Huawei Mate 30 Pro review

Video recording

The Mate 30 Pro records video up to 4K at 60fps with both the ultra wide and the regular camera. The telephoto is capped at 30fps in both 4K and 1080p even though the app will let you switch to 60fps and 3x - the phone will use the main module, zoomed in to 3x. Video stabilization is available in all modes, including 4K60, which is great, but there's no toggle to turn it off, which isn't ideal.

The Mate 30 Pro also supports crazy 7680fps slow motion recording at 720p resolution, though from what we gather the actual recording takes place at 1920fps (still mighty impressive) and the in-between frames are extrapolated through the magic of AI. The resulting video is saved at 30fps, with reality slowed down 256 times. Here's an impromptu sample of that to get us started.

You get a choice of the h.264 and h.265 codecs and we stuck with the h.264. 4K60 footage gets a lowly bit rate around 26-27Mbps, while 4K30 is treated to a more generous, yet slightly lower than usual 39-40Mbps - yes, 4K30 has some 50% more bits per second than 4K60. The 1080p situation makes slightly more sense, and the numbers are more in line with competitors also - 30fps bit rate is 17Mbps and 60fps gets 27Mbps.

The main camera captures very good video. 4K footage has good detail in 30fps with a noticeable drop in sharpness at 60fps. There's virtually no difference between the 1080p modes and 60fps is as sharp as 30fps, both a match for the best in class. Dynamic range is also nice and wide and colors are mostly accurate, save for a slight reddish tent visible when comparing side by side with other phones (so not really that big of a deal).

The ultra wide camera has peculiarities of its own. There's a distinct difference in color between the 30fps and 60fps modes, in both resolutions, with the 60fps footage looking warmer and more colorful, and the 30fps clips have a more muted, and potentially more accurate rendition. In both resolutions the 30fps frame rate comes with heavier sharpening but also superior detail, while 60fps footage is softer and less processed-looking.

As we mentioned, the zoomed in 60fps modes actually come out of the main camera and are barely usable. In fact, even the regular 30fps 4K brings only marginal gains in detail over 1080p. That also goes to say just how good 1080p footage out of the telephoto cam is - very.

Circling back to stabilization, we're happy to report it's super smooth on both the main camera and the ultra wide angle one, regardless of resolution or frame rate, all the way up to 2160p. If you're standing in one spot it'll deliver near perfectly stable footage, and if you're walking it'll iron out shake really well. Pans don't cause any issues either. The telephoto cam's clips aren't quite as shake free - apparently stabilizing an 80mm equivalent lens is nowhere near as easy.

Here's a glimpse of how the Huawei Mate 30 Pro compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.

Huawei Mate 30 Pro against the iPhone 11 Pro Max and the Galaxy Note10+ in our Video compare tool