There are some amazing camera phones being released from China right now. The Xiaomi 15 Ultra has a 1-inch sensor and Leica lenses, and the Vivo X200 Ultra features a new add-on lens. However, Huawei’s latest phone might be even better.
Launched on June 11, the Pura 80 Ultra has a unique triangular triple camera setup. Upon closer look, one of the lenses actually has two telephoto optics that use the same 1/1.28-inch sensor.
One of these telephoto lenses zooms in 3.7 times, while the other zooms in a huge 9.4 times. This compact design uses a moving prism to change the zoom, which is quite rare, though we’ve seen it in the Sony Xperia 1 III from 2021. From the Pura 80 Ultra’s specs, it seems to be very promising.
The telephoto lenses offer great flexibility – the 3.7x zoom is perfect for portraits, while the 9.4x zoom is great for distant shots. Both lenses use the same large sensor, which should provide good image quality.
My only concern is that the 9.4x zoom seems to use pixel binning or cropping, capturing 12.5MP photos instead of the 50MP photos from the 3.7x zoom. Still, the pictures I’ve seen from both lenses look really good.
Could this be the best camera phone in the world?
As a photographer, I find the telephoto lenses very useful, but I’m also impressed by the main camera. It has a 23mm lens with a variable aperture of f/1.6-4 and uses a larger 1-inch sensor for 50MP photos.
Huawei claims the main camera can capture 16 stops of dynamic range, which would be a record for any smartphone. A wider dynamic range means better detail in bright and dark areas, leading to more natural-looking images.
The camera setup also includes a 13mm ultra-wide lens with 40MP photos, though Huawei hasn’t shared the sensor size for this lens. It likely won’t match the quality of the main camera.
I’ve been using the Xiaomi 15 Ultra for months and it’s a great alternative to my compact camera, but I haven’t tried the Huawei Pura 80 Ultra yet, so I can’t say for sure if it’s one of the best camera phones. “As a Pro Photographer, I’ve Never Seen Smartphone Tech Like This – Huawei Just Changed the Game”