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Huawei P30

Huawei’s P range of phones are all about the camera (the P stands for photography), and with the P30 the Chinese brand is once again aiming to push the limits of smartphone camera technology.

Reviewers liked

• Excellent triple camera
• Attractive design with multiple colour options
• Cutting-edge processor

Reviewers disliked

• Camera lacks the zoom capabilities of the P30 Pro
• No wireless charging
• Inferior water and dust resistance

The Huawei P30: In more detail

The P30 is the smaller, less feature-packed version of Huawei’s 2019 flagship, the P30 Pro. It offers a significant upgrade over 2018’s P20, with a bigger battery, a bigger screen and an extra camera - although it hasn’t seen as much of an upgrade as the P30 Pro over the P20 Pro. The camera is the P30’s headline feature: Huawei has again teamed up with camera manufacturer Leica to produce a device that will, it claims, push the envelope of smartphone photography. Whilst the camera is undeniably strong, it’s less impressive than the P30 Pro’s. With its less premium specs, the P30 has a correspondingly smaller price tag than the P30 Pro.

Camera

The P30 features a triple-camera setup on the rear. It has a 40MP main sensor, a 16MP ultra-wide sensor and an 8MP telephoto sensor. For the main sensor, Huawei has dispensed with the typical RGB configuration (red, blue, green) in favour of RYYB (red, yellow, yellow, blue). This ‘Super Spectrum’ technology is designed to absorb more colour and brightness information for better low-light photos.

The camera is where the P30 differs most from the P30 Pro. It lacks the P30 Pro’s time-of-flight sensor (which gives better background blurring), and the main sensor has a slower f/1.8 aperture and no optical image stabilisation, which should mean the P30 has less of an advantage in low light. It also lacks the P30’s incredible 5x optical zoom, replacing it with a 3x zoom.

Despite these differences, the P30’s camera is still very good. TechRadar found it was ‘fantastic at picking up vibrant colours’ and that photos taken in good light had great detail - even using the 30x digital zoom. Expert Reviews thought that although it wasn’t quite as good as the P30 Pro’s, the P30’s camera was ‘still great’ and that it was ‘another great effort from Huawei on the smartphone camera front’.

Design

The P30 has a similar design to the P20, with a curved glass back and metallic rim. It comes in five pearlescent colour finishes: Breathing Crystal (light blue), Aurora (purple/blue), Amber Sunrise (orange), Pearl White and Black. Expert Reviews described it as ‘stunning in its shimmering sheen’.

The top and bottom edges are slightly squarer than the P20’s, which TechRadar thought looked ‘curiously angular compared to the rest of the design’. The screen has a teardrop-shaped notch for the 32MP front camera, and an in-screen fingerprint sensor that Huawei claims is its fastest-unlocking ever. Unlike the P20 and P30 Pro, the P30 has a 35mm headphone jack.

It only has IP53 dust and water resistance (compared to the P30 Pro’s superior IP68), which means it will withstand dust and splashes of water, but nothing more.

Display

Huawei has increased the screen size on the P30 to 6.1 inches (the P20 had a 5.8-inch screen). It’s smaller than the P30 Pro’s 6.47-inch display but it has the same specs, so the quality is just as good. In fact, as the P30 has the same resolution as the P30 Pro over a smaller screen, it actually has a slightly higher pixel density (422ppi compared to 398ppi) so it should be marginally sharper.

The Full HD+ resolution means the display isn’t quite as sharp as the quad-HD+ screens on phones like the Pixel 3 and LG G8, and the OLED panel can’t compare with Samsung’s brilliant AMOLED display. However, Gizmodo found it ‘bright, saturated, super-clear’ while TechRadar thought ‘colours really popped...with softer tones looking especially vibrant, while contrast was also good’.

Performance, software and battery

Like the P30 Pro, the P30 is powered by the Kirin 980 chipset, which Stuff calls ‘powerful, fast and intelligent’. This is combined with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Coupled with Huawei’s EMUI 9.1 software, it offers a fluid user experience and fast browsing. Expert Reviews found it had ‘a snappy, responsive feel and superb performance’. TechRadar found the EMUI software ‘rather lurid to look at’.

The P30 has a 3,650mAh battery - a step up from the P20’s 3,400mAh - and its software is designed to reduce battery consumption, so it should last a full day on a single charge. Expert Reviews found its battery life to be ‘excellent’. It has 40W fast charging, which should get you from 0-70% in around half an hour, but it doesn’t support wireless charging.

What the critics say (scores are out of 100)

