The last year has been extremely exciting period for Huawei and its products: Starting with the P20, the company’s flagships have been truly transformative in terms of their camera photography capabilities. The P20 and P20 Pro last year were extremely intriguing products for the industry, as they ushered in the first step towards an ever more prevalent aspect of modern cameras: computational photography.

Huawei had pioneered the technique to bring new innovative use-cases such as the introduction of multi-frame combination mechanism for low-light capture (a.k.a. Night Mode), which really raised the bar and lead the way in terms of what we expect smartphone cameras be capable of in low light. Huawei didn’t only innovate in terms of software, but also using quite exotic hardware camera sensors, such as the 40MP units in the P20 Pro and the Mate 20 Pro.

This year, Huawei doubled down on the photography aspects of its predecessors with the introduction of the new P30 and P30 Pro. The two new flagships pick up where the P20s left off, and provide yet again a new set of generational improvements to the camera setups. This year, along with software optimisations, we yet again see big changes in the hardware of the cameras, with the introduction of an industry first RYYB 40MP main camera sensor, as well as the addition of an even more exotic 5x telephoto camera module that is enabled via a prism mirror and a 90° sensor layout.

Naturally, the P30 and P30 Pro also bring overall improvements and redesigns in the other aspects of what makes them flagship smartphones, with larger batteries, new screens, and overall design revamps. Let’s dive into the specs:

Huawei P30 Series
		P30	P30 Pro
SoC		HiSilicon Kirin 980 2x Cortex-A76 @ 2.60 GHz 2x Cortex-A76 @ 1.92 GHz 4x Cortex-A55 @ 1.80 GHz
GPU		Mali G76MP10 @ 720MHz
DRAM		6/8GB LPDDR4X	8GB LPDDR4X
Display		6.1" OLED 2340 x 1080	6.47" OLED 2340 x 1080
Size	Height	149.1 mm	158.0 mm
	Width	71.36 mm	73.4 mm
	Depth	7.57 mm	8.41 mm
Weight		165 grams	192 grams
Battery Capacity		3550mAh Rated 3650mAh Typical	4100mAh Rated 4200mAh Typical
Wireless Charging		-	Qi
Rear Cameras
	Main	40MP f/1.8 RYYB sensor 27mm equiv. FL	40MP f/1.6 OIS RYYB sensor 27mm equivl. FL
	Telephoto	8MP f/2.4 3x Optical zoom 80mm equiv. FL	8MP f/3.4 5x Optical Zoom 135mm equivl. FL
	Wide	16MP f/2.2 Ulta wide angle 17mm equivl. FL	20MP f/2.2 Ultra wide angle 16mm equivl. FL
	Extra	-	Time-of-flight sensor
Front Camera		32MP f/2.0
Storage		128 / 256 (P30 Pro only) + proprietary "nanoSD" card
I/O		USB-C 3.5mm headphone jack	USB-C
Wireless (local)		802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi Bluetooth 5.0 LE + NFC
Cellular		Kirin 980 Integrated LTE (Category 21/18) DL = 1400 Mbps 4x4 MIMO 3x20MHz CA, 256-QAM (5CA no MIMO) UL = 200 Mbps 2x2 MIMO 1x20MHz CA, 256-QAM
Splash, Water, Dust Resistance		IP53 (no water resistance)	IP68 (water resistant up to 1m)
Dual-SIM		2x nano-SIM
Launch Price		6+128 GB: 749€	8+128 GB: 999€ 8+256 GB: 1099€

Both the P30 and P30 Pro are powered by HiSilicon’s Kirin 980 chipset. By now the 7nm SoC should be familiar with most of our readers, as we had an in-depth review of the silicon in the review of the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro. The combination of Arm’s Cortex A76 CPU cores in the new 7nm manufacturing node made for some impressive generational gains, with the new chipset’s CPUs still tracking ahead of the new generation competition such as the Snapdragon 855 or the Exynos 9820. GPU performance, while not as leading as the competition, is still adequately competitive.

