Huawei Mate X3 review

A potent triple camera setup

The Mate X3 has a total of five distinct cameras at its disposal. On the back, there are a primary, a periscope telephoto and an ultrawide camera. Then there are also two selfie cameras on the phone - one on the cover display and the other on the main inside one.

Finding out the camera hardware on the Mate X3 turned out to be a tougher job than usual. After some snooping, we did arrive at some sensor data, which we believe is correct. The main 50MP camera should be based on the Sony IMX766 sensor - a 1/1.56" Quad-Bayer sensor with 1.0 µm individual pixels. Also, a RYYB pixel arrangment. This sensor sits behind an f/1.8 lens and has the benefits of OIS, PDAF, and laser autofocus.

Then there is the periscope telephoto camera. As far as we managed to dig up, it is actually based on the Sony IMX351 sensor, which has a 16MP native resolution, despite the fact that the camera on the Mate X3 shoots in 12MP. The IMX351 has a 1/3.09" sensor size and 1.0 µm individual pixels. It is also a RYYB sensor. It sits behind a pretty dark f/3.4 lens and is rated at 125mm or 5x optical zoom. Just like the main camera, the periscope also has OIS and PDAF.

Finally, the 13MP, 13mm ultrawide camera is on the back of the phone. It uses a Sony IMX688 sensor, it has autofocus and sits behind an f/2.2 autofocus lens. There is also a 10-channel multi-spectrum sensor on the back of the phone, inside the camera island.

As we already said, there are two 8MP selfie cameras on the Mate X3. Both appear to be using identical sensors, though we couldn't find any hardware specifics about them. Both selfies also have an aperture of f/2.4.

Camera app

Before we move on to camera quality, we should look at the camera app, its UI, and its features. Nothing is really out of the Huawei ordinary here. A shutter key on the right, alongside a switch to enable selfie mode.

There are quite a few extra modes available in the camera app. APERTURE mode lets you choose virtual aperture, mostly for portrait-style photos. The PORTRAIT mode does portrait shots in a more streamlined manner. You get to choose different background effects in this mode. High res is quite self-explanatory. It allows you to shoot at the full 50-ish MP resolution of the main camera and actually has a regular and a 50MP Ai mode. Super Macro can be triggered manually from here, or you can just let the Mate X2 decide it is necessary and trigger it automatically, which it does a surprisingly good job of. Macro photos are captures with the ultrawide camera. Dual-view lets you capture footage with the selfie and main camera together.

Camera app UI

Some of the toggles on the left-hand side of the camera UI are self-explanatory, like the settings shortcut and the flash controls. The film-strip-looking button actually brings up filters. The Ai button toggles Huawei's MASTER AI system. It is enabled by default, so we left it that way for our sample photos. The circular icon on the second row toggles Moving picture.

There is a Pro mode available. ISO controls range from 50 to 409,600, and the shutter speed goes from 1/4000 to 30 seconds. You also get control over white balance, focus, and exposure compensation. And near the top of the UI - a format selector that includes JPG, JPG-L and RAW, plus a toggle for the autofocus assist light.

The Settings menus are slightly different, depending on which camera and mode you enter them from. Video resolution only goes up to 4K. No high frame rate options beyond 60fps are available either. On a positive note, Huawei now includes a toggle for its electronic video capture stabilization.

Camera UI main display

The camera UI is generally the same on the main display as on the cover. That being said, the app does not support rotating, which means that in order to properly use the app with the shutter button in reach, you need to use the phone in a vertical orientation. That means you are essentially capturing photos in 3:4 instead of 4:3 while the Mate X3 is unfolded, which is a bit of an odd limitation. And speaking of limitations, there is no obvious way to enable the cover display simultaneously with the main one to use as a secondary viewfinder. This used to be a feature way back in the day of the Mate Xs.

Daylight camera quality

Let's start with the main camera. Since it is a Quad-Bayer unit, by default, it captures stills at right around 12.5MP. These photos generally look great, with plenty of detail and pleasant, natural-looking colors.

