Huawei nova 10 Pro review

Dual camera at the front, a triple setup on the back

The Huawei nova 10 Pro offers two selfie cameras, located within a pill-shaped screen notch, and three rear shooters. There is a 60MP ultrawide-angle and 8MP portrait selfies, both with autofocus. Then, on the back, you will find a 50MP primary, an 8MP ultrawide (also with AF), and a 2MP depth sensor.

The Huawei nova 10 Pro seems to be quite unique when it comes to cameras, and we can't wait to see those in action. So, let's get down to business, shall we.

The primary front camera of the Huawei nova 10 Pro contains a 60MP sensor with 0.6µm pixels. It sits behind a 17mm f/2.4 lens and supports autofocus. This camera supports two different outputs - wide and 1x. The wide corresponds to the default 17mm view, and the photos come out in 15MP (give or take). The standard 1x view appears to be equivalent to 19mm or 20mm, and it is a lossless crop (no upscale), as this mode outputs 13MP photos.

The next selfie camera uses an 8MP sensor with a 52mm f/2.2 lens for 2x optical zoom. Autofocus is available, too.

On the back, there is a 50MP primary sensor with an RYYB color filter and 1.0µm pixels. The lens is 24mm f/1.8, and there is PDAF, but no optical stabilization.

Second is an 8MP camera with ultrawide-angle 16mm f/2.2 lens. Autofocus is available, and because of that, this camera also supports macro shooting.

Finally, there is a 2MP depth sensor.

The camera app is enhanced by Huawei's AI, just as before. It should recognize and tune settings for a ton of scenes. There's a toggle in the viewfinder for turning it off and on, so you don't have to go into settings for that. We tend to keep it on as the recent implementations are nowhere as aggressive as they used to be with phones in the past.

There's a Pro mode, too, where you can adjust parameters yourself - ISO (50 to 409,600), shutter speed (1/4000s to 30s), exposure compensation (-4 to +4EV in 1/3 stop increments), and white balance (presets and specific light temperature). You can also choose the metering mode (matrix, center-weighted, and spot) and the focus mode (single, continuous, and manual). If the phone thinks you messed up the exposure, an icon will pop up to warn you. The Pro mode is available on the primary camera only.

Camera app

By the way, Pro mode is available for video as well, and the maximum ISO there is 6,400. And you can set the desired shutter speed.

For years, Huawei phones have had both a Portrait mode and an Aperture mode. In Aperture, you can choose the simulated aperture range from f/0.95 to f/16. Post shot, you can change the aperture and the desired focus point within the Gallery.

Both the selfie and the primary camera interface offer zoom levels. For the back ones, you get UW, 1x and 2x digital zoom. Meanwhile, for the front ones, you get W, 1x and 2x. W and 2x are the native FoVs of the two sensors, the 1x is a crop from the 60MP camera, but comes with no upscale.

Daylight photo quality

The 12.5MP photos from the primary camera on the back are excellent. There is plenty of resolved detail, no visible noise, and high contrast. The dynamic range is adequate and likable, yet not over the top. The colors are a bit more saturated than they should have been, probably because we kept the AI toggle on, but they are hardly over the top, and we do like them.

The best part about these photos is that they offer a crisp rendition and realistic look without over-sharpening traces that usually mask inadequately developed foliage or similar random intricate detail. On the contrary, the nova 10 Pro does a fantastic job of rending such complex parts, and they look natural. Even more expensive phones often fail at that, like the iPhones, so we do give Huawei credit where its due.

Main camera, 12.5MP

The 50MP sensor of the main camera has the potential for 2x lossless zoom, and Huawei did use this opportunity. The 2x zoomed photos are slightly softer than the primary ones, but they are probably the maximum Huawei could squeeze from both the sensor and the advanced image processing.

So, the 2x photos we took with the nova 10 Pro are very good - they are mostly a match to the default photos in everything but detail. They are clean of noise, and offer similarly adequate contrast, dynamic, and color rendition. The natural look is here to stay, too.

As we mentioned, the zoomed photos are a bit softer than the default ones, but they still offer enough detail to be a reasonable replacement for a telephoto camera.

Main camera 2x zoom, 12.5MP

Huawei offers two high-res modes within the camera app - 50MP and 50MP AI. The default 50MP option saves upscaled versions of the 12.5MP images, and they are of no real use.