Versus the Mate 20’s, the P30’s increase the amount of DRAM available. The P30 sees 6GB of RAM while the P30 Pro comes with 8GB of LPDDR4X. Both models come with 128GB of base capacity NAND storage.

Like the P20s before, the P30s this year differ in terms of their form-factor. The P30 Pro is the larger sibling in a 73.4mm wide form-factor, while the P30 is smaller with 71.36mm width. The screen sizes are respectively 6.47” and 6.1”, however with the screen aspect ratios in the last few years becoming more elongated as well as bezels shrinking, it’s no longer a very representative way to describe phone form-factors.

The P30 Pro comes with a 4200mAh battery while the smaller P30 sports a 3650mAh unit. It’s again to be noted that the actual design capacities here are 100mAh less, a quite annoying development in recent years in how manufacturers advertise their battery capacities.

At the centre of the P-series (which apparently stands for Photography) is of course the camera, or better said, the cameras. While on the P20s we saw different camera sensors between the smaller and bigger Pro models, the P30s both come with the same new 40MP sensor. The new module manufactured by Sony is the first of its kind in a commercial smartphone by employing a new RYYB colour filter structure, as opposed to the classical RGGB Bayer filter. Replacing the green subpixel with a yellow one promises to increase light sensitivity by 30%. In the past we’ve seen attempts with RGBW sensors, however they’ve all ended up in failure and never saw wide adoption. Huawei here promises a better implementation as it’s able to fully take advantage of the RYYB filter structure from sensor to SoC ISP without having to reconvert the data-stream to a regular Bayer stream, something which currently would be unique in the space.

The 40MP main sensor on the P30 comes in an f/1.8 aperture lens module, while the P30 Pro uses a wider f/1.6 lens. Furthermore the P30 Pro also employs OIS on the main sensor, something that’s been notoriously lacking in Huawei smartphones in the last couple of years.

Both P30s have wide-angle modules, and much like on the Mate 20’s these two differ in terms of their sensors. The P30 uses a 16MP f/2.2 unit with a 17mm equivalent focal length, while the P30 Pro has a 20MP f/2.2 unit with a slightly wider 16mm equivalent focal length. Huawei introduced the wide-angle sensors on the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro and they’ve been fantastic additions to the camera setups.

Finally, Huawei raised the bar in terms of zoom/telephoto module capability. The new P30 contains a similar 8MP f/2.4 3x / 80mm equivalent module as on the P20 Pro and the Mate 20 Pro, so there’s not apparent chance here in terms of the paper specifications.

The P30 Pro on the other hand has a special new telephoto/zoom module, reaching an optical magnification factor of 5x, or a 135mm equivalent focal length. Usually such higher magnification factors weren’t available in smartphones due to limitations on the camera module thickness; you either had to have a very large bump, or you had to employ a tiny sensor. Huawei here does neither, and instead is positioning the camera sensor at a 90° perpendicular position. This was achieved through a prism mirror. The drawback of this system is that the aperture is quite limited at only f/3.4, which should result in less light.

Finally, the P30 Pro comes with a ToF sensor, however much like on the Honor View20 we reviewed in January, it’s of extremely limited use.

The P30s, much like the P20s, are distinguished by their vertical camera setups on the upper side of the phones. Again, both phones maintain the form-factor of their predecessors, however the P30 Pro does get notably longer than the P20 Pro.

P30 Design

 

The P30s, much like the P20s, are distinguished by their vertical camera setups on the upper side of the phones. Again, both phones maintain the form-factor of their predecessors, however the P30 Pro does get notably longer than the P20 Pro.

For both the P30 and P30 Pro, the front is now distinguished by a dew-drop notch design in an otherwise near bezel-less smartphone. Huawei was able to minimise the front plastic rim between display and metal frame, and was able to completely get rid of it on the back glass panel, which now is slightly curved and flowing to the sides.

