Huawei P10 Lite review: Travel light

Performance

The Huawei P10 Lite is powered by the Kirin 658 chipset developed in-house by Huawei's HiSilicon subsidiary. It's a minor step over the Kirin 655. Like the majority of the currently available chipsets in the mid-range, the Kirin 658 offers an octa-core CPU with eight A53 cores. Four of those take the heavy lifting and work at 2.36GHz, while the other four take care of less power-intensive tasks while ticking at 1.7GHz.

The GPU in charge of graphics is a dual-core Mali-T830, and Huawei also throws in 3 or 4 gigs of RAM depending on the exact model.

The chip is built on a 16nm fabrication process, which is the most power-efficient process used for mid-range chipsets right now so it should help keep the phone cool even at full throttle.

We kick off our benchmark routine with some processor torture as usual. A single A53 core can't get you very far on Geekbench, but at least its result offers consistent midrange performance results.

GeekBench 4 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  1546
• Huawei P10 lite
  886
• Huawei nova
  842
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  832
• Sony Xperia XA1
  800
• Moto G5 Plus
  799
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  764
• Oppo F3
  737

The consistent score continues with the high-performance quartet on the multi-core Geekbench test - the P10 Lite is on par with the mid-range competition. The Helio X20 powered devices once again have an edge thanks to their Cortex-A72 pair.

GeekBench 4 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  4456
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  3958
• Moto G5 Plus
  3789
• Sony Xperia XA1
  3554
• Huawei P10 lite
  3307
• Huawei nova
  3105
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  3011
• Oppo F3
  2685

The Mali-T830MP2 isn't a powerful GPU, but the series has proven over the past few months to offer balanced graphic performance for the class - nothing over the top, but enough. And our graphic tests confirm that. The higher-tier Mali-T880 in the Helio P20 (Xperia XA1) and the tri-core Mali-T830 (Galaxy A5) apparently outdid the P10 Lite.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  9.5
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  9.1
• Moto G5 Plus
  6.4
• Huawei nova
  6.3
• Sony Xperia XA1
  6.2
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  6.2
• Huawei P10 lite
  4.6
• Huawei P9 Lite
  4.6
• Moto G5
  4.6
• Oppo F3
  4.5

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  5.4
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  5.2
• Sony Xperia XA1
  3.7
• Moto G5 Plus
  3.5
• Huawei nova
  3.5
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  3.4
• Huawei P10 lite
  2.8
• Huawei P9 Lite
  2.8
• Moto G5
  2.5
• Oppo F3
  2.4

Then there are the onscreen tests, where the Xperia XA1 aces the tests because of its lower 720p screen resolution. Other than that, the P10 Lite continues to demonstrate acceptable performance.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XA1
  15
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  9.4
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  9
• Huawei nova
  6.5
• Moto G5 Plus
  6.4
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  6.2
• Huawei P10 lite
  5
• Huawei P9 Lite
  4.9
• Moto G5
  4.6
• Oppo F3
  4.5

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XA1
  7.9
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  5.4
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  5.2
• Huawei nova
  3.7
• Moto G5 Plus
  3.5
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  3.4
• Huawei P10 lite
  3
• Huawei P9 Lite
  3
• Moto G5
  2.5
• Oppo F3
  2.4

Huawei P10 Lite didn't end on a high note in the last of our GPU tests either. It performed decently but uninspiringly on both BaseMark X and ES3.1 benchmarks.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  13666
• Huawei nova
  10511
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  10446
• Moto G5 Plus
  10406
• Sony Xperia XA1
  9714
• Huawei P9 Lite
  7681
• Huawei P10 lite
  7588
• Moto G5
  7475
• Oppo F3
  6148
• Huawei P8lite (Snapdragon 615)
  5062
• Huawei P8lite
  3648

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  287
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  259
• Sony Xperia XA1
  191
• Huawei P10 lite
  145
• Huawei P9 Lite
  140
• Huawei nova
  138
• Moto G5 Plus
  137
• Moto G5
  100

Our performance checkup continues with the compound tests - those gauge GPU, CPU, RAM, Web and OS performance. Here the Huawei P10 Lite aced the original BaseMark OS II in this class, while it posted a very good score on its v2.0 iteration.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Huawei P10 lite
  1521
• Huawei nova
  1473
• Sony Xperia XA1
  1367
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  1290
• Oppo F3
  1018
• Huawei P8lite (Snapdragon 615)
  799
• Huawei P8lite
  600

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  1728
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  1417
• Sony Xperia XA1
  1351
• Huawei P10 lite
  1284
• Huawei P9 Lite
  1242
• Huawei nova
  1218
• Moto G5 Plus
  1089
• Oppo F3
  1085
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  1050
• Moto G5
  795
• Huawei P8lite
  691

Finally, AnTuTu 6 cemented the lower mid-range spot of the P10 Lite across the board.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  85162
• Huawei nova
  65021
• Moto G5 Plus
  63390
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  61616
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  61020
• Huawei P10 lite
  60895
• Sony Xperia XA1
  60707
• Oppo F3
  53008
• Huawei P9 Lite
  52768
• Moto G5
  43755

Huawei P10 Lite is properly equipped for the class and won't fail you at any task. It handles organizing tasks hassle-free, and we had no issues playing popular games. It isn't a chart topper even next to fellow mid-ranges, but the P10 Lite offers balanced performance, and that's enough.

The P10 Lite runs cool even at full throttle, so don't expect any heat issues no matter how you use it. Considering its asking price, we can safely say the P10 Lite delivers enough and has what it takes to behave well even under pressure.