Camera comparison: Huawei P30 Pro vs S10+, iPhone XS, Pixel 3, Mi 9, Mate 20 Pro

Daylight zoom

Where the P30 Pro truly shines is bringing distant subjects closer. To put things into perspective, we shot our test scenes at each phone's native maximum optical zoom, and then once more with digital zoom applied in-phone to match the P30 Pro's 5x lens. That means the P30 Pro participates with the same shot in both sets, for obvious reasons.

For the Google Pixel 3 we made an exception - we pinched in for some computational Super Res zoom in the first part of the test as well to try and match the coverage of the 2x competition, so it doesn't look completely out of place in this company.

It's immediately noticeable how much closer the P30 Pro manages to get, thus letting you hone in on the details. Meanwhile, the 2x competitors' wider field of view makes for arguably more distracting shots. Then again, a case could be made that the 125mm-equivalent '5x' zoom could be 'too much' on many occasions.

Scene 1: P30 Pro (5x) • Mate 20 Pro (3x) • Mi 9 (2x) • Galaxy S10+ (2x) • Pixel 3 (Digital 2x) • iPhone XS (2x)

The Mate 20 Pro sits in the middle of this conundrum, its 3x 80-mil equivalent lens being neither here not there, but in a good way. In the absence of continuous zoom, perhaps moderation might be the preferred way for many.

Scene 2: P30 Pro (5x) • Mate 20 Pro (3x) • Mi 9 (2x) • Galaxy S10+ (2x) • Pixel 3 (Digital 2x) • iPhone XS (2x)

There's no room for opinion, however, when you summon the digital zoom on the others and look up close comparing against the images from the P30 Pro. We may have been skeptical initially, expecting a lot of compromises to have been made to achieve that all-important for the marketing department '5x', but the results are properly good.

The fine detail in the P30 Pro's zoomed in shots is unmatched - apparently good old optics is still better than software, who'd have thought?

For all the detail in the P30 Pro shots, its coverage is slightly narrower than what we get from the other phones at their 5x settings. It comes from the fact that Huawei's calling it '5x', but the 125mm equivalent focal length comes a little shorter than 5 times the usual 26-27mm regular cameras' equivalent. It really is '5-ish x'.

Then there's the matter that the P30 Pro outputs 10MP telephoto shots even though it's telephoto camera has an 8MP sensor. We don't know what exactly magic is going on under the hood, but frankly, we don't need to - the output from the P30 Pro's periscope camera is simply superb.

Scene 1, all at 5x: P30 Pro • Mate 20 Pro • Mi 9 • Galaxy S10+ • Pixel 3 • iPhone XS

Scene2, all at 5x: P30 Pro • Mate 20 Pro • Mi 9 • Galaxy S10+ • Pixel 3 • iPhone XS