On the bottom of the phone we find the main speaker grill as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The top merely has a microphone hole and is otherwise bare. What is odd of the new P30 design is the flat top and bottom frames – I don’t think I remember of any smartphone ever employing such a design. It’s not really hindering in any way, but it is quite odd in terms of feel and contrary to what one is used to in a smartphone.

The right side sees both the power button as well as the volume rocker button. Placement is identical to the P20 and it’s a good design for a phone of this size. The left side sees the nanoSIM+Nanomemory slot.

P30 Pro Design

 

The P30 Pro’s design differs a lot more from its predecessor. Here the new P30 Pro is a lot more akin to the Mate 20 Pro than the P20 Pro, sharing the same curved screen and back glass design. The screen design, besides the curved edges, is identical in design with the P30, sharing the same dew-drop notch design for the camera.

What is different though and not immediately visible is that the P30 Pro doesn’t actually have an ear-piece speaker. Huawei instead opted for a piezoelectric actuator speaker integrated into the screen. I’m not too convinced of this implementation as first of all it doesn’t serve as a stereo speaker (Unlike the G8’s integrated display speaker), and second of all I fail to see the value as it also produces lesser quality call audio.

Because the phone is curved both on the front and back, there’s no space for a tray on the sides of the phone. Like on the Mate 20 Pro, the SIM tray is found on the bottom side. Also, unfortunately like on the Mate 20 Pro, Huawei opted to leave out the 3.5mm headphone jack on the more expensive model. Again I frankly find this stupid that the company would opt to leave out a feature on the higher-end model.

The top of the phone is similar to the P30, however we see the addition of an IR transceiver.

The edges of the P30 Pro flow seamlessly on the sides, giving an almost identical feel to the Mate 20 Pro. I actually love this design as it’s simply vastly more ergonomic, and it makes the larger phone feel much smaller than it really is. Build quality, like on the Mate 20 Pro, is also excellent.

If I had one gripe about the design of the P30s, it’s their weight. Particularly the 192g of the Mate 20 Pro is very heavy and on the top-end of the scale, without even being the biggest phone around. The P30 Pro offers an IP68 rating, while the P30 offers a regular IP53 rating.

System Performance

System performance of the new P30s is expected to be excellent. In essence, there shouldn’t be any large difference to the Mate 20’s and the recent Honor View20. All of the aforementioned devices sport the same Kirin 980 chipset as the P30s, and there shouldn’t be any major software differences in the new flagship phones.

Indeed, in PCMark, the P30 and P30 Pro tie in with the recent Huawei flagships, showcasing only minor deviations in the scores.

Interestingly, we see a slightly larger uplift in the web benchmarks, however I found this not to be caused by an increase in performance of the devices themselves but rather seemingly an update in the OS WebView of Android, as re-testing the Mate 20 again showcases the same increased performance figures.

Overall, the P30 and P30 Pro perform identically to the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro – excellently. There’s still instances where Qualcomm (& new Exynos S10) devices perform notably better, such as app opening or activity switching. I think this is due to Huawei’s possible lack of framework boosters.

GPU Performance

Much like the System Performance section, I’m not expecting any big surprises in the GPU performance section. The Kirin 980 uses a Mali G76MP10 at 720MHz and while the chip isn’t blazing as much as the competition, it still performs adequately well and is a significant upgrade to last year’s Kirin 970.

In the 3DMark Sling Shot physics test, the P30s are taking the top spots in terms of performance, both in peak as well as sustained figures. The limitation here lies mainly on the part of the CPU as well as its thermal throttling characteristics. Both the P30 and P30 Pro barely throttle in this regard, at least not in GPU power constrained scenarios.

In the graphics test, we see expected results on the P30 Pro, however on the smaller P30 there’s essentially no thermal throttling at all, which is extremely peculiar.

