Huawei Pura 70 Ultra review: no Google apps, but cutting-edge cameras, battery see Chinese phone giant return to form

Aesthetically, all four phones are similar, but the Ultra is the biggest, with a 6.8-inch OLED screen and a faux-leather back with an X pattern stitching.

The display on the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra (left) looks gorgeous, with bezels noticeably thinner than on the latest iPhone, and subtle curves on all four sides. Photo: Ben Sin

The phone’s display looks gorgeous, with bezels noticeably thinner than on the latest iPhone, and subtle curves on all four sides.

The star of the show is a 50-megapixel main camera with a 1-inch sensor and variable aperture, meaning this lens not only pops in and out of the camera body, but there are aperture blades that open and close.

These are the most moving parts we have seen in a mobile phone camera lens yet, but despite this, the entire phone is still rated IP68 for water and dust resistance, meaning it can survive being submerged in water.

The 50-megapixel main camera has a 1-inch sensor and variable aperture, meaning this lens not only pops in and out of the camera body, but there are aperture blades that open and close. Photo: Ben Sin

There is also a tremendous tele-macro camera that can deliver excellent long zoom shots and macro photography, and an ultra-wide camera.

The other noteworthy hardware component in the phone is the silicon: a Kirin 9010 chip.

This 7nm chip with 5G connectivity was apparently developed in-house by Huawei, a feat the US government thought would be impossible after its sanctions.

A photograph taken with the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra’s tele-macro camera. Photo: Ben Sin

Table of Contents

Software and features

The Pura 70 Ultra ships with HarmonyOS in mainland China, while the global version I am testing runs on EMUI. The two software programs look very similar on the phone, but HarmonyOS is better at connecting with Huawei’s wide-ranging portfolio of products.

The software operates fine, with smooth animations and some clever shortcut gestures. But the software limitations resulting from sanctions are still here: this phone cannot install core Google apps such as Google Play Store, YouTube, Google Drive and so on.

The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra looks great, but has some software limitations, thanks to sanctions placed on the Chinese company by the US government. Photo: Ben Sin

Performance and battery life

The Pura 70 Ultra’s Kirin chip is technically inferior to the latest silicon from Apple and Qualcomm, and this shows in benchmark numbers.

But in real-life usage scenarios I saw no difference, as the Pura 70 Ultra can do basic smartphone things just fine. The phone feels fast, like any other flagship phone.

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Where the phone really shrines is in its camera performance. The Pura 70 Ultra introduces new camera tech this year that sees the phone snap two images with every press of the shutter button: one uses a fast shutter speed, the other a slow shutter speed.

The camera’s software then merges the two shots in real time to produce a single image that offers the benefits of both the fast and slow shutter speeds.

This allows the Pura 70 Ultra to grab fast-motion shots without blur, such as a basketball spinning in the air or liquid pouring out of a bottle.

While the 1-inch main camera lens can grab very detailed and bright images, I personally love using the tele-macro lens that lets me grab very close-up photos with strong bokeh – the visually pleasing blur produced in out-of-focus parts of an image.

The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra snaps two images with every press of the shutter button in a way that allows the phone to grab fast-motion shots without blur. Photo: Ben Sin

The extremely fast shutter speeds and tele-macro capabilities are the best of any phone I have tested.

Battery life is tremendous, thanks to the large 5,200 mAh battery and Huawei software optimisation.

Other than the inability to run some widely used apps, there is nothing about the performance here that leaves me wanting.

Conclusion

The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is a premium camera powerhouse capable of aspects of niche photography that other phones are not. But its technically inferior silicon, software limitations, and very high price (9,999 yuan in China; HK$11,600 in Hong Kong; €1,499 in Europe) will limit its appeal outside mainland China.

The latter is important, because while Huawei’s road back to mainstream dominance in the global market is uphill, in mainland China it is already back on top.

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