Huawei has unveiled the highly anticipated P30 series in Paris, coming in succession after the Huawei P20 series. With the P literally attributed to Photography, much of the focus – especially the marketing – was centralized around the phone’s camera capabilities, and the launch was to be the final word.
Compared to last year’s releases, there’s a significant change made on the P30’s especially in design. The P20 and P20 Pro featured a fingerprint sensor below the display, on the front of the device; which the P30 series are removing in favor of an in-display reader. The new releases also have a smaller notch and reduced bezels.
You will also realize that there is an increase in the height of the handsets, with the P30 and P30 Pro having 6.1-inch and 6.47-inch displays with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The predecessors had 5.8-inch and 6.1-inch displays with a 18.7:9 aspect ratio.
If you followed our pre-event speculations on the two devices, you will realize that there is something in common about the two devices. Both the P30 and P30 Pro have an FHD+ OLED display with a 2340*1080 resolution, both use a HiSilicon Kirin 980 SoC, and both have built-in Goodix based in-screen fingerprint sensors.
The two handsets will be running Android 9.0 Pie with the most recent EMUI 9.1. They as well both have dual SIM 4G support, Dual Band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, USB Type-C with EMUI Desktop and Dual Frequency GPS / A-GPS / GLONASS / Galileo / BeiDou.
Not to forget, both the P30 and P30 Pro have a 32 MP front facing selfie camera with AI HDR+.
The key differences between the two is that the P30 Pro has a display curved on the sides while the P30 display is completely flat. The other is the return of the headphone jack for the P30, which the Pro version does not have. You’ll have to buy wireless earbuds if you’re interested in the P30 Pro.
You won’t see the earpiece on the Huawei P30 Pro, because of the full display, but instead the phone incorporates an electromagnetic levitation speaker while the P30 has a slimline earpiece on it. The P30 also has three rear-facing cameras rather than the four found on the P30 Pro.
Let’s take a look at the specifics.
Huawei P30 Specifications
In brief: the P30 has a 6.1-inch screen with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, comes with a 3650 mAh battery, and has three rear cameras.
The three rear cameras comprise of: a 40 MP main sensor with an f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization; a 16 MP ultra-wide angle lens with an f/2.2 aperture; and an 8 MP telephoto lens that should provide 3x optical zoom.
Huawei P30 Pro Specifications
In brief: the P30 Pro handset has a 6.47-inch screen with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio,
comes with a 4200 mAh battery, with four rear cameras (three aligned vertically plus another below the flash).
The Huawei P30 Pro offers a camera setup of: a main camera 40 MP sensor with an f/1.6 aperture and OIS; a 20MP ultra-wide angle lens with an f/2.2 aperture; an 8 MP telephoto lens with an f/3.4 aperture and OIS; plus a new time-of-flight sensor designed to project infrared light and captures reflections – for better bokeh effects.
Huawei P30 and P30 Plus Specifications
| Category | Huawei P30 | Huawei P30 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Screen | 6.1-inch OLED | 6.47-inch Curved OLED |
| 19.5:9, FHD+ | 19.5:9, FHD+ | |
| 2340×1080 pixels | 2340×1080 pixels | |
| Chipset | Kirin 980 with Dual NPU | Kirin 980 with Dual NPU |
| Memory | 6GB RAM | 8GB RAM |
| 128GB storage | 128GB / 256GB / 512GB storage | |
| Battery | 3,650mAh | 4,200mAh |
| 25W Huawei SuperCharge | 40W Huawei SuperCharge | |
| 15W Wireless Quick Charge | ||
| Reverse Wireless Charging | ||
| Rear Camera 1 | 40MP SuperSpectrum | 40MP SuperSpectrum |
| Wide angle, f/1.8 | Wide angle, f/1.6, OIS | |
| Rear Camera 2 | 16MP Ultra wide angle, f/2.2 | 20MP ultra wide angle, f/2.2 |
| Rear Camera 3 | 8MP | 8MP Periscope |
| 3X Optical zoom, f/2.4, OIS | 5X Optical zoom, f/3.4, OIS | |
| Rear Camera 4 | None | Time-of-flight camera |
| Front camera | 32MP, f/2.0 | 32MP, f/2.0 |
| OS | Android 9 Pie | Android 9 Pie |
| EMUI 9.1 | EMUI 9.1 | |
| Water and dust resistance | IP53 | IP68 |
| Connectivity | Cat.16 up to 1Gbps | Cat 21, up to 1.4Gbps |
| Wi-Fi 802.11a/.b/g/n/acBT 5.0, NFC | Wi-Fi 802.11a/.b/g/n/ac | |
| BT 5.0, NFC |
Availability and Price
The Huawei P30 series will be released on April 6, in five colors of Breathing Crystal, Amber Sunrise, Pearl White, Aurora, and plain Black. The P30 will go for about $900 with 128GB of storage and the P30 Pro for $1,130 for the 128GB of storage. Note that there are more expensive options for the P30 Pro with more storage.