P30 Overheating Warning & App shutdown

Shockingly enough, I didn’t manage to make the P30 throttle at all in any of the tests, as before it could even get to a point of thermal equilibrium, the OS would shut down the application and raise a thermal overheating warning. I don’t know what’s going on with devices nowadays that this keeps happening as I’ve encountered the issue in last year’s Qualcomm Galaxy S9+ with release firmware as well. The last time this happened, it was due to disabling of the thermal throttling when the OS was detecting benchmarking applications, however in our case we’re using altered application IDs. Still even with this the smaller P30 overheated repeatedly. The fact that this is an OS warning means it’s triggered by a different driver than the usual SoC thermal drivers, so something must be off on the current firmware.

In the GFXBench Vulkan High benchmark we see both P30 and P30 Pro neck-in-neck with quite excellent performance. Again what is interesting here is that both devices perform significantly better than the Mate 20s and the View20 with the same chipset. I explain this through the fact that the P30s come with newer GPU drivers, and Arm must have made more significant improvements in their Vulkan drivers.

In the Normal variant of the Aztec benchmark, we see the P30 Pro throttle a little more, yet it still manages to showcase much better performance figures than the Mate 20, and also higher peak figures than the Mate 20 Pro & View20. The smaller P30 here posts the best figures, however its sustained performance is so high simply because the device is getting extremely hot. I’ve argued if I should be posting the figures for the P30 at all since if you continue to load the device in this manner it’ll simply crash the application.

Overall, GPU performance of the P30s is in line with that of last year’s Snapdragon 845 phones, which is still great. Huawei and HiSilicon still trail behind Samsung’s Exynos Mali GPU implementations, although the difference isn’t all that big this generation.

I hope that Huawei figures out the thermal issues on the smaller P30 and issues a firmware update, I’ll be updating the article with the relevant data once this is all sorted out.

Display Measurement

The display of the P30s is something I was extremely concerned about, and hoping that Huawei would be able to execute correctly. Much of the concern was due to the poor showing of the Mate 20 Pro display which in my review variant was in the form of an LG panel with a MagnaChip DDIC. Mate 20 Pro units with a BOE panel with a Synaptics DDIC reportedly had many fewer issues as well as less power-consumption.

The P30 and P30 Pro continues to see Huawei using various vendors for the displays. The smaller P30 seemingly is using a Samsung panel with a MagnaChip DDIC if I’m not mistaken. The larger P30 Pro dual-sources the panel from LG and BOE again, however this time around the DDIC for both is provided by Novatek, which is a major design win for the company. I wasn’t actually able to identify which variant my P30 Pro had, however I also wasn’t able to identify any glaring issues with the panel or DDIC behaviour.

Another major issue with the Mate 20 Pro OLED display was quite stark colour shifting in off-axis viewing angles. Here both P30s don’t suffer nearly as much of this issue, and perform as you’d usually expect.

Sunlight legibility of both phones is excellent with auto-brightness boost brightness levels of up to ~570nits. Maximum brightness in manual mode falls in at ~415nits. In effect the brightness characteristics are in line with what we’ve seen in recent Huawei OLED devices.

SpectraCal CalMAN
P30 Pro:   P30: 

Huawei doesn’t ship colour management on the P30s and still relies on its display modes. The “Natural” mode targets the sRGB colour space while the “Vivid” mode targets Display P3. Huawei provides colour temperature controls in both modes and you’re able to freely adjust RGB offsets. For the sake of the article we’re measuring the default presets, respectively the nearest preset that targets near a 6500K colour temperature.

In the greyscale accuracy test, both units have some weaknesses in terms of default colour balance. The P30 Pro comes in with an average 6367K CCT, however this isn’t very noticeable as at the higher levels it’s mostly more blue dominated. Most of the error comes from a higher gamma coming in at 2.36. It’s interesting that this gamma is merely high at our standard 200cd/m² measurement point, going to max brightness we see a much more perfect colour balance (except for the highest 10% levels) with a better gamma, but still seeing a non-linear gamma curve.

The smaller P30 has more issues in terms of its colour balance, here we see a strong dominance of green. This is fixable by adjusting the RGB balance. Like the P30 Pro, the P30 tends to have a too high gamma, showcasing also a more odd stepped response.