Main camera, 50MP

The 50MP AI, previously known as AI Ultra Clarity, works like the Night Mode. It captures a few 50MP images and stacks them together. These 50MP AI photos are more detailed than the standard 50MP output, but not by much. We tried downsizing them to 12.5MP, but the results weren't better or worse than the default 12.5MP images. And because of that, we can safely say there are no benefits from shooting in either 50MP mode.

Main camera, 50MP AI

The 8MP photos from the ultrawide-angle camera are alright, better than the average, we'd say. The amount of resolved detail is good, the noise has been cleaned well, the contrast is high, and the dynamic range is realistic and makes for good photos. The color rendition is a bit cooler than it should have been and could use a small warmth boost.

Most of the photos look a bit oversharpened and overprocessed, unlike the default one, and that may not be everyone's cup of tea. The last photo, for example, was taken without HDR and other processing, and while soft, it does look more natural. If you want less processed photos, we suggest disabling the AI and whatever other enhancements are available.

Ultrawide camera, 8MP

The ultrawide-angle camera has autofocus capabilities, and because of that, it can capture closeup photos from 4cm away or so. There is a dedicated Macro mode, too, and it has native (UW), 1x and 2x views, with the latter being a crop-and-upscale that doesn't look so good. And that's why we shot our macro samples with the maximum FoV.

We liked the closeup photos from the ultrawide camera - they offer enough detail, likable rendition, low noise, and lively colors. The contrast is good, too, and so is the dynamic range. Finally, the bokeh is quite likable and rendered nicely.

Macro samples, 8MP

The nova 10 Pro has a 2MP depth sensor, which assists the main camera within the Portrait and the Aperture modes. The portraits we took with this phone are solid - the subject is detailed, well-exposed, and with realistic tones. The background blur is quite convincing, too, and of course, you can opt for different effects if that's your thing. Finally, the separation is adequate, even if not as proficient as we would have hoped for it to be at times.

There is HDR applied most of the time, which drops the overall sharpness a bit, but makes the portraits look lively and colorful, and we'd say we prefer to have this HDR and pay the price rather than not have it applied.

Portraits, 12.5MP

Low-light photo quality

Our low-light photo experience is similar to other recent Huawei phones we've reviewed - it seems the Night Mode has run its course, and it's not needed anymore. That is because the default output from the main camera is outstanding, with plenty of detail, adequate sharpness and superb exposure, often brighter than reality but not over the top.

The color saturation deserves praise for its impressive look. The dynamic range is much better than we expected, too, and clipped highlights are rare.

Finally, the noise is kept incredibly low, and these nighttime photos seem to be among the better ones you can get today.

Main camera, 12.5MP

There is no point in using Night Mode - it saves either the same photos but takes more time to shoot or introduce slight softness worsening the quality a bit.

Night Mode, 12.5MP

The 2x zoom at night isn't 'lossless' like it was in broad daylight. It makes crops and then upscales from the default photos.

2x zoom, 12.5MP

There is no Night Mode for the ultrawide camera, but thankfully, the nova 10 Pro doesn't need one. There is enough resolved detail, and the gentler noise reduction does help with that, too. We prefer to have some noise left rather than get fine detail smudged.

The colors of the ultrawide photos are accurate, the contrast is good, and the dynamic range is okay. There are a lot of clipped highlights, but all things considered, we got likable exposure, and these are some great ultrawide night shots.

Ultrawide camera, 8MP

And here are photos of our usual posters taken with the Huawei nova 10 Pro. You can see how it stacks up against the competition. Feel free to browse around and pit it against other phones from our extensive database.

Huawei nova 10 Pro against the Motorola Edge 30 Pro and the Asus Zenfone 9 in our Photo compare tool

Selfies

There are two FoVs available for the 60MP selfie camera corresponding to 17mm and 19mm in 35mm equivalent, or simply put 0.6x and 0.8x on the viewfinder. And since the camera always saves 13MP instead of 15MP photos as it is supposed to do, those two are cropped from the default even wider output, but there is no upscaling involved and hence no loss in quality.

The 17mm view is wide, and we mean WIDE. It was meant for group shots where you can fit a dozen people in the frame, and they all will be detailed, sharp, well-exposed and colorful.

