The Huawei P30 Pro has finally been released and with it comes a plethora of upgrades, new features and industry-firsts. But how does it compare to it’s predecessor, the Huawei P20 Pro and is it an upgrade really worth making?!
Camera
If a device within Huawei’s P-range has tickled your fancy, then one of your primary concerns is probably how the camera setups of each device differ.
Well, the P30 Pro offers a quad lens rear setup, consisting of a 40MP ‘SuperSensing’ lens with an f/1.6 aperture, a 16MP ultra-wide-angle lens with an f/2.2 aperture, an 8MP telephoto lens and Huawei’s new Time of Flight sensor.
In comparison, the P20 Pro boasts a Leica triple-lens rear setup, made up of a 40MP main lens with an f/1.8 aperture, a 20MP monochrome lens with an f/1.6 aperture and lastly an 8MP RGB lens with an f/2.4 aperture and 3x optical zoom
Huawei ditched the monochrome sensor that was found on the P20 Pro for the Mate 20 Pro and have subsequently followed suit with the P30 Pro. This has been replaced with an ultra-wide-angle lens that offers considerably extra shooting flexibility; capturing both wide shots and macro shots as close as 2.5cm with incredible detail.
Huawei has also streamlined the low light performance of the P30 Pro by replacing the standard RGB (red, green, blue) sensor with an RYYB (red, yellow, yellow, blue) sensor. This is because yellow sensors can absorb twice as much light as their green counterparts, offering 40% better light intake. Huawei has also boosted the max ISO levels up to 409,600 to further aid with shooting in low light and the results have been quite phenomenal.
The TOF sensor is also a welcome addition if you take a lot of portrait photography utilising that artistic bokeh effect. This sensor works by tracking how much time light takes to travel from the camera to a subject and back to the camera, to analyse where objects are in a space alongside their dimensions. Subject separation has definitely improved to that found on the Huawei P20 Pro and is one of the best we’ve encountered. That said, the Huawei P20 Pro is certainly still impressive.
The other noticeable upgrade from the Huawei P20 Pro, is the zooming capabilities of the Huawei P30 Pro, which offers 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom and 50x digital zoom. The device uses AI to detect what’s in the photo and subsequently enhances and sharpens the details that might have been lost. All things considered, this really is quite a feat and is a remarkable bonus.
All in all, actual quality of photo then the difference between the P20 Pro and P30 Pro isn’t as big as you might anticipate. That said, the P30 Pro is undoubtedly the more flexible camera, offering a number of different shooting methods such as macro, wide-angle, zoom and improved bokeh.
Huawei P30 Pro
- -Quad lens setup
- -40MP SuperSensor, f/1.6 aperture
- -16MP ultra-wide-angle, f/2.2 aperture
- -8MP telephoto
- -Time Of Flight sensor
- -RGB replaced for RYYB
- -ISO levels up to 409,600
- -5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom, 50x digital zoom
Huawei P20 Pro
- Leica triple-lens setup
- 40MP main lens, f/1.8 aperture
- 20MP monochrome, f/1.6 aperture
- 8MP, f/2.4, 3x optical zoom
Display & Design
In terms of overall design, Huawei are making a bit of a trademark of their reflective finishes and the P30 Pro follows in the footsteps of the Twilight variant of the P20 Pro with their Breathing Crystal and Aurora models.
To the front, the P30 Pro follows trend and is 0.37-inches larger than the P20 Pro at 6.47-inches. That said, the resolution remains the same at Full HD+, with the P30 Pro boasting a 2340 x 1080-pixel resolution at 398ppi, and the P20 Pro a 2244 x 1080-pixel resolution at 408ppi. Media playback on both is very impressive with great colour reproduction and good contrast.
The notch of the P30 Pro has been slightly reduced, allowing for an 88.41% screen-to-body ratio that owes also to thin bezels and a lack of chin. The 81.76% screen-to-body ratio of the P20 Pro isn’t too far off, but in an industry where every millimetre counts, you certainly notice the difference.
Alongside this, the Huawei P30 Pro has embraced curved screen technologies and features an earpiece-less design thanks to acoustic display technology that offers a revolutionary sound emitting way to listen to calls.
The overall look of the Huawei P30 Pro has been tidied up from the P20 Pro, but there probably isn’t a big enough difference to rest your decision upon it. The actual quality of the display doesn’t have any noticeable improvements and the curved glass isn’t for everyone.
Huawei P30 Pro
- 6.47-inch curved Full HD+ OLED
- 2340 x 1080
- 398ppi
- 88.41% screen-to-body ratio
- 19.5:9 aspect ratio
Huawei P20 Pro
- 6.1-inch Full HD+ OLED
- 2244 x 1080
- 408ppi
- 81.76% screen-to-body ratio
- 19:9 aspect ratio
Performance
With a new flagship comes a top-of-the-range processor and the HiSilicon Kirin 970 (and 6GB RAM) has been upgraded to Huawei’s Kirin 980 chipset (and 8GB RAM). Now, Huawei claim that this comes with a 46% boost to graphics, a 75% improvement in single-core GPU performance and double the power of its NPU for AI applications. As such, you will notice that the P30 Pro can handle many more AI processes at a quicker speed. With that said, Huawei’s Kirin 970 chipset is hardly a slow-coach and unless you’re using intensive apps and games, then you may not notice too much difference and certainly not £300 worth.
The 4200mAh battery of the Huawei P30 Pro is also larger than the 4000mAh battery of the P20 Pro, however both will get you through the day without any issues at all. When your juice does finally run out, then the P30 Pro boasts support for 40W SuperCharge that will get you from 0-70% in 30 minutes, 15W wireless charging and Reverse Wireless Charging. In comparison, the Huawei P20 Pro supports a 20W SuperCharge that will get you to around 43% in 30 minutes.
Alongside this, the P30 Pro now comes with support for Huawei’s Nano SD card, expanding memory by up to 256GB, whilst the fingerprint scanner has also been moved to underneath the screen.
Huawei P30 Pro
- HiSilicon Kirin 980 chipset
- 8GB RAM
- 4200mAh battery
- 40W SuperCharge, 0-70% in 30 minutes
- 15W wireless charge
- Reverse wireless charging
- Expandable memory via Huawei Nano SD
- In-screen fingerprint scanner
Huawei P20 Pro
- HiSilicon Kirin 970 chipset
- 6GB RAM
- 4000mAh battery
- 20W Fast Charge, 0-43% in 30 minutes
- Front fingerprint scanner