Huawei Pura 80 Ultra review

Pricing

These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales.

512GB 16GB RAM	$ 1,567.36	€ 1,117.48
Show all prices

Introduction

The Huawei Pura 80 series has now launched outside of China and we got the crown jewel for review - the Pura 80 Ultra. Huawei has consistently been keeping at the top of its imaging game, but this year, it has surpassed our expectations.

But before we dive into the camera intricacies of this exotic cameraphone, let's cover the basics first. The Pura 80 Ultra is a stylish curved phone with Kunlun glass panels and IP68/IP69 ratings. It has a triangular camera housing on the back, which has grown significantly larger in this device and for all the right reasons.

The Pura 80 Ultra also packs a 6.8-inch LTPO OLED with 1276p resolution, 120Hz dynamic refresh rate, 10-bit color depth, and HDR Vivid video support. It is powered by the Kirin 9020 7nm chip, which we've already seen elsewhere, and we have established that it falls in the mid-range category. While it's no gaming chip, it is no slouch either.

The Pura 80 Ultra comes with a 5,700mAh battery in China and 5,170mAh for the rest of the world. It supports 100W wired, 80W wireless, and 20W reverse wireless charging.

But this phone is mostly about the cameras.

The primary camera uses a 50MP 1-inch Ultra Lighting HDR sensor with RYYB color filter, a variable aperture lens, and record-breaking 16 stops of dynamic range - Huawei promises significant improvements in low-light and backlit scenes, as well as in video dynamic range.

Then comes another industry first - a switchable dual-lens telephoto camera. It combines two lenses - an 83mm 3.7x medium telephoto and a 9.4x long telephoto. Both of these share the same 1/1.28-inch sensor - the largest in a smartphone telephoto camera to date.

The switch between lenses is handled by a built-in light-blocking mechanism that's driven by a tiny motor. Essentially, this is a dual-prism, four-lens-group design, which manages to make the light inside the mechanism travel a much longer effective distance - Huawei says it's a 129% increase compared to periscope systems in other phones.

The final camera on the back is a 40MP ultrawide shooter with autofocus - a more conventional piece of kit.

For selfies you get an ultrawide 13MP AF-capable camera also advertised for its impressive dynamic range.

Huawei Pura 80 Ultra specs at a glance:

• Body: 163.0x76.1x8.3mm, 234g; Glass front, aluminum frame, glass back; IP68/IP69 dust tight and water resistant (high pressure water jets; immersible up to 2m for 30 min).
• Display: 6.80" LTPO OLED, 1B colors, HDR, 120Hz, 1440Hz PWM, 3000 nits (peak), 1276x2848px resolution, 20.09:9 aspect ratio, 459ppi.
• Chipset: Kirin 9020 (7 nm): Octa-core (1x2.5 GHz Taishan Big & 3x2.15 GHz Taishan Mid & 4x1.6GHz Cortex-A510); Maleoon 920 GPU.
• Memory: 512GB 16GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM.
• OS/Software: EMUI 15 (Android 12).
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.6-4.0, 23mm, 1.0"-type, dual pixel PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 50 MP, f/2.4, 83mm, 1/1.28", PDAF, sensor-shift OIS, 3.7x optical zoom; Telephoto: 12.5 MP, f/3.6, 212mm, PDAF, sensor-shift OIS, 9.4x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 40 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, AF;
• Front camera: 13 MP, f/2.0, (ultrawide), AF.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K, 1080p, 1080p@960fps (interpolated), HDR Vivid, gyro-EIS, OIS; Front camera: 4K, 1080p, 1080p@240fps, HDR Vivid, gyro-EIS.
• Battery: 5170mAh; 100W wired, 80W wireless, 20W reverse wireless, 18W reverse wired.
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7; BT 5.2, L2HC; NFC; Infrared port.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); stereo speakers.

It's not all sunshine and roses, of course. The Pura 80 Ultra is expensive and given the mid-range silicon inside, you'd be right to think the phone is not exactly great value for money. It also does not support 5G connectivity outside of China due to a long-standing ban that prevents Huawei from developing a 5G modem for use internationally.

And finally, with the lack of access to fully-fledged Google Mobile Services and apps, it's clear Huawei has been dealt a rough hand, if you excuse our card-playing metaphor. The company, however, is not a stranger to this situation and has become incredibly good at making the most of bad hands like this one with resourcefulness and sheer engineering ingenuity.

Huawei Pura 80 Ultra unboxing

The Huawei Pura 80 Ultra ships inside a large, luxurious looking cardboard box that contains more than what we've gotten used to recently. Perhaps most importantly, the bundle includes a 100W power adapter - with a dual-port interface to handle either a USB-A or a USB-C cable (only one at a time) - and a 6A-rated USB-C cable.

There is also a rather nicely designed protective case in a color that complements the phone (off-white in our case), accented by Pura triangle logos.

Finally, the Pura 80 Ultra comes with a pre-applied plastic screen protector on the front.