Indeed, thanks to the available autofocus, you don't need to adjust your arm; the subject(s) will always be in focus. And even with the involved HDR, the photos still present outstanding resolved detail and excellent sharpness. Exposure, white balance, colors and skin tones, contrast, and of course, dynamic range - everything deserves an excellent mark.

This has to be one of the best selfie cameras you can get today.

Selfies wide camera 17mm, 13MP

The quality of the narrower 19mm shots is identical to what we saw on the 17mm photos - meaning impressive across the board. The rendition is lovely, with an incredibly natural look and no sharpening artifacts, noise, or overprocessed faces or foliage. We are indeed thoroughly impressed.

Selfies wide camera 19mm, 13MP

Just like the main camera at the back, the primary at the front can do 60MP regular and 60MP AI shots. And our conclusions stand here, too. The standard 60MP output is a simple upscale from the default one, while the AI variant is slightly better but will not yield better 13MP shots if downsized.

60MP AI • 60MP AI • 60MP

There is no portrait mode for the primary selfie camera as there is a whole portrait camera for that with an 8MP sensor and 52mm f/2.2 lens - a kit that will offer real bokeh and will capture your mug with a lot of detail.

And it does exactly what it is advertised to do - fits your face within the frame, and it is rendered very well with great detail, accurate sharpness, and a very natural look. The colors are great, the contrast is alright, and the dynamic range is quite good, too. Finally, the bokeh is really good as it doesn't need any simulation or artificial involvement.

There are two things you should know about this camera. First, 52mm is too much - it should have been 35mm or so, 2x optical zoom is not what we would call ideal for a portrait selfie, and it requires long hands or a selfie stick, which makes it tough to shoot. And the idea of having a UW camera is not to carry a selfie stick after all!

Second, if the light is not ideal, and we don't mean low-light or night, we mean indoors, the sharpness drops rapidly. The photos are still nice but not as impressive as under bright light.

Selfies zoom camera, 8MP

Video recording

The Huawei nova 10 pro records video up to 4K at 30fps and up to 1080p at 60fps with all cameras - primary, ultrawide, selfie and portrait selfie.

Always-on electronic stabilization (called AIS) is present across all shooters but the selfie zoom camera. It also seems to be barely working on the wide-angle selfie cam, too. You cannot turn the EIS off.

The 4K30 footage has a video bitrate of 40Mbps. Audio is always captured stereo with 96kbps bitrate, but don't you worry - the sound is usually rich and deep.

The main camera on the back captured good 4K videos with enough detail, and the rendition is likable. The colors have a certain pop here, but it's not over the top. The contrast is adequate.

The dynamic range is somewhat low, and we got a lot of clipped spots in the video. And the footage is somewhat a bit softer than we would have liked it - probably because of the always-on electronic stabilization and its 'crop and upscale' doing.

The low-light video from the main camera is excellent - there is plenty of detail, good sharpness, top-notch exposure and popping colors. What's even more impressive is the low noise across the board.

We can also praise the contrast and the great dynamic range. Overall, these are some of the best nighttime videos we've seen lately.

The 4K30 videos from the ultrawide camera are alright, but nothing to talk about, really. They have average detail, a bit washed-out colors, and an acceptable dynamic range. The noise is low enough.

We are glad they are not over-sharpened to compensate for the mediocre detail, as this would have made them worse.

The low-light videos from the ultrawide camera are usable and colorful, but that's about it. They are noisy, soft and lacking in detail.

The 4K30 selfie videos from the selfie camera shot at either FoV are great - the subjects are well exposed and with enough detail, the noise is low, the colors are accurate, and the contrast is good. The dynamic range is a bit low, but we have to admit we shot in quite challenging conditions, too.

There is always-on EIS, which contributes to some extra softness, but we better have it rather than not.

Finally, the 4K30 selfie portrait videos are detailed, sharp and with good colors. Their dynamic range is contrast and average, and noise is low only when light conditions are ideal.

But first, we cannot imagine someone using this camera for videos because even with this reviewer's allegedly long hands, his mug still couldn't fit in the frame. And second, there is no stabilization for this camera, and the footage is all shaky.

Finally, here is the Huawei nova 10 Pro in our video tool so you can make your own comparisons.

2160p: Huawei nova 10 Pro against the Motorola Edge 30 Pro and the Asus Zenfone 9 in our Video compare tool