100	IT PRO | Bobby Hellard It looks better, feels better and, arguably has superior features and battery life, but right now we can't fully recommend it due to the trade ban. Read full review
95	Neowin | Rich Woods ... if you want a great camera and the best overall experience, the P30 is the way to go. Read full review
91	NotebookCheck | Mike Wobker The Huawei P30 impresses not only with its slim design, but also with its very good camera. ...The not-particularly-impressive battery performance in WLAN usage also hurts it somewhat, however the fast-charger only requires 1 1/2 hours to fully recharge the device. Huawei's P30 only has minor issues and the high price is justified. With its under-display fingerprint sensor, OLED display and 3x optical zoom, buyers will no doubt find using this phone enjoyable. Read full review
87	ZDNet | Matthew Miller When the P30 models launched at full price, the standard P30 may have been the better buy. However, with the Huawei woes and price drops of the devices the P30 Pro may be the better option with the more advanced capabilities. In both cases, you have to consider the risk of buying a Huawei device with the uncertainties surrounding the company, Android, and other partners. Read full review
85	Android Authority | David Imel The Huawei P30 offers great specs, a beautiful design, and an industry-leading camera, but comes at a cost where it should include a few more bells and whistles. Read full review
80	Pickr | Leigh Stark There are some positives to Huawei's smaller P30 model, such as the size and design, which manages to feel just as good as the flagship and in a more hand-friendly size...If you want the same design in a smaller body with a decent battery life, we could definitely see why this more pocketable P-series is worth checking out. Read full review
80	Tom's Guide | Richard Priday ... the balance of performance and cost is near-spot on, making the Huawei P30 a great value for a low-tier premium smartphone. Read full review
80	The Mobile Indian | Fergus Halliday You miss out on a few things like wireless charging but, for the asking price, we'd still rate the Huawei P30 as an incredibly competitive package. Read full review
80	PC Mag | Adam Smith For just a little more money, you can pick up the OnePlus 7 Pro ... or if you're looking to spend even less, the Google Pixel 3a offers less processing power but similarly terrific camera performance for substantial savings. Read full review
80	T3 | David Nield Setting aside for one moment Huawei's ongoing issues with the US and access to the Google Play Store, this is another superb handset from Huawei. We'd recommend it as a fantastic flagship, but be aware that future Android updates might not ever arrive. Read full review
80	Expert Reviews | Edward Munn, Jonathan Bray The Huawei P30, perhaps inevitably, suffers by comparison to the sexier P30 Pro. It isn't as big or as gloriously capable in the camera department, but it deserves, at the very least, to be considered on its own merits. Read full review
80	Trusted Reviews | Alastair Stevenson The Huawei P30 remains an excellent Android smartphone – and one any buyer with cash to spare should consider. Read full review
80	TechRadar | Tom Bedford The Huawei P30 would have the best camera on the market if the P30 Pro didn't exist...Feels like any other mid-range phone rather than a flagship...if you want a phone for a range of purposes not limited to photography, there may be better options for you. Read full review
80	Stuff | Basil Kronfli It fits great in the hand, costs less than a Pixel 3 and Samsung Galaxy S10, delivers a flagship experience...If you can deal with the lack of wireless charging, curved display and the fact it packs only three cameras, there's every reason to consider the P30 as your next smartphone. Read full review
80	Pocket-lint | Mike Lowe If you're looking for a pocketable flagship then the P30 is a great option for its design and capable camera. That said, last year's P20 Pro will be tempting for price, while the P30 Pro is larger, longer-lasting and more capable in every way. Read full review
78	phoneArena | Victor Hristov ... it is a reliable little phone that looks stylish and that we had no major troubles using. Huawei has optimized it to run smoothly, the gesture navigation is one of the best on Android, battery life is solid and the camera is not bad. But this is not a phone for the perfectionists ... Read full review
65	AnandTech | Andrei Frumusanu ...I think Huawei's yet again coming in a little too high on pricing. I have a hard time justifying the...price point. The issue here is not only the competition, but also the question of whether this actually represents a better value than say the company's own Mate 20 Pro... While impressive, I do not see the 5x telephoto lens as a selling point for the P30 Pro. This leaves the much better low-light capture as the only substantial benefit, as otherwise the P30 Pro represents a downgrade in speaker and display quality, with possibly slightly better battery life. Read full review

Compare Huawei P30 specs side-by-side with other phones COMPARE SPECS

Dimensions & Form	Form factor: Touchscreen bar Dimensions 149.1 x 71.36 x 7.57 mm (5.87 x 2.81 x 0.3 in) Weight: 165 g (5.82 oz)
Screen	Size: 6.1 inches diagonal Resolution: 2340 x 1080 pixels Screen Density: 422 ppi Screen-to-Body Ratio: 85.8 % Display Type: OLED
Runs
Performance	Chipset: HiSilicon Kirin 980 (7 nm) CPU: Octa-core (2x2.6 GHz Cortex-A76 & 2x1.92 GHz Cortex-A76 & 4x1.8 GHz Cortex-A55) GPU: Mali-G76 MP10 RAM: 6/8GB
Camera	Main Camera: 40 megapixels (wide-angle) + 16 megapixels (wide-angle) + 8 megapixels (telephoto) with LED flash Secondary Camera: 32 megapixels
Storage	Built-in Storage: 128GB Expandable Storage: Nano Memory
Battery & Charging	Capacity: 3650 mAh Removable Battery: No Wireless Charging: No Quick Charge: Quick Charge
SIM standard	Dual SIM: Nano SIM + Nano SIM Compare SIM Only deals
Water & Dust Resistance	IP53
Fingerprint Reader	Front (under the screen)
References & More info	Official website GSMArena specs page

Photos taken with the Huawei P30

We've used Flickr to find a selection of pictures taken by the Huawei P30 camera. Here is a selection of photos taken by users from around the world so you can see what kind of picture quality you can expect from real-world use of the Huawei P30.

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All images shown are used under the rights and terms specified by the Creative Commons.