Huawei Mate 30 Pro has 4 rear cameras and extreme slow-mo to compete with iPhone 11, Note 10
The Mate 30 Pro cameras feature improved Night Mode, better video stability, and 3x optical zoom.
- National Silver Azbee Award for Impact/Investigative Journalism; National Gold Azbee Award for Online Single Topic Coverage by a Team; National Bronze Azbee Award for Web Feature Series
The Mate 30 Pro has a quad camera setup.
Huawei unveiled its latest premium smartphones -- the Huawei Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro -- on Thursday at an event in Munich. The new phones include professional-grade cameras that put them in direct competition with Apple's new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro.
The quad-camera setup on the Mate 30 Pro stole the show at the event. The four cameras -- topping the iPhone 11 Pro's three rear cameras -- include a 40-megapixel camera, a 40-megapixel ultrawide-angle camera, an 8-megapixel telephoto lens and a Time-of-Flight sensor, to add more depth to photos.
This isn't the first time Huawei has dabbled with four cameras: The 2018 Mate 20 Pro and the 2019 P30 Pro have similar setups. The Mate 30 Pro's ultrawide-angle lens is now 40 megapixels, compared to the P30 Pro's 30 megapixels. However, the Mate 30 Pro uses a telephoto camera for zoom, instead of a periscope one, so users will get 3x optical zoom, 5x hybrid and 30x digital, compared to the P30 Pro's 5x optical, 10x hybrid and 50x digital, CNET's Dan Van Boom notes.
The Mate 30 will start at 799 euro (about $885, £700 or AU$1,300), the Mate 30 Pro will start at 1,099 euro, and the Mate 30 Pro 5G will start at 1,199 euro.
The Mate 30 Pro's camera specs.
On the front side of the phone, Huawei also showed off the Mate 30 Pro's "most advanced notch in the world," which includes four sensors: a gesture sensor, a 3D depth camera, an ambient light and proximity sensor, and a 32-megapixel selfie camera.
Meanwhile, the Mate 30 version has a smaller notch with a 24-megapixel selfie camera and the ambient light and proximity sensor, but not the other two. The cameras on the Mate 30 are not as advanced as those found in the Pro version, but still seem like a solid option.
The Mate 30 camera specs.
In terms of video, the Mate 30 Pro is the world's first smartphone with a dedicated dual 40MP "Cine Camera" and 40-megapixel "Super Sensing Camera," according to Huawei. It also features 4K 50 fps resolution, 4K HDR Plus time-lapse, image stabilization and a real-time bokeh effect, and has the ability to take ultraslow-motion video, shooting 720p at 7,680 frames per second (no mention of slofies here though). The Mate 30 series also features improved Night Mode.
The Kirin 990 processor found in the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro helps the cameras achieve these new speeds.
