You probably know it by now – Huawei P50 series of phones are about to become official on July 29.
However, the most important part of the initial announcement is that the company’s CEO, Richard Yu, promised (Google translated) that the P50 series will reinvent smartphone photography once again and start “a new era of mobile imaging”. Surprising? Not really… Exciting? Yes!
Just to set the scene, let’s see what we need to be grateful for when it comes to Huawei’s camera contributions to the smartphone world:
Phone
Innovative camera tech
Competition at the time
Huawei P20 series
Modern Night Mode introduction, 3x optical zoom.
No other phone had Night Mode, and no other phone
had a 3x optical zoom camera at the time, as most were either stuck with 2x or had no telephoto camera at all.
Huawei Mate 20 series
First flagship phone with 3 different focal lengths – main camera, 3x zoom camera, ultra-wide-angle camera, including autofocus for macro photos.
All other major flagships offered a main camera + zoom OR ultrawide.
Huawei P30 series
RYYB filter introduction for unrivaled low-light performance without Night Mode; 5x periscope zoom lens introduction.
No other phone came close to the zooming capabilities of the P30 Pro for a while and the RYYB sensor was literally able to see in the dark.
Huawei P40 series
10x optical zoom introduction; upgraded Night Mode, RYYB sensor; biggest smartphone camera sensor at the time
Again, the competition was way behind when it came to zoom, although Night Mode implementations started to pick up and rival Huawei’s.
Great! But “who cares”, right? Well, let’s see who cares:
Manufacturer
Tech
Apple, Google, Samsung etc.
Borrowed Huawei’s Night Mode magic, so your night time pictures wouldn’t need a flash.
Apple, Google, Samsung etc.
Brought ultra-wide-angle cameras after Huawei made them cool. For the record, LG pioneered the UWA camera, but Huawei took it to its ultimate form by combining it with a regular lens and a zoom camera.
Various
5x periscope zoom cameras became the norm for many flagship phones 1-2 years after the launch of the Huawei P30 Pro.
Samsung
10x optical zoom on the S21 Ultra thanks to the Huawei P40 Pro+ which paved the way.
And that’s only focusing on camera tech. Otherwise, the list would have been longer, if we took into account things like UTS fingerprint reader and reverse-wireless-charging.
So, what’s the point I’m trying to make? Well, Huawei sets the bar when it comes to photography on smartphones. It’s been the case for a long, long time. Although, surely some of this tech would have made its way into Apple, Samsung, Google, and other devices anyway, Huawei’s role was to disrupt the market, and push it about two steps/years ahead.
That’s why the Huawei P50 series might turn out to be more important (for the industry and the consumer) than you think.
Huawei P50, P50 Pro and P50 Pro+: What is the “new era of mobile imaging” all about?
Official sample from the Huawei P50, posted on Huawei’s Weibo page with a promise that the P50 series can freeze every decisive moment.
It’s very easy to say that the camera is the priority of Huawei phones, but exactly which parts of the camera experience are we talking about? What will help is the patterns observed on previous Huawei devices, or in other words – what Huawei’s done so far with the ”P” series, as well as some leaked information we have.
Huawei P50 Pro: Sony IMX800 1/1.18 sensor – main and/or ultra-wide + zoom camera
Huawei P50 Pro+: Sony IMX800 1/1.18 sensor – main and/or ultra-wide + zoom camera
We can’t confirm the information is 100% reliable. However, it does align with previous rumors. In fact, the Sony 707 sensor information about the P50 is new, while the Sony IMX800 leaks started back in 2020.
Anyway… Here’s what stands out from those leaked/rumored specs:
No 1-inch camera sensor for the P50 series
Possibly the best ultra-wide-angle camera on the market thanks to a huge sensor, which gathers a lot more light
Huawei is hiding something special
Although the Sony IMX 800 is going to be the biggest sensor available on a smartphone outside of Japan, it’s still not a 1-inch sensor, so Huawei can’t claim that record – it belongs to the Sharp Aquos R6.
