Huawei caught using DSLR photos to promote P40 Pro photo capabilities

Published On: April 21, 2020

Highlights

Huawei is running a photo contest in China to promote the P40 Pro smartphone
One of the images claimed to be shot using the P40 Pro was actually shot on a $3,000 DSLR
The P40 Pro cameras are rated the best by camera benchmarking site DXOMark

Huawei has been caught red-handed again using a DSLR photo to promote its smartphone. It all happened during the ongoing Huawei P40 Pro photo contest for its fans in China. Huawei shared a video, on Chinese microblogging site Weibo, which included a bunch of stellar photos that it claimed has been shot using its smartphones. However, Weibo user Huapeng Zhao — who was the runner up in the 2018 iPhone photography contest — was quick to notice one of the images in the video (at the 10-second mark) was shot using a DSLR. He also shared the exact photo from popular photography platform 500px as well as data on which device it was actually shot. As it turns out, the photo was shot on the Nikon D850 DLSR camera instead of Huawei P40 Pro, which features 50MP quad rear cameras.

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Additionally, the South China Morning Post reports that there were two photos, which Huawei used in its video. Both the photos were taken by the same photographer Su Tie using a DSLR. Huawei responded to the situation claiming that the photos were “wrongly marked” due to “an oversight by the editor.”

Huawei claims that the photos were “wrongly marked” due to “an oversight by the editor.”

However, this isn’t the first time the vendor has been caught in the act. On several occasions in the past, it has used DSLR photos to fool customers into thinking its smartphones’ cameras are better than they actually are. The P40 Pro has the highest DXOMark score, yet Huawei uses the DSLR trickery.

The handset, to recall, is the world’s first smartphone with a 50MP camera. It has quad-rear camera setup, comprising Leica’s 50MP UltraVision RYYB primary sensor with 4-in-1 pixel binning and f/1.9, a 40MP Ultra-wide Cine lens with f/1.8 and OIS support, a 12MP 125mm telephoto with 5X optical zoom, OIS support and f/ 3.4, a 3D ToF lens. The front camera of the handset gets a 32MP selfie camera with autofocus and f/2.0 aperture, an IR depth sensor, and ambient and proximity sensors.

The Huawei P40 Pro was launched globally last month alongside the standard P40 and P40 Pro+ smartphones. The handsets are yet to make their debut in India, but in Europe, they’re retailing at a starting price of EUR 799 (approx Rs 67,000).