P30 Pro - Natural Default - SpectraCal CalMAN
P30 Pro - Vivid Warm - SpectraCal CalMAN
P30 - Natural Default - SpectraCal CalMAN

Colour temperatures across the devices and display modes are best in the default settings, even if they could be tweaked. The P30 Pro’s Vivid mode however is best used with the “Warm” preset.

 

Grayscale accuracy ends up better on the P30 Pro than on the P30. Both devices end up with deltaE2000 figures of 2-2.7, which is reasonable but not great either. The Mate 20 Pro had a notably better calibration, and the devices also fall behind the P20 Pro, but at least it’s not as disastrous as the Mate 20 or P20.

 
SpectraCal CalMAN
P30 Pro & P30 - sRGB 'Natural'

The saturation accuracy on both devices also fall in the dE2000 range of 2-3. The P30 fared better here as on the P30 Pro there was notable inaccurate hues in the yellow and cyan channels, as well as an off-mark blue primary.

SpectraCal CalMAN
P30 Pro - Display P3 - 'Vivid'

Using Display P3 in the Vivid mode by definition isn’t actually a very accurate colour mode as the phone doesn’t have colour management adapted to the content. Nevertheless, the P30 Pro ended up with a dE2000 of 2.78. Here the biggest errors are in the blue primaries which overshoot the gamut targets, as well as saturation compression in the greens.

SpectraCal CalMAN
P30 Pro - GreTag MacBeth

SpectraCal CalMAN
P30 - GreTag MacBeth

In the Gretag-Macbeth colour set of common tones and skin-tones, the P30 Pro ends up with a dE2000 of 2.3 while the P30 manages a better 1.96. The P30 fares better because of gamma/luminosity being nearer the targets, and while its chromacity error isn’t great, it has less severe outliers than the P30 Pro.

Display Verdict

Overall, both P30 screens are good. Their calibration isn’t top-tier, however they also don’t have any glaring issues, such as seen on the Mate 20 or P20. Thanks to the auto-boost function, their brightness is good for outdoor legibility, and the displays also don’t suffer from the weird exaggerated hue shift at off-axis angles such as the Mate 20 Pro.

If I were to criticise the panels in any way, it’s at least on the P30 Pro I would have expected to see a 1440p screen, like on the Mate 20 Pro. After the P30 launch event I was able to talk to Huawei’s VP of product marketing, asking about this precise aspect. I was a bit dismayed when the answer I got for the reason to stick to 1080p was battery life, with the VP insisting it makes a large difference. The Mate 20 Pro’s 1440p failed in terms of battery consumption simply because Huawei wasn’t able to implement it correctly, most notably relying on dual-MIPI DSI interfaces to drive it, instead of using compression with a single DSI interface. DDIC choice is also critical for battery life here; Samsung’s recent Galaxy S10 and S10+ showcase fantastic display power consumption at 1440p that is actually lower than both the P30s at 1080p. I hope in the future Huawei does finally figure out how to implement 1440p correctly, because I do think at screen sizes this big it does give a much needed quality boost, especially for a device that is priced as high end as the P30 Pro.

Battery Life

Huawei always proclaimed to have excellent battery life in their products, and this seems to be a management directed priority in device development. Having said that, power consumption on the recent OLED devices hasn’t always been as optimised as it could be.

The P30 Pro’s 4100mAh rated battery and the P30’s 3550mAh unit compete at the higher end of the spectrum. We’ve already proven that the Kirin 980 SoC is able to deliver fantastic power efficiency, and the Mate 20 still tops the charts as one of the most efficient and long-lasting devices.

In the web-test, we see both P30s not far apart from each other, with the P30 Pro reaching 11.83h and the P30 11.43h. Overall these are great results, in line with what Huawei was able to achieve in the past. Again I would like to point out the difference in battery life between the P30 Pro and the new Galaxy S10+s – both have similarly sized batteries and screens, yet the Samsung devices lead even though they’re 1440p screen, again showcasing that fundamentally the resolution should have very little impact when implemented correctly.

