14 mn read

Huawei Pura 70 Ultra hands-on review

Introduction

Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is the headliner of the reimagined (P)hotography series by Huawei. It packs the best camera the Chinese maker could conjure up, coupled with the best design, screen, Kirin chipset, and battery technology, of course.

Despite the name change, the Huawei P series is alive and kicking, promising as ever, even without Leica or other trendy partnership being present for marketing hype. And, yes, the US sanctions are still at play, but Huawei seems to be on the verge of making those irrelevant.

Back to what we do best – smartphone inspection – we are nothing short of thrilled by our time spent with the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra. And while we are in the process of reviewing it, we decided to give you a glimpse of what’s coming your way.

The Pura 70 Ultra is one of the few phones on the market you can immediately pick among a hundred phones in a second. The triangular camera design and unique back panel are quite nice, even if the housing is, well, huge.

Then we have a large 6.8-inch LTPO OLED screen of 1260p resolution, 1B colors and 120Hz refresh rate. The Kirin 9010 chipset with 5G connectivity will probably initiate a new portion of investigations, but it does look promising with improved capabilities.

The camera is the real showstopper here and rightfully, so. The retractable main camera is thoroughly interesting with its unique mechanical design, sure, but we cannot wait to test its 1″ sensor, one that makes use of sensor-shift stabilization, variable aperture lens and laser-assisted AF. Next is a 50MP telephoto camera for 3.5x optical zoom and up to 10x hybrid zoom, one that can do macro photos from as close as 5cm away! The 40MP ultrawide camera promises really wide field of view with its 13mm aperture lens, and it is AF-capable.

The 13MP selfie camera also has wide-angle lens supports autofocus, too.

Finally, the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra packs a 5,200mAh battery capable of 100W wired and 80W wireless charging, plus 20W reverse wireless charging!

Huawei Pura 70 Ultra specs at a glance:

• Body: 162.6×75.1×8.4mm, 226g; Glass front, aluminum frame, silicone polymer back (eco leather); IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 2m for 30 min).
• Display: 6.80″ LTPO OLED, 1B colors, HDR, 120Hz, 2500 nits (peak), 1260x2844px resolution, 20.31:9 aspect ratio, 460ppi.
• Chipset: Kirin 9010 (7 nm): Octa-core (1×2.3 GHz Taishan Big & 3×2.18 GHz Taishan Mid & 4×1.55 GHz Cortex-A510); Maleoon 910.
• Memory: 256GB 16GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM.
• OS/Software: HarmonyOS 4.2.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.6-4.0, 23mm, 1.0″-type, PDAF, Laser AF, sensor-shift OIS, retractable lens; Telephoto: 50 MP, f/2.1, 90mm, PDAF (5cm – ∞), OIS, 3.5x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 40 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, AF.
• Front camera: 13 MP, f/2.4, (ultrawide), AF.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@60fps, gyro-EIS, OIS; Front camera: 4K@60fps, EIS.
• Battery: 5200mAh; 100W wired, 80W wireless, 20W reverse wireless, 18W reverse wired.
• Connectivity: 5G; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 6; BT 5.2, L2HC; NFC; Infrared port.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); stereo speakers; BDS Satellite Calling and Message.

The Pura 70 Ultra is the only Pura phone to feature 1″ sensor for the main camera in addition to higher-res tele and UW cameras, plus it also has the exclusive Crystal Armor Kunlun Glass for the screen.

Unboxing the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra

The Pura 70 Ultra ships into one large and thick luxury-looking box. Inside you will find the phone itself, one premium case with a matching color but a different P-styled texture, a 100W power adapter and a USB cable.

Notice the charger has both USB-C and USB-A ports, though it is not a dual-charger – you can use one of those at a time.

Design, build quality, handling

The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is a typical cameraphone, one that comes with a captivating design, huge camera housing, and proper grip all-around. The phone is also IP68-rated for dust and water resistance.

The screen glass is advertised as Crystal Armor Kunlun Glass, 300% stronger than the Kunlun Glass on top of the Pura 70 Pro and Pura 70 displays. It is made of a highly transparent amorphous diamond carbon material and should have it all – incredible scratch resistance and impressive drop resistance. Huawei even suggested we do various torture tests so we can experience the toughness of the glass. While we were surely tempted, we think we would wait to wrap our review first.

This special Kunlun glass has 2.5D edge, which adds a touch of premium on top of everything.

The frame is slightly curved and made of polished aluminum and it is painted in silver with a hint of gold on our Green version.

Then we have the eco-leather back with a matching 2.5D curve to the front panel. Huawei calls the design here Forward Symbol Design because of its simple geometric lines .

The complicated camera island is the star of show, of course. It has metal housing around the triangular glass and the metal extends over the LED flash, too.

The three cameras here are the 40MP ultrawide, followed by the retractable 50MP primary, and finally comes the periscope lens for the 50MP zoom camera.

Huawei needed to come up with the retractable lens for the 1″ primary sensor as otherwise the housing would have become way too big and would have compromised its safety. The maker claims the mechanism has been tested and it is going to endure over 300,000 retracting cycles.

