“Following the footsteps of its predecessor, the Huawei P30 Pro tops the DxOMark ratings”

If there’s one company that has been killing it in the innovations department over the past few years, it has to be Huawei. Last year, it introduced the P20 Pro (review) and Mate 20 Pro (review), which brought forth impressive camera capabilities and power-packed features. And now we have the P30 Pro (first impressions), which among other things, features a periscope camera. The handset is a huge upgrade over the P20 Pro, but also has a few things common with its predecessor. Let us take a thorough look at the offerings of both these smartphones.

Huawei P30 Pro vs Huawei P20 Pro price

The new P30 Pro has already been made available in select markets around the world. Its base model comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and costs €799 (~Rs 62,250). It’s also available with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for €999 (~Rs 78,800), while there’s even an 8GB + 256GB model that’s priced at €1,099 (~Rs 85,600). And finally, the phone will also be sold in the form of an 8GB RAM version with 512GB of storage, which costs €1,249 (~Rs 97,250). Not all models are expected to come to the country though.

The Huawei P20 Pro on the other hand, is available in India in the form of a 6GB RAM variant with 128GB of storage, which costs Rs 49,999, at the moment.

Huawei P30 Pro vs Huawei P20 Pro specifications, design and features

The Huawei P30 Pro has been equipped with a 3D curved glass body that gives it an elegant appearance. It sports a dewdrop notch at the top to accommodate the front camera, but otherwise, the front surface is almost fully occupied by the screen. Underneath this display of course, rests the fingerprint scanner. The fingerprint scanner of the P20 Pro is a traditional one that’s placed on the front of the phone. This device is not as curvy and exquisitely designed as its successor, but its display does cover a large portion of the fascia. Both the phones come with full HD+ OLED panels, with the one on the P30 Pro being 6.47-inches in size and the one on the P20 Pro measuring 6.1-inches diagonally.

The rear surfaces of both these handsets are made of glass, and they are each sold in a variety of gradient colour options. The P30 Pro’s back is highlighted by its quad-camera setup. Three of these snappers sit in a vertical array, while the fourth one is placed below the flash. The periscope camera is one of the USPs of this phone, but we’ll be talking about that later. As for the P20 Pro, it sports three rear cameras. The headphone socket however, is a no-show on both the phones. The P30 Pro adopts Huawei’s proprietary Nano Memory card slot, which is not present on its predecessor. Lastly, the new handset is IP68 rated, whereas the old one features IP67 certification.

Huawei P30 Pro_9

Shifting our focus to the specifications now, the P30 Pro has been fitted with the same 7nm Kirin 980 chipset that we saw in the Mate 20 Pro. This SoC features four Cortex-A76 cores and four Cortex-A55 cores in an octa-core setup. The Mali-G76 MP10 GPU handles its graphics. The phone can be purchased with 6GB or 8GB of RAM, and a variety of storage choices, as mentioned above. The P20 Pro draws power from the last-gen Kirin 970 chipset that’s been built with the 10nm process. Its octa-core setup includes four Cortex-A73 cores and four Cortex-A53 cores. The graphics of this SoC are handled by a Mali-G72 MP12 GPU. In India, this device is available with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage onboard.

The P30 Pro runs Android 9.0 Pie-based EMUI 9.1. The new features that this software brings include a one-touch video editor, an AR measurement app and lots of motion tracking goodies that are made possible by the TOF camera on its back. The P20 also has Android 9.0 Pie at its core, but its skin is EMUI 9.0.

Huawei P20 Pro review - 91mobiles 05

Camera and battery

This is where the P30 Pro takes a massive leap over the P20 Pro. This new device adopts a quad-camera setup that’s being led by a 40MP f/1.6 camera. Instead of adhering to the RGB standard, this snapper features RYG setup. This, combined with its large aperture, helps it capture great shots in low-light conditions. The phone’s second camera is an ultra-wide 20MP snapper, while the third one is the 8MP telephoto shooter. This latter camera arrangement is designed like a periscope, and allows for 5x optical zoom. But the buck doesn’t stop there. Thanks to various software advancements and artificial stabilisation, this camera is even able to offer a whopping 50x digital zoom. The fourth camera in this module is a TOF sensor for depth tracking and other motion-based features. This phone’s front camera is a 32MP unit.

The P20 Pro’s triple cameras include a 40MP f/1.8 RGB camera, a 20MP monochrome camera and an 8MP telephoto camera for 3x optical zoom. This phone offers up to 5x hybrid zoom. The front camera on this device is 24MP in resolution. Both these phones can shoot slow-motion clips at 960fps.

Huawei P30 Pro_11

The P30 Pro ships with a 4,200mAh battery underneath its hood. It supports 40W fast charging and 15W wireless charging. Moreover, the phone is also capable of reverse wireless charging other devices. The P20 Pro grabs a 4,000mAh cell, which can charge at 22.5W. 

Bottomline

All these features make the Huawei P30 Pro an excellent upgrade over the P20 Pro. It impresses not just with its bleeding-edge technologies, but also with its attractive looks. And considering the smartphone is expected to land in India in the next month itself, we won’t have to wait for long.