In the PCMark battery test both P30s perform excellently, as is usualy with Huawei devices. The P30 Pro lags behind the P20 Pro because the latter wasn’t more efficient, but rather because it was much slower and operating at lower (and more efficient) performance points. The P30 Pro along with the new Kirin 980 devices showcase leading battery life along with leading performance.

Another change that I noted in the P30s is that their idle battery life is significantly better than past Huawei flagships, a notorious issue that I hadn’t covered nearly as much as I should have. 

Camera - Daylight Evaluation

Moving on to the camera evaluation, we’re arriving at the main part of this review and certainly the reason most will be reading the article.

As noted in the introduction, the P30s come with vastly different camera hardware, including a new RYYB 40MP main camera sensor. The changes in the sensor colour filter structure are meant to improve light gathering capabilities, but the change to a non-Bayer structure could also have side-effects as in the past we’ve seen camera sensors attempting to employ new structures always fail in regards to artefacts or detail preservation. The sensor is still a 1/1.7” unit, which makes this among the largest sensors employed in smartphones right now, employing 1µm pixel pitches which double up to an effective 2µm pixel size when doing binning in the 10MP capture mode.

Naturally, the new 5x optical zoom module of the P30 Pro will also be an extremely interesting addition to the phone, however the concerns here is exactly how useable it is.

Daylight Evaluation: 3x & 5x Optical Zooms

First off, for the sake of brevity and readability, I’ll be focusing on analysis of the new zoom modules and be revisiting the main sensor in the next page.

[ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ]
[ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ]
[ Mate 20 Pro ]
[ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ]
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ]
[ V40 ] - [ View20 ]
[ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

Diving in directly into the 5x zoom images of the P30 Pro, we see levels of detail before unseen in a smartphone camera. The P30 Pro is the only phone with a telephoto module performant enough to be able to clearly read the text on the memorial, which is quite insane for a smartphone.

The P30 and past Huawei devices like the P20 Pro and Mate 20 Pro do have a 5x zoom factor, however this is a hybrid zoom achieved by their 3x optical modules along with the 40MP main unit. The P30 Pro’s handily beats its predecessors in the resulting detail.

The P30 Pro allows one to go higher in magnification, having even a 10x discrete zoom factor, however under closer inspection of both shots we see that this is merely a digital crop and zoom with no added detail. I would actually even say it’s slightly blurrier due to compression. We’ll get to see that it makes no sense to zoom in further than the 5x optical magnification allowed by the module.

The P30’s 3x optical zoom also isn’t shabby, it’s still far ahead in detail compared to the 2x optical zoom of other smartphones. However both the P30 and P30 Pro’s telephoto modules lack in terms of exposure and colour, resulting in pictures akin to scenarios under cloud-cover, yet these captures were taken in full broad daylight with no cloud in sight. The Galaxy S10s are much nearer to the brightness and contrast of the scene.

[ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ]
[ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ] - [ Mate 20 Pro ]
[ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E)    ] - [ S9+ (S) ]
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ]
[ V40 ] - [ View20 ] - [ OnePlus 6T ]
[ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

[ P30 Pro ]
[ P30 ] - [ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ]
[ Mate 20 Pro ] - [ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ]
[ S9+ (S) ] - [ G8 ] - [ G7 ]
[ V40 ] - [ View20 ]
[ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

[ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ] - [ P20 Pro ]
[ P20 ] - [ Mate 20 Pro ]
[ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ] - [ G8 ]
[ G7 ] - [ V40 ]
[ View20 ] - [ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

[ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ]
[ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ] - [ Mate 20 Pro ]
[ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ]
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ] - [ V40 ]
[ View20 ] - [ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

[ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ] - [ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ]
[ Mate 20 Pro ] - [ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ]
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ] - [ V40 ]
[ View20 ] - [ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

Camera - Daylight Evaluation: Dynamic Range & Detail

[ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ]
[ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ]
[ Mate 20 Pro ] - [ S10+ (S) ]
[ S10+ (E)   ] - [ S9+ (S) ] - [ G8 ]
[ G7 ] - [ V40 ] - [ View20 ]
[ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

[ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ]
[ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ] - [ Mate 20 Pro ]
[ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ]
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ] - [ V40 ]
[ View20 ] - [ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

[ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ]
[ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ] - [ Mate 20 Pro ]
[ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ]
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ] - [ V40 ]
[ View20 ] - [ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

[ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ]
[ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ]
[ Mate 20 Pro ] - [ S10+ (S) ]
[ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ] - [ G8 ]
[ G7 ] - [ V40 ] - [ View20 ]
[ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

[ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ]
[ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ] - [ Mate 20 Pro ]
[ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ]
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ] - [ V40 ] - [ View20 ]
[ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

Camera - Low Light Evaluation

[ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ]
[ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ] - [ Mate 20 Pro ]
[ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ]
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ] - [ V40 ]
[ View20 ] - [ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

[ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ]
[ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ] - [ Mate 20 Pro ]
[ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ]
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ] - [ V40 ]
[ View20 ] - [ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

[ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ] - [ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ]
[ Mate 20 Pro ] - [ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ]
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ] - [ V40 ] - [ View20 ]
[ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

Camera - Extreme Low-Light Evaluation

Moving on to extreme low-light conditions, these are scenarios we traditionally didn’t expect smartphones cameras to be effective at all. Most phones here will produce a dark image and are at their limit in terms of light capture. To be able to perform here, you need help of specialised sensors or sneaky computational photography.

[ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ] - [ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ]
[ Mate 20 Pro ] - [ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ]
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ] - [ V40 ] - [ View20 ]
[ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

[ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ] - [ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ]
[ Mate 20 Pro ] - [ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ]
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ] - [ V40 ] - [ View20 ]
[ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]

Video Recording

P30 Pro:  P30:
Camera Module Transitions (P30 Pro) 

Conclusion & End Remarks

In many ways, the P30 Pro and P30 are both iterative phones. Both devices are taking aspects first introduced in their predecessor P20 series – as well as the sister Mate 20 series – and improving and packaging them into phones with an emphasis on photography.

Design wise, the smaller P30 doesn’t differ all that much from the P20, keeping the same form-factor and also a similar design. Build quality has improved, and the device looks a more premium than its predecessor, mostly due to industrial design changes such the removal of the plastic rim between the body frame and the back glass panel.

Huawei’s choice to go with flat top and bottom frames is quite odd, and it gives the phones a more industrial look and feel than what we’ve become accustomed with compared to the more traditional rounded slab designs.

The bigger P30 Pro adopts the ergonomics of the Mate 20 Pro, meaning it has a curved and flowing display and back cover glass design. I find this design quite fantastic in terms of in-hand feel as well as ergonomics, and it makes the P30 Pro feel like much smaller phone than it actually is. One negative of the new ergonomics is the weight of the phone: at 192g the P30 Pro is a lot heavier than competing devices of its size.

The displays on both P30s are good. Particularly the move to an OLED augments the smaller P30 compared to its predecessor, the LCD-based P20. Huawei was able to seemingly avoid any display issues this time around, as opposed to the concerns of the LG panel units on the Mate 20 Pro. Colour calibration on both phones is good, albeit not excellent. Huawei has achieved better in past models, but it’s not a deal-breaker for the P30s. The only negative about the screens is that I really wish Huawei would have gone 1440p on the P30 Pro – there really is not technical excuse not to adopt it, and it’s just a matter of implementing it correctly.

The dew-drop display notches on the phones are minimal and not intrusive, and I find them better alternatives than what Samsung went with this year.

An odd difference between the two phones is that the P30 has an earpiece speaker while the bigger P30 Pro goes with a piezoelectric under-screen actuator. The problem here is that I just do not see the advantage of these new designs; the earpiece on the P30 is barely visible and sounds better. Unlike Samsung and LG’s recent models, neither of the P30s have stereo playback, and thus lag behind significantly in terms of speaker playback quality. To top off the audio concerns, Huawei continues the senseless design choice of skipping a headphone jack on larger and more expensive P30 Pro while including it on the smaller model..

Both phones have optical under-screen fingerprint sensors, and they’re excellent. The implementation is as good as OnePlus’s, and it’s a much faster sensor than Samsung’s ultrasonic units in the Galaxy S10 series.

