make mobile photography closer to professional DSLR-level, challenging the likes of Samsung, Apple and Google.
The P30 and P30 Pro boasts of up to quad cameras, a periscope-style zoom lens capable of super zoom, a Kirin 980 processor, and a vibrating screen for a speaker.
Huawei, the world’s third-largest smartphone maker, on Tuesday launched its new P30 range aimed at delivering a professional-level camera experience on smartphones. Unveiled at an event in Paris, the new P30 and P30 Pro comes with new design over their predecessors —the P20 and P20 Pro— as well as a wide variety of new features and updated specifications.
The P30 and P30 Pro boasts of up to quad cameras, a periscope-style zoom lens capable of super zoom, a Kirin 980 processor, and a vibrating screen for a speaker. Both the models are available starting today with a starting price of Euro 799 and Euro 999, respectively. Huawei has confirmed the P30 Pro is coming to India.
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Out of the two, Huawei P30 Pro is a flagship smartphone and features a Leica-branded quad-camera setup, consisting a 20MP ultra-wide, 40MP wide-angle, 8MP 5X telephoto lens that goes up to 10x hybrid zoom (or up to 50x digital zoom) and a depth-sensing lens (Time-of-Flight). The front-facing camera has 32-megapixels.
Video recording is getting a big upgrade as well. The P30 Pro also has a feature called “dual-view” video. This feature uses two of the rear cameras to record different perspectives at the same time.
Highlights of P30 Pro:
Huawei’s Kirin 980 chipset
4200mAh battery with 40W SuperCharge tech and 15W wireless charging
In addition to using four cameras on the P30 Pro, the smartphone has all the bells and whistles of a premium smartphone. It comes equipped with a 6.47-inch, 2340x1080p curved OLED screen that doubles up as a speaker by vibrating, a Kirin 980 processor coupled with 8GB of RAM, 128GB, 256GB and 512GB storage options, a 4200mAh battery, a in-display fingerprint scanner and IP68 water and dust-resistance.
The smaller P30 has a 6.1-inch, 2340x1080p OLED display with a teardrop notch, triple rear cameras, a Kirin 980 processor, an in-display fingerprint sensor, and IP53 splash resistance.
The P30 comes meanwhile, comes with a SuperSensing 40MP Lecia Triple Camera arrangement which consists of a 8MP 3x telephoto lens (or up to 30x digital zoom), 16MP ultra-wide, and 40MP wide-angle lens.
Huawei hopes its P30 and P30 Pro, both heavily focused on cameras, will wow consumers and bring some kind of innovation back in the saturated smartphone market.
The launch of P30 range comes at a time when Huawei fights intense competition from Samsung and Apple, as well as from other well-known Chinese players like Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo.
However, analysts warn that the positive uptake of Samsung Galaxy S10 and the growing status of Xiaomi in Europe will put some pressure on Huawei. “Huawei P30 and P30 Pro can definitely make an impact on the high-end, but like last year’s P20 this will be heavily dependent on a flurry of big budget marketing activities by Huawei,” Ben Stanton, analyst at Canalys told indianexpress.com in an email.
Huawei has announced two new models of Watch GT — Active and Elegant.
“Huawei is gaining ground at the high-end of the Android market, but this year it has to compete with a much more aggressive device from Samsung, the Galaxy S10,” he said. Stanton also sees that the aggressive expansion of Xiaomi and Oppo into Europe may put pressure on pressure on Huawei.
“We see myriad of challenges emerging for Huawei,” he said. “There is still headroom for it to grow, but Huawei may find its momentum softens this year.”
Huawei also launched a new pair of wireless earphones, called FreeLace.
Alongside the P30 smartphones, Huawei also introduced two new versions of its Watch GT — Active and Elegant editions. The company claims it sold over 1 million units of the Watch GT since the watch launched last year. A new Band 3 was also announced with an AMOLED display and a heart rate tracker.
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Huawei also launched a new pair of wireless earphones, called FreeLace. They offer long battery life, powerful sound and can be fast charged by Huawei smartphones.
Anuj Bhatia is a personal technology writer at indianexpress.com who has been covering smartphones, personal computers, gaming, apps, and lifestyle tech actively since 2011. He specialises in writing longer-form feature articles and explainers on trending tech topics. His unique interests encompass delving into vintage tech, retro gaming and composing in-depth narratives on the intersection of history, technology, and popular culture. He covers major international tech conferences and product launches from the world's biggest and most valuable tech brands including Apple, Google and others. At the same time, he also extensively covers indie, home-grown tech startups. Prior to joining The Indian Express in late 2016, he served as a senior tech writer at My Mobile magazine and previously held roles as a reviewer and tech writer at Gizbot. Anuj holds a postgraduate degree from Banaras Hindu University. You can find Anuj on Linkedin.
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