Huawei Mate X3: 12.5MP main camera samples

The dynamic range could be a bit better in these shots. Also, sharpening is aggressive but not over the top.

You can capture full 50MP resolution photos with the main camera using High res mode. These shots, however, look a lot softer than the regular ones, with lots of chromatic aberration in smaller geometric details. We would not recommend using this mode.

Huawei Mate X3: 50MP main camera samples

Here's how the main camera on the Mate X3 fairs against the competition in our vast photo compare database in both regular and 50MP modes.

Huawei Mate X3 against the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 and the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 in our Photo compare tool

48MP: Huawei Mate X3 against the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 and the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 in our Photo compare tool

The Mate X3 has a portrait mode that works on the main camera. You don't get to choose the strength of the blur effect, there is the aperture mode for that, but you do get to play around with quite a few different bokeh variants and effects, which we appreciate.

Huawei Mate X3: 12.5MP main camera portrait samples

Portrait mode works pretty well on non-human subjects as well.

Huawei Mate X3: 12.5MP main camera portrait samples

The ultrawide camera on the Mate X3 is pretty wide at 13mm. It captures shots in 13MP resolution. These shots look great with plenty of detail and great colors, pretty well matched to the main camera. Barrel distortion correction works pretty well too.

Huawei Mate X3: 13MP ultrawide camera samples

There is a bit of corner softness, but that is entirely expected on an ultrawide.

The periscope telephoto camera on the Mate X3 is truly impressive. It captures photos in 12MP resolution. Shots are very well stabilized, thanks to the included OIS. These photos look incredibly sharp, with excellent detail and perfect colors.

Huawei Mate X3: 12MP telephoto camera 5x samples

By default, the telephoto camera captures in 125mm or right around 5x zoom. The camera UI also features a 10x toggle. At 10x, photos understandably come out looking a bit softer than at 5x, but these are still excellent, with great detail and colors and awesome dynamic range.

Huawei Mate X3: 12MP telephoto camera 10x samples

The Mate X3 has a pretty interesting Super macro mode that works on the ultrawide camera, but still comes with a zoom selector, as if it can use any of the rear cameras on the phone. Pretty weird UI. You can capture some decent close-ups using the ultrawide at lower zoom levels, which is great.

Huawei Mate X3: 13MP ultrawide camera macro samples

As already mentioned, capturing photos with the Mate X3 unfolded typically means that you are capturing vertical 3:4 stills, instead of regular 4:3 ones, simply due to how the layout of the camera app works. Naturally, these look quite different due to the different orientation. Here are some samples.

Huawei Mate X3 unfolded: ultrawide • main • telephoto 5x • telephoto 10x

The Mate X3 has two dedicated selfie cameras. Both are 8MP and seem to be identical or failing that, very close in overall quality. The detail is good, and so are the colors, with nice and natural skin tones and texture.

Huawei Mate X3: 8MP cover selfie camera samples

Dynamic range could be better. Using the inside selfie camera has the caveat of also capturing in 3:4 instead of 4:3. Other than that; the quality looks very similar.

Huawei Mate X3: 8MP inside selfie camera samples

Of course, for the best possible results, you should be using the main camera for selfies. The quality is just on a different level.

Huawei Mate X3: 12.5MP main camera selfie samples

It is also worth noting that for some reason, portrait mode does not work correctly on the selfie cameras on the Mate X3. It does, however, work great on the phone's main camera, which offers some consolation.

Huawei Mate X3: 12.5MP main camera selfie portrait samples

Video quality

By default, the Mate X3 captures video in h.264 mode, but there is an option to go to h.256 (HEVC) and save some space. HDR video is an option as well.

The main camera on the Mate X3 can go up to 4K@30fps. 8K recording is not available. Videos get saved in a standard AVC video stream at around 40 Mbps with stereo AAC audio.

Quality on the main camera is superb, with excellent detail, great dynamic range and nice and vibrant colors.

Our extensive video compare database shows how the main camera stacks up against the competition.