The performance of the P30s is excellent thanks to the Kirin 980 SoC. We’ve covered this in past Kirin 980 devices and the new SoC is able to keep up with Qualcomm’s and Samsung’s best for this generation. GPU performance lags a bit behind the flagship competition, but it’s not too bad as it ties in with Snapdragon 845 devices.

Battery life for both phones is excellent, although no longer quite as class-leading, as this title remains with the Mate 20 as well as the new Galaxy S10+.

Cameras Differentiate the P30s

The main selling point of the P-series are supposed to be their cameras, and here Huawei did make some large and interesting changes.

First of all, both P30s now add the wide-angle sensors which were introduced in the Mate 20 series. The additions are fantastic to the shooting experience and Huawei is able to deliver very high quality results, with the P30 Pro having an advantage in quality due to its better sensor.

The zoom optics on the P30 remained the same as what we’ve found on the P20 Pro and Mate 20 Pro – it’s excellent and is able to achieve a higher optical zoom factor than competing devices. Due to the main sensor being 40MP, capturing digitally zoomed in/cropped shots at 2x factor while in 10MP results in little to no quality loss, with the 3x module picking up the slack for further away objects.

While the 5x telephoto module on the P30 Pro is technically impressive in just how far it’s able to go, I’m not very convinced that it’s actually all that beneficial to the everyday capture experience. In particular the device fails to properly bridge the gap between a ~2x and 5x zoom factor, where you’re left with deteriorating image quality and purely digital zooming on the main camera sensor. I honestly do not think that this is how most people use their phones, and I think the 3x zoom on the P30 and previous Huawei devices was a better alternative for the capture experience and most scenarios.

The main camera sensor on the P30s is also interesting. In daylight shots, there are some clear compromises in the new modules. The optics just aren’t as good as what's found on the Mate 20 Pro, and both units suffer from more chromatic aberrations on the outer edges of the images, something that’s immediately visible in the native 40MP capture modes. This issue affects the P30 Pro more than the P30 due to its wider aperture.

Also visible in daylight shots is that detail preservation isn’t as good as the Mate 20 Pro. Besides the optics, this might be caused by the new RYYB sensor which might not have as good pixel isolation as the previous generation sensor.

Daylight processing has changed when compared to the Mate 20 Pro, and while in most cases it’s better, in some cases it also saw regressions. The problem for Huawei is that there’s too large a difference in the processing and resulting images between the different modules. Again I feel as if Huawei putting the responsibility of achieving the best result to the user instead of delivering the best results out of the box. The phones are incredibly versatile in their cameras, but this is also their downfall as they lack consistency.

In low-light scenarios, the P30s are both absolute winners. The new sensor, and particularly the new optics with OIS on the P30 Pro, raise the bar yet again in terms of what one can expect out of a smartphone camera. Huawei’s real only competition here is Google’s Night Sight mode, however once it gets dark enough even the Pixel phones cannot compete with then new Huawei hardware. Compared to other vendors, it’s a completely different league.

 

Lastly, there’s the question of if the P30 phones are worth their money. Unfortunately I think Huawei’s yet again coming in a little too high on pricing. I have a hard time justifying the P30 Pro’s 999€ price point. The issue here is not only the competition, but also the question of whether this actually represents a better value than say the company’s own Mate 20 Pro, which can now be had for 699€. While impressive, I do not see the 5x telephoto lens as a selling point for the P30 Pro. This leaves the much better low-light capture as the only substantial benefit, as otherwise the P30 Pro represents a downgrade in speaker and display quality, with possibly slightly better battery life.

The P30’s 749€ price seems more reasonable, however again the Galaxy S10 is just 50€ more today, and you’re trading in the excellent low-light capture for an overall better phone.

I think both P30 phones are good devices, however it might be worth to wait a couple of months for the inevitable price drop, as the phones don’t tick all the boxes to be able to justify their launch MSRPs.