The Pura 70 Ultra is also available in white, brown and black colorways.

The 6.8-inch LTPO OLED screen called X-True Display has impressively thin frame one nicely small perforation for the 13MP AF selfie camera. It has 1,260 x 2,844 pixels, 1B colors, HDR10, 120Hz refresh rate and 2,500nits of peak brightness.

We can confirm the display is of an excellent quality, smooth and colorful, with great contrast and brightness. More on its capabilities will be shared in our in-depth review.

Some other things you cannot see it first at the front – the under-display fingerprint scanner and the top speaker/earpiece.

The Pura 70 Ultra boasts a stereo speaker setup of the hybrid variety – the earpiece doubles as a speaker and there is also another bottom-firing gull-blown speaker. The setup is balanced, offers rich sound with bass, good vocals, and excellent high frequency range. We expect it to score well on our loudness test, too.

The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is available in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB versions and there is no NV card here.

The Pura 70 Ultra measures 162.6 x 75.1 x 8.4 mm and weighs 226 grams, which is about the same as the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The new Pura 70 Ultra is a flagship of exquisite design, excellent build and packs some impressive hardware. It also offers superb grip even with case, which is super important for a cameraphone and we do applaud Huawei for taking the extra steps here. Overall, even with the gigantic camera housing, we really liked this Pura 70 Ultra phone and we have nothing but positive impressions.

Harmony OS 4.2 and Kirin 9010

Harmony OS 4.2 is the latest version of the proprietary Huawei OS and it will be available to over 100 devices worldwide. The version of smartphones includes new interactive and magazine themes, new and improved features for Celia assistant, better security, better Health app, and support for Ark Engine. You can also expect new watch faces for the number of wearables that will get this update.

The global Harmony OS 4.2 still includes an Android (12) core inside, so Android apps are still supported. And GBox works fine, in case you’ve wondered.

Pura 70 Ultra also features Huawei’s new Kirin 9010 chipset featuring an 8-core CPU – 1x 2.3 GHz Taishan Big + 3x 2.18 GHz Taishan Mid + 4x 1.55 GHz Cortex-A510 cores. It is rumored to be manufactured on a 7nm process locally in China like the Kirin 9000s inside the Mate 60 series. It also contains the Maleoon 910.

Huawei Pura 70 Ultra comes with 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of UFS storage.

Here are some benchmarks results to get you warmed up for our review.

It seems that the new Kirin 9010 is as powerful as the Dimensity 8200 chipset by MediaTek, which is not bad at all considering all those restrictions.

Camera

The camera system on the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is something that everyone will be talking about for a while.

There are three cameras on the back. The primary one is the most interesting one – it uses a 50MP 1″ sensor with sensor shift stabilization and retractable lens with variable aperture. Huawei added a retractable mechanism to the main camera’s lens which pops the camera up when in use. The rotating telescopic lens features an intricate motorized structure which Huawei tested for 300,000 cycles of expansion and contraction.

The main shooter has a variable f/1.6 – 4.0 lens and features a 22.5mm focal length. Huawei introduced a new XD Motion engine to help handle fast moving objects.

The second camera on the back uses a 50 MP sensor, which sits behind a periscope 90mm f/2.1 telephoto lens featuring OIS and 3.5x optical zoom. This camera also doubles as a macro shooter, allowing you to get as close as 5cm from your subject with its 35x super macro mode.

The ultrawide shooter has a 40 MP sensor and 13mm equivalent focal length. It offers autofocus and is also capable of macro photography.

Finally, the selfie camera uses a 13MP sensor coupled with an 18mm f/2.4 lens. Autofocus is supported. There are three crop modes here, just like on other Huawei phones – 0.6x (full view), 0.8x and 1x.

Here are some photos we shot with the cameras on the Huawei Pura 70 Pro. We will discuss the quality in our review.

   
   
   
  
Main camera

   
   
  
Main camera, 2x zoom

   
   
   
Telephoto camera, 3.5x zoom

   
   
   
Telephoto camera, 10x zoom

  
 
Ultrawide camera

  
Selfies: 0.6x • 0.8x • 1x

First impressions

The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is a formidable cameraphone, just like the Huawei Pxx phones before it. Plus, it has an impressive design and build, an excellent display, superb charging capabilities, flagship-grade speakers, and whatnot.

What it doesn’t have is the Snapdragon 8 Gen performance and 5G connectivity outside China. It also doesn’t have Google’s Mobile Services, though this has not been that much of an issue since the existence of Gbox and the alternatives.

We can see Huawei fans getting this phone in a heartbeat because it is shaping up to be that good. But it will be a tough job to convince anyone that is not after Huawei’s camera experience, not outside its homeland at least. But does it matter anyway? Huawei is expecting to ship over 10 million Pura 70 units, most of them in China, which is plenty enough to keep it going.

Still for those who ponder the thought of getting the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra – it will be available together with the Pura 70 and Pura 70 Pro in Europe. The sales will begin on May 22 and the price for the 512 GB model is €1499.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for our complete in-depth review.