Huawei Pura 70 Ultra hands-on review

Harmony OS 4.2 and Kirin 9010

Harmony OS 4.2 is the latest version of the proprietary Huawei OS and it will be available to over 100 devices worldwide. The version of smartphones includes new interactive and magazine themes, new and improved features for Celia assistant, better security, better Health app, and support for Ark Engine. You can also expect new watch faces for the number of wearables that will get this update.

The global Harmony OS 4.2 still includes an Android (12) core inside, so Android apps are still supported. And GBox works fine, in case you've wondered.

Pura 70 Ultra also features Huawei's new Kirin 9010 chipset featuring an 8-core CPU - 1x 2.3 GHz Taishan Big + 3x 2.18 GHz Taishan Mid + 4x 1.55 GHz Cortex-A510 cores. It is rumored to be manufactured on a 7nm process locally in China like the Kirin 9000s inside the Mate 60 series. It also contains the Maleoon 910.

Huawei Pura 70 Ultra comes with 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of UFS storage.

Here are some benchmarks results to get you warmed up for our review.

It seems that the new Kirin 9010 is as powerful as the Dimensity 8200 chipset by MediaTek, which is not bad at all considering all those restrictions.

Camera

The camera system on the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is something that everyone will be talking about for a while.

There are three cameras on the back. The primary one is the most interesting one - it uses a 50MP 1" sensor with sensor shift stabilization and retractable lens with variable aperture. Huawei added a retractable mechanism to the main camera's lens which pops the camera up when in use. The rotating telescopic lens features an intricate motorized structure which Huawei tested for 300,000 cycles of expansion and contraction.

The main shooter has a variable f/1.6 - 4.0 lens and features a 22.5mm focal length. Huawei introduced a new XD Motion engine to help handle fast moving objects.

The second camera on the back uses a 50 MP sensor, which sits behind a periscope 90mm f/2.1 telephoto lens featuring OIS and 3.5x optical zoom. This camera also doubles as a macro shooter, allowing you to get as close as 5cm from your subject with its 35x super macro mode.

The ultrawide shooter has a 40 MP sensor and 13mm equivalent focal length. It offers autofocus and is also capable of macro photography.

Finally, the selfie camera uses a 13MP sensor coupled with an 18mm f/2.4 lens. Autofocus is supported. There are three crop modes here, just like on other Huawei phones - 0.6x (full view), 0.8x and 1x.

Here are some photos we shot with the cameras on the Huawei Pura 70 Pro. We will discuss the quality in our review.

Main camera

Main camera, 2x zoom

Telephoto camera, 3.5x zoom

Telephoto camera, 10x zoom

Ultrawide camera

Selfies: 0.6x • 0.8x • 1x

First impressions

The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is a formidable cameraphone, just like the Huawei Pxx phones before it. Plus, it has an impressive design and build, an excellent display, superb charging capabilities, flagship-grade speakers, and whatnot.

What it doesn't have is the Snapdragon 8 Gen performance and 5G connectivity outside China. It also doesn't have Google's Mobile Services, though this has not been that much of an issue since the existence of Gbox and the alternatives.

We can see Huawei fans getting this phone in a heartbeat because it is shaping up to be that good. But it will be a tough job to convince anyone that is not after Huawei's camera experience, not outside its homeland at least. But does it matter anyway? Huawei is expecting to ship over 10 million Pura 70 units, most of them in China, which is plenty enough to keep it going.

Still for those who ponder the thought of getting the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra - it will be available together with the Pura 70 and Pura 70 Pro in Europe. The sales will begin on May 22 and the price for the 512 GB model is €1499.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for our complete in-depth review.