Huawei Mate X3 against the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 and the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 in our Video compare tool

The ultrawide camera on the Mate X3 also tops out at 4K@30fps. These videos also look great with excellent detail, vibrant colors and a wide dynamic range. There is also no noise to speak of.

The Mate X3 has a STEADY SHOT mode, which relies on footage from the ultrawide camera. Enabling this EIS limits resolution to 1080p and switches over to 60fps mode by default. STEADY SHOT does a decent job, but the ultrawide seems to have some sort of EIS by default already, so the effect is not that dramatic.

The telephoto camera captures great 4K video as well.

At 10x zoom, the telephoto still holds up great. Noise is a bit more, which is expected, but other than that, it is an excellent overall showing.

The Mate X3 can capture 4K video with both of its selfie cameras. Quality looks pretty identical across the two cameras. That is to say good, but nothing to write home about.

Of course, if you are serious about vlogging, you should rely on the main camera or ultrawide for taking selfie videos. The quality is on another level. Plus, you get the benefit of EIS if that is something you want to use. Though, it does eat away a lot of the frame.

Low-light camera quality

The main camera holds its own pretty well in low-light conditions. There is plenty of detail in these shots, and colors look nice and natural. Light sources are handled well, and there is practically no noise to speak of.

Huawei Mate X3: 12.5MP main camera low-light samples

The dynamic range could be a bit better in these shots. Perhaps they can use some extra HDR stacking since detail tends to get almost entirely crushed in dark areas.

The ultrawide camera does surprisingly well in low-light conditions. It captures plenty of detail with nice colors and a surprisingly wide dynamic range. There is practically no noise to speak of either.

Huawei Mate X3: 13MP ultrawide camera low-light samples

Light sources can often be blown out by the ultrawide, but that's a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things.

The telephoto camera continues to impress in low-light conditions. It captures surprisingly sharp and detailed photos, despite its very dim lens.

Huawei Mate X3: 12MP telephoto camera low-light samples

Shadows can understandably be a bit of a challenge, but other than that, we have very few complaints about the telephoto cam in low-light conditions. When the light is really low, the Mate X3 will still prefer to switch over to a crop of the main camera rather than use its telephoto, which, frankly, we think looks worse.

The Mate X3 has a dedicated night mode. It works across all of the rear cameras, and in our testing, shots took right around three seconds to capture, regardless of camera choice and lighting conditions. That's a bit on the slower side. Also worth noting is that night mode photos always get saved in 12.5MP regardless of which camera is being used.

Night mode can be a bit of a mixed bag, depending on which camera you use it on. It is largely beneficial on the main camera, managing to boost shadows and restore some of the detail there.

Huawei Mate X3: 12.5MP main camera night mode samples

At times, night mode can go overboard and boost light sources a bit too aggressively. This tends to happen more often on the ultrawide camera, in our experience. Shots come out looking yellow and overexposed.

Huawei Mate X3: 12.5MP ultrawide camera night mode samples

The telephoto camera doesn't really stand to gain too much from night mode in our experience. It boosts shadows a bit, but the risk of getting an overly yellow photo is still there and happens at times.

Huawei Mate X3: 12.5MP telephoto camera night mode samples

Low-light video from the main camera on the Mate X3 looks great with excellent colors, plenty of detail and really low noise. Dynamic range is also decent, albeit far from perfect.

Unfortunately, the same can't quite be said about the ultrawide camera. The characteristic feature of its low-light footage is that it is dark, overly so. On the plus side, noise is well subdued, but that's little consolation on such dark and nearly unusable footage.

The telephoto camera continues to impress massively with its low-light video performance. Detail is amazing at the default 5.5x zoom level. Colors also look great, and so do light sources. Sure, the footage is a bit on the darker side, but perfectly within reason.

Even at 10x zoom, footage from the telephoto remains very much usable, just a bit noisier and softer.

Just be sure you are actually using the telephoto when capturing zoomed videos in low-light since the Mate X3 can sometimes decide to use a crop from the main camera instead, which looks all-around worse.