Huawei’s Consumer Business Group announced the P20 Series smartphone which features the world’s first Leica triple camera. There are two versions with 5.8″ (P20) and 6.1″ (P20 Pro) displays, both with 1080 x 2244 (18.7:9) aspect ratio and based on LTPS IPS LCDs.
The camera configuration got a lot of interest as the Pro has a 40MP RGB sensor (with a Quad Bayer structure and usually binned to 10MP), a 20MP monochrome and an 8MP telephoto lens and there is an exclusive Leica colour temperature sensor for better colour reproduction. The lenses have f/1.8, f/1.6 and f/2.4 apertures, respectively for low light performance and the ISO rating goes up to 102400. The P20 has a dual camera array featuring a 12MP sensor with a pixel size of 1.55 μm, and a 20MP monochrome sensor. Both support six-axis stabilisation and 960fps video capture. The camera can take a picture within 0.3 seconds, even if the phone is off.
The phones exploit the Kirin 970 processor to optimise output from the cameras. DXOMark looked at the cameras in detail on the P20 Pro and highlighted that the main sensor is twice the size of the sensor in the Samsung Galaxy S9. The firm gave the camera a mark rating of 109, “a new benchmark for smartphone cameras” and with 114 for still images. It also has good video and scored 98, beating the top-rated Google Pixel 2. You can check out the full review here.
The selfie camera also has AI “beautification” and 3D portrait lighting.
The phones both have 128GB of memory and the Pro has 6GB of memory, the P20 just 4GB while the batteries are fixed with 3400 mAh and 4000 mAh respectively. The connector is a USB Type C and there is no 3.5mm jack.
Pricing is €649 for the P20 and €899 for the Pro, while the Porsche design versions of the Pro have 256GB of storage at €1,695 and 512GB at €2095 for those that like the Porsche name.