Given that Huawei is supposedly going to skip on a 1-inch camera sensor, and silently upgrade its ultra-wide-angle cameras to make them some of the best ones on the market, what could that “new era of smartphone imaging” claim be related to?
Get closer: Huawei’s love for zoom
The “P” series pioneered 3x,5x and 10x optical zoom cameras with double the “hybrid zoom” capabilities for lossless quality at greater magnification. So, unless the Chinese tech giant has something completely different to surprise us with, we place our bets on zoom!
From all the images, renders, and the official video teasers for the Huawei P50 series, it’s pretty much certain that the phone we have been seeing all along is the Huawei P50 Pro. We can tell that the bottom plate of the P50 Pro is extraordinarily big – as big as the top camera plate which houses a total of three sensors!
Therefore, it only makes sense that the bottom one is reserved for a special zooming system – perhaps a 5x periscope zoom camera, which is kind of confirmed by the official teaser video that reads:
In other words – f1.8-f3.4 aperture (ultra-wide to periscope camera) and 16-125mm focal length (ultra-wide to periscope camera). Bear in mind that this includes the main camera, as well as the mid-range zoom camera, but their specs are still a secret.
Huawei P50 Pro+: A new era of mobile imaging with 20x optical / 10x continuous zoom?
As we know, the vanilla P50 will be a slight downgrade compared to the P50 Pro – this has always been the case. But what we also know is that for the past two years Huawei has always been keeping the best for its most expensive flagship – the “+” model – remember the Huawei P40 Pro+, and Huawei Mate 40 Pro+?
Clearly, Huawei’s been keeping the Plus model under wraps for a reason. Since the Chinese company is going to refer to this as the “new era of mobile imaging”, we most certainly are in for a big surprise.
How about “continuous zoom”? Too ambitious? Possibly. Possible? If you’re as ambitious as Huawei, probably yes! In fact, Sony already did it! Well… almost.
Sony’s Xperia 1III introduced a unique optical element that physically moves inside the camera system, switching between two focal lengths – 70mm-105mm, or simply 3x – 4.4x optical magnification. What this actually does on the Xperia 1III is to eliminate the need for two telephoto cameras. Pay attention – it does not offer continuous zoom between the two focal lengths, as some might think!
This is rather confusing, for one important reason – Sony’s marketing material for the Xperia 1III actually shows a moving element in the zoom camera, like periscope lenses that move smoothly. However, the Xperia 1III switches from 3x to 4.4x just like any other smartphone. We aren’t sure what Sony did there, but it sort of looks as if they were about to do continuous zoom but then they… didn’t?!
Anyway, we think there might be a similar affair taking place inside the Huawei P50 Pro+. What would the zoom exactly be like? Well, a recent hot leak from Weibo says… 20x optical zoom and 200x digital zoom.
Does this confirm the zoom is going to be continuous? Another leak points towards “a new 10x continuous telephoto zoom, liquid lens, Freeform Ultra-Wide Cine” certainly says so, but as you see it mentions a 10x continuous zoom and not a 20x zoom. The same tweet says the Huawei P50 Pro+ might also be getting a liquid lens, which helps take macro photos without the need for a macro camera. Bear in mind that the source isn’t exactly established, so take it with a grain of salt.
Either way, Huawei’s definitely going to need all the space in the world to make this happen, as the smartphone body is quite small to accommodate such ambitious tech. Again, don’t forget that no one thought Huawei could bring 5x and 10x optical zoom on a smartphone either, but they did!
Regardless, even the possibility of this tech becoming a reality makes sounds really exciting! A 20x optical zoom or a continuous zoom at a shorter distance would be as close to a dedicated camera tech as smartphones have ever come, and I’m so looking forward to finding out if it’s going to become a reality.
Meanwhile, Samsung, Apple, and Google will definitely have a lot to think about if Huawei manages to pull this off. As a Samsung customer, for example, I wouldn’t be happy to miss out on such